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Parallel abstract universes

An unusual pairing reveals remarkably similar developments
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By Tony Ozuna
For The Prague Post
July 18th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Mondrian's simple shapes may be nature viewed from another perspective.
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František Kupka / Piet Mondrian

at Museum Kampa
Ends July 29. U Sovových mlýnů 2, Prague 1–Kampa Island

Two of the boldest pioneers of abstract painting in the 20th century, František Kupka and Piet Mondrian, are being shown side by side in an exhibit that traces their parallel evolution to nonobjective art.
Museum Kampa is already a second home to the Czech-born Kupka (1871–1957), housing a significant number of his works. His paintings in this show are from the museum’s permanent collection. The Dutch Mondrian (1872–1944), on other hand, despite being one of the most important European artists of the 20th century, has never had an exhibit in the Czech Republic until now. The 18 Mondrian paintings in this show are on loan from the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, the Kunstmuseum near Krefeld, Germany and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.
Though they both lived in Paris at the beginning of their careers, Kupka studied art in Prague and Vienna, while Mondrian studied in Holland. Both started out in the same direction, mostly painting nature. Thus, in the first rooms devoted to their earliest works, and especially in Mondrian’s case, there are mostly paintings of villages in the countryside and landscapes.
Only one painting in the dimly lit first room is sublime: Farmstead on the Gein screened by a tall tree: greenish streaks in the sky with a crescent moon (1907). The title says it all, though the streaks in the sky are actually more purplish or amber, with light blue layers of sky in between. It is an ominous image.
In the next room, Kupka has two diminutive landscapes, but the larger works that deserve the most attention represent human nature. Cabaret Dancer (1900) is a female dancer in a flowing, colorful dress, almost like wings spread behind her. Study for Gigolette and Gigolette: lo, the cow (1909) also exalt the human face and figure over the natural environment.
Throughout the exhibit, Kupka has more studies beside final paintings, best exemplified by the numerous works leading up to The Fair (Contredanse) (1912–13). Here the vertical columns, with their mix of blues, reds and greens, form an abstract curtain or forest of colors. The small checkers placed on vertical rows could be like leaves, though Kupka was really trying to visualize music and dance with this work, not nature.
In the last room on the ground floor, Farm near Duivendrecht (1916) is Mondrian’s most realistic painting, with a reflection of a farm in a pond. The trees around the farm are like a fragile dome, and all the colors of autumn radiate in this work. Even his less-detailed paintings in this room, Night Landscape II (1908), which is doused in dark blue and purple, and Gabled Farm Hut (1907), which is smothered in soil brown, generate an empathy with nature that most of his earlier works lacked.
The rooms upstairs are devoted to later and solely abstract works by both artists. From Kupka, there is the series “Album of Abstractions” (1928), which are a surprise, because they so resemble Mondrian’s most famous works, which face them.
Mondrian’s signature style is seen in Composition with Red, Black, Yellow, Blue & Gray (1921): little colored boxes that initially shocked the public for their simplicity. Some are elongated while others extend horizontally, and they are all separated by thick black lines. Kupka’s studies (drawings and watercolors) offer a contrast with their curves.
The contrast continues in a Cubist painting by Mondrian, Composition VIII (1913), a diamond-shaped image in off-gray tones — the black lines of division here are the focal points. Across from this, Kupka’s Planes by Curves (1926) is a set of curved towers in various colors piled on top of each other. Whereas Mondrian’s work influenced modern architecture, Kupka’s pillars could be an influence on postmodern architecture, particularly the work of Frank Gehry.
The last rooms reveal the warmth and essence of Kupka’s best work with Amorpha, warm chromatic (1911–12), which shows purple buds among shadows with dark amber cross planes, curved just enough to soften the image. Study for the language of verticals (1920–21) and Study for Vertical Planes (1911–12), both fine in their color schemes and begging for a larger version, are nonetheless beautifully detailed.
The last room shows The Cathedral (1912–13) by Kupka — vertical columns of color. It is a kaleidoscopic vision, or an interpretation of the burst of colors through the painted windows of a Gothic cathedral on the brightest of days. Across from this, Mondrian’s Portrait of a Lady (1912) portrays a barely recognizable figure done in black and dark gray.
A video in this last room, titled Sky Over Holland, shows an aerial view of the colorful rows, squares and lines of farmers’ fields, implying that Mondrian never really strayed far from nature. He just painted it from a different perspective. There are also scenes from food and flower markets, the streets of Amsterdam, and crowds at a fairground. These are the scenes that call to mind Kupka’s works, even the most abstract ones, bursting with the colors of life.
Thus both artists come together in the end, as they were at the beginning, interpreting their own particular vision of nature.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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