Abstraction-Creation: Post-War Geometric Abstract Art from Europe and South America

Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London is delighted to present Abstraction-Creation, an exhibition uniting twenty-nine abstract artists from South America and Europe.

The title Abstraction-Creation refers to the European abstract art movement of the same name founded by Theo van Doesburg in Paris in 1931. This somewhat loose association of artists increasingly looked towards geometric abstraction and concrete art. Although many of the artists in this exhibition moved away from Van Doesburg’s notion of geometric abstraction, they all championed a purely non-representational abstract art that was not derived from observed reality and began with the idea that abstract art is the search for the absolute and the struggle for pure meaning.

This exhibition brings together works by early European modern masters such as Max Bill, Josef Albers and Victor Vasarely along with later proponents of Concretism in South America including Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark and the lesser know figures, Judith Lauand, Lothar Charoux and Geraldo de Barros. This exhibition also displays early works by British Constructivist artists such as Anthony Hill and Kenneth and Mary Martin who further explored geometric abstract art through the use of mathematical theories and the juxtaposition of modular forms. Although geographically and historically disparate, all of these artists looked to abstraction with renewed fervour in the post-war era and saw it as a mode of expression that made a clean break away from the restraints of subjective representation.

A fully illustrated catalogue is available.

DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE

DOWNLOAD EXHIBITION CATALOGUE