mondrian diamond compositions

8/17/2019 Mondrian Diamond Compositions

1/111


2/111

MONDRIAN

The Dia m ond Compositions


3/111


4/111

MONDRIAN

The

Diamond Compositions

E. A .

Carmean,

Jr.

National Gallery

of

Art, W ashington 1979


5/111

Copyright ©

1979 Board

of

Trustees,

Nat iona l Gal lery

of

Ar t , Washington .

Al l

rights reserved.

No part of this publication

may

be reproduced without written per-

mission of the National Gallery of Art,

Washington, D.C.

20565.

This catalogue was produced by the Edi-

tors Office,

National Gallery

of

Art, Wash-

ington. Printed by W. M. Brown

6c

Son,

Inc.

Richmond,

Virginia, in

association

with The Arts Publish er .

Se t

in

Sabon

b y

Co mposition Systems Inc. ,

Arlington, Virginia.

Cover and text papers are Warren's

Cameo Dull.

Designed by Frances P . Smyth.

Exhibition

dates

at the

National Gallery

of

Art: July 15—September

16 ,

1979.

Cover: Diamond Painting in

Red,

Yellow

an d

Blue,

National Gallery

o f

Art,

Gift

of

Herbert and Nan net te Rothsc hild, 1971.

Frontispiece: Mondrian

in his

studio,

ru e

du Départ, Paris, 1933, standing next

to

Composition

with Yellow Lines. Haags

Gemeen temuseum,

T he

Hague.

Library of

Congress Cataloging

i n

Publication Data:

Carmean, E A

Mondrian: the diamond compositions.

Catalogue

of an

exhibition held

at the

National Gallery of Art, July 15-Sept. 16 ,

1979.

1.

Mond riaan, Pieter Cornelis ,

1872-

1944—Exhibitions

1.

United States.

Na-

tional Gallery of Art.

ND653.M76A4

1979

759.9492

79-16208


6/111

CONTENTS

F O R E W O R D

J. Carter Brown

7

L E N D E R S T O T H E

E X H I B I T I O N

8

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

9

Mondrian: The Diamond Compositions

E.

A .

Ca r mea n ,

Jr .

17

S T U D Y S E C T I O N

E.

A .

Carmean,

Jr. an d

Will iam

R.

Leisher

Study A : Diamond

Composition in

Red,

Yellow and Blue

Laboratory research by Barbara Miller

73

Study

B:

Composition

with

Blue

84

C A T A L O G U E

E. A .

C arm e an ,

J r.

with Trinkett Clark

The

Diamo nd Paint ings

91

T he

Diamond Composi t ion Drawings

100

List of

D ocum e nt s

103

S E L E C T E D C H R O N O L O G Y A N D B I B L I O G R A P H Y

5


7/111

1. Composition in Diamond

Shape,

paintings cat. no. 4.

Ri jksmuseum Króller-Müller, Otterlo.


8/111

FOREWORD

AT

THE

S T A R T

O F

T H I S D E C A D E

the

Trustees

of the Na-

tional G allery expanded the collecting policy of the

museum to go more deeply into the art of the twentieth

century, with

th e

goal that

by the

year 2000

our

collec-

tion of masterworks would include key paint ings,

sculpture, and prints

from

this era. It is expected that the

major i ty

of these works of art would enter the collection

as gifts from generous donors, just as in the past th e

Gallery's holdings of old masters have come to the

m u s e u m . No single work could have better

exemplified

this pro ject than Mondrian 's extraordinary Diamond

Painting

in Red,

Yellow

and

Blue, generously donated to

th e Gallery i n 1971 by Herbert an d Nannet te Roth-

schild.

Mondr ian is one of the central artists in the in-

vent ion of abstraction, and the Rothschild diamond has

long been regarded as a key monu me nt in his oeuvre.

The Rothschild painting was not the

first

Mondr ian

diamond to be exhibited at the National Gallery. In

1963. Painting I

of

1926, owned

by The

Museum

of

Modern Art, was shown in an exhibition of major works

from that institution's collection. More recently,

th e

great Victory Boogie-Woogie owned by Mr. and Mrs.

Burton Tremaine was included in

Aspects

of

Twentieth-Century Art, a n exhibition held in June 1978

to commemorate the opening of the Gallery's new East

Building.

These three painting s, along with five other

canvases, have been broug ht together in the present ex-

hibi t ion, Mondrian:

The

Diamond

Compositions.

It

is the responsibility of museu ms not only to collect

works of art, but to preserve and study them as well.

The first project undertaken by the Depar tmen t o f

Twentieth-Century A rt

upon

it s establishment in 1974

was a scholarly examination of the Rothschild painting.

As this study proceeded, it became necessary to exam ine

Mondrian's other diamond pictures and, in addition, the

numerous drawings he made for studio ideas. Progres-

sively, i t became apparent

that

this material, cutting

across the range of the artist's development, would make

an interesting exhibition, rewarding to the eye and with

sufficient

new information to provide a scholarly contri-

bution. Thus Mondrian:

The

Diamond Compositions

follows

Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian

Painting

as the second in a series o f didactic exhibitions

devoted to va rious aspects of the Gallery's collection.

We are most grateful to the lenders who have allowed

their

rare an d

fragile

paint ings and drawings to be in this

show. Although certain canvases were not in condition

to travel to Washington, we have included them in the

essay and in the catalogue, to perm it a complete listing

of Mondrian's diamond compositions. This study also

required

the assistance of many other people, both

friends

of

Mondr ian

who

shared their recollections

of

the artist and art historians who made available their

specialized

knowledge

of his

paint ings .

Mondrian:

The

Diamond Compositions w as organ-

ized

by the Gallery 's curator of Twentie th-Century Art ,

E.

A. Carmean, Jr. Trinkett Clark, research assistant in

th e

Twentie th-Century Department , aided

in all

phases

of th e exhibition, in clud ing research an d interviews in

the United States while Mr. Carmean was in Europe.

Their studies revealed

a

fascinat ing—and puzzl ing—

history

aroun d the National G al lery 's own paint ing,

which

required

a

joint detective effort with conservator

William Leisher, published here as an appendix to the

catalogue. Many other

staff

members were involved in

this

project, and we extend to them our grateful appreci-

ation of their

efforts.

J. CARTER BROWN

Director

7


9/111

LENDERS

TO THE

EX HIBITION

The Art Institute of Chicago

Mrs. Andrew Fuller

Arnold

and

Millie Glimcher

The

Solomon

R .

Guggenhe im Museum ,

N ew

York

Mr.

Harry Hol tzman

M r. Sidney Janis

The Municipality of H ilversum, The Netherlands

The

M use um

of

Modern Art ,

N ew

York

Philadelphia Museum

of Art

Private

Collection

Mr. and

Mrs.

Tony

Rosenthal

M r. Sidney Singer

M r. Stephen Singer

Stedelijk

Museum, Amsterdam

Mr. and Mrs. Burton Tremaine

Miss Charmion

von Wiegand

Yale

Universi ty Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

8


10/111

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THIS E X H I B I T I O N AN D S T U D Y would no t have been pos-

sible w i thout

th e

t ime

and

efforts

of a

great ma ny

people. Trinkett Clark, research assistant

in the

Depart -

ment of Twentieth-Century Art, aided in all aspects of

th e exhibition and assumed organizat ional dut ies during

my absence in Europe. William Leisher and Barbara Mil-

ler of the con servation staff performed miracles of dis-

covery in the laboratory during each complicated step in

examining t he Washington paint ing.

We are

especially thankful

to the

scholars

w ho

shared

their knowledge

of the

diamond paint ings .

The

senior

figure, Michel Seuphor, who is celebrating his eightieth

birthday this year, consented

to

several interviews

an d

made avai lable h is incredible docum entary materia l . H is

jun i o r colleagues, Robert P. Welsh (University of To-

ronto)

and H. L. C.

Jaffé,

as

well

as

Joop

M .

Joosten

(Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam), Herbert Henkels

(Haags Gemeentemuseum,

T he

Hague) ,

and Jan

Burema

(Gemeenteli jke dienst voor culture, Hilversum) answered

m y questions. Anne

d 'Harnoncour t

and M arigene But ler

of

th e

Phi ladelphia Museu m

of Art

made a r rangement s

fo r

M r.

Leisher

a nd myself to

examine

th e

Phi ladelphia

1926 painting

in

their laboratory; Nancy

Troy an d

Robert L. Herbert of Yale University conducted a similar

examinat ion of the picture there. In addition M s. Troy

and

Susan Denker (Brown Univers i ty) kindly made

available research from their dissertations.

Mondr ian ' s friends and admirers were also most

generous. James Johnson Sweeney and Mr. and Mrs.

Burton Trem aine discussed thei r important paint ing s

with m e, whi le Harry Hol tzman and Charmion von

Wiegand recalled the artist and his New York years in

conversations with

Miss

Clark.

The

fol lowing people w ere a lso imp ortant

to

this proj-

ect: in Washington—Roland Housan , T he Embassy of

France,

and W.

Joris

W i t k a m, T he

Embassy

of the

Netherlands ; in New

York—Judi th

Harney of the Pace

Gal lery, Budd Hopkins , Dorothy Kosinski of the Sol-

omon R . Guggenheim Museum, Linda Lagacé, and

Pamela Stein of The M useum of Modern Art ; in

Chicago—Anne Rorimer and Cou rtney D onnel l of the Art

Institute; in C ambr idge—Agnes Saalfield of Harva rd

University;

in Par is—Yve-Alain Bois a nd Jean Clay o f

Macula Revue,

Nicole

Genete t-Morel of

A rt Present,

an d Pierre Schneider

of U

Express.

Many members

of the

Nat ional Gal lery

staff

contr ib-

uted. Richard

Amt and

José Naranjo made technical

photographs

and

analyze d reproduct ions w hich pre-

sented th e only evidence of two

other

diamond composi-

t ions . Arthu r Wheelock, curator of Dutch paint ings , a s-

sisted in negotiations. Katie Klapper and Dana Wechsler,

summer interns

in the

Depar tment

of

Twent ieth-Century

Art, conducted research

on

this topic. Cathy Gebhard

edited the text and helped

clarify

several points. William

J. Wil l iams of the Educat ion D epartmen t t rans la ted th is

material

into

wall labels,

and the

blend

of

visual

an d

didactic experiences is the work of the Department of

Installation and Design.

E.

A. C A R M E A N , JR .

9


11/111

2. Diagonal Composition, p aintings cat. no. 5. The Art Institute

of Chicago, Gift of Edgar K a u f m a n n , Jr .

10


12/111

3. Diamond

Painting

in

Red, Yellow

an d Blue, paintings cat.

no. 6.

National Gallery

of

Art ,

Washington,

Gift

of

Herbert

an d

Nannette Rothschild, 1971.

11


13/111

4. Composition with Blue, pa in t ings cat. no. 9. Philadelphia

Museum of Art, A. E. Gallat in Collection.

12


14/111

5.

Composition with

Two Lines, paintings cat. no. 13. Stedelijk

Museum, Amsterdam,

on

loan

from th e

Municipali ty

of Hilver-

sum, the

Netherlands.

13


15/111

6.

Composition with

Yellow

Lines, paintings cat. no. 14. Haags

Gemeen temuseum, T he Hague.

14


16/111

7. Victory

Boogie-Woogie, p ainting s cat .

no. 16.

Collection

of

Mr. and

Mrs. Burton Tremaine.

15


17/111

Mondr ian in his New York studio o n First Avenue holding Composition in a Square

with

Red Corner,

1943, document

no. 6.

Collection

of

M ichel Seuphor, Paris.


18/111

MONDRIAN: THE DIAMON D COMPOSITIONS

E.

A. Carm ean, Jr.

THIS S M A L L D I D A C T I C E X H I B I T I O N

ÍS

not a comprehensive review of

Mondrian 's work. Rather it concen-

trates on one of his great

formal

an d

expressive inventions:

th e

diamond-

shaped painting.

These

canvases

occur in almost every phase of his

mature career, from

th e

first

four

which initiate his abstract work to

th e last picture,

Victory Boogie-

Woogie,

where Mondrian was still

proposing new ideas. The diamond

paintings are probably the most fa-

mous

of the

artist's

pictures

an d

have

become one of the classic images of

modern art. This prominence is re-

markable when

we

realize

that

there

are only sixteen k now n p aintings in

the format, and of these, less than

half are in the black bands and color

planes voca bulary we generally iden-

tify

as

Mondrian's style.

The essay which follows is a study

of

sev eral aspects of the d iamond

paintings. Although their format

makes them individu al , the diamonds

are related to Mon drian 's other

work. As we will see, he often either

extrapolated ideas from the rectangu-

la r

paintings and translated them

into the diamonds or used the dia-

mond forma t

t o

introduce

new

ideas

wKvcK

tatet

emeïge

m rectangular

canvases.

At the

same time,

t he

dia-

monds can be seen as a un ique set

sharing particular compositional and

expressive elements. Moreover, they

have an internal relationship and in

certain cases can literally be seen as

variations on a theme.

In m aking his diamond paintings

Mondrian appears to have studied

various possibilities first in drawings.

Fortunately nine such sheets are

known; and they provide insights

into the o rigins of the format, its cru-

cial role

i n

changing

M ondr ian 's ar t

in

1925-1926, and the creation of his

great last painting.

The initial

state

of this project was

a study of the National Gallery's

Diamond

Painting in

Red,

Yellow

an d Blue.

During this work I came to

realize the central imp ortance for

Mondrian's art of the

diamond paint-

ings as a

whole. Certain questions

encountered

in

research

an d

analysis

led back to a more complete exami-

nation of the Washington picture,

which is here printed as Study A. A

discussion

of a possible eighteenth

diamond canvas follows i n Study B.

We have also prepared a catalogue

raisonné

of

known

an d

missing dia-

mond paintings, supplemented by a

catalogue

of the

diamond composi-

tion drawings

and a

listing

of

docu-

ments

which bear directly upon these

pictures. Finally,

a

shor t bibliography

an d chronology is inc luded .

Mondrian 's diamond composit ions

have never been studied

in

un ion

b e-

fore.

Nevertheless,

this

study would

not have been possible without the

crucial Mondrian scholarship of the

last twenty-five years, including that

initiated by Michel Seuphor, then

continued

by

Rober t

P .

Welsh. Hans

L.

C. Jaffé an d

Joop

M .

Joosten have

expanded this work, joined most re-

cently

by

K ermi t Champa

an d other

younger art historians.

1

Tableau Losangique

W e

have entitled the exhibition and

this accompanying study

The Dia-

mond Paintings after Mondrian's

ow n

term

for the

mid-1920s works

tableau losangique.

2

Losange in

French

translates directly

to the

Eng-

lish

cognate lozenge where en

losange

can be rendered as diamond

shaped. It is this distinction which

Mondrian wanted to mainta in in

using losangique,

fo r

losange indi-

cates

a

d i a mo n d

in an

elongated

form,

with axes of u nequal length;

Mondr ian ' s d iamond is a lways a

square

turned

4 5°

with equal axes.

H is friends pointed out the ambi-

guities suggested by losangique, bu t

Mo ndrian insisted upon

it s

use:

3

t he

term is

found

as the

title

of

d iamond

paintings by his

follow ers Jean Gorin

and

C ezar Dómela m ade shor t ly after

this period. Mondrian adopted the

term

losangiquement

in the

1930s

to

indicate

th e

form

of the work and re-

ferred to his pa in t ings as d iamonds in

English in New York at the end of his

life.

4

Th e

Peculiarities

of the

Diamond Shape

The square diamond, like the square

rectangle and the circle, i s a special

pictorial shape. While a ll three for-

mats share t he un ique qua l i ty , fo r

simple shapes,

of

being vertically and

horizontal ly

symm etr ica l ( the same

17


19/111

both ways, not the same each way),

only the diamond has points instead

of

sides marking the limits of its lat-

eral spread. The rectangle, of course,

indicates i ts height an d width with it s

parallel sides, and the circle with one

circumferential side. In the latter two

cases, the outside reach of the picture

coincides with

it s

exterior sides. Only

th e

d iamond

offers

a

(simple) double

symmetr ical shape which points its

height

and width and has sides which

do not equ ate with those limits. Be-

cause of

this

the

sides

of the

d iamond

seem

to cut, rather than to constrain,

th e elements of the picture which

come in contact with them.

5

Another dis t inct ion can also be

made between these three simple

shapes—that of surface

area

an d

vis-

ua l size. The square, circle, and dia-

mond forms diagramed here (d ia.

a)

have an

equal surface area,

but the

diamond, because of the greater dis-

tance from point

to

opposing point,

reads as a much larger shape. Within

this

shape any cont inuous horizontal

(or vertical) placed along or near the

horizontal (or vertical)

axis

will be of

greater length than is possible in the

comparab le square . As we wil l se e

these

characteristics

of the

dynamic

shape of the diamond— its cut t ing

edges, its greater

surface,

and its ex-

tended lines—correspond directly to

part icular

aims of Mon drian 's art .

The diamond was in fact a

form

both

ins t rumental in and receptive to his

evolving ideas,

and it is in

Mondrian 's

d i a m o n d paint ings where

we

find

hi s

art at its most

fulfilled

and assured.

Questions of Origin

The inv ent ion and subsequent art icu-

lation

of the

diamond-shaped

abstract painting

is

certainly Mon-

drian 's claim.

No

precedent—in

th e

full

sense—can be

cited.

To be sure,

diamond-shaped paintings do exist

before Mondrian's,

including Dutch

portrai ts which

he may

have k n o w n .

6

a.

Circle, square,

an d

diamond forms

o f

equal surface area.

But

in these works the nature of the

shaping is decorative, an d because of

the illusionary nature of the images

th e angled edges of the paint ing play

no

graphic role

in the

(mo dern) sense

of composition.

Mondrian 's d iamonds have such

pecul iar formal qualities that

scholars have been led to suggest

other, nonpictorial sources for them.

The most interesting of these was

first proposed by Meyer Schapiro:

th e

heraldic d iamond

form

escutch-

eons of the deceased, available to

Mondrian e i ther i n seventeenth-cen-

tury D utch paint ings of church inte-

riors or, as Budd Hopkins has writ-

ten, in contemporary churches.

7

While

this influence cannot be ruled out, it

should

be

noted

that th e

correspond-

ences ar e m ost convincingly made to

Mondrian's later and spare composi-

tions

of the 1920s an d 1930s. The

first an d

precedent-making pictures

of

1918-1919

bear

fa r

less

r e-

semblance (see below).

Other writers have

found

affinities

between

th e

diamonds

and

Mon-

drian 's own early work, especially a

series of landscape paintings done

around 1900 (fig.

1)

where

a

peaked

roof

and its

direct reflection

in the

water compose

a

diamond motive.

Given

the eighteen year gap between

these works and Mo ndrian 's first

diamond pictures, one must agree

with Robert Welsh that .

. . it

would

be incorrect to see this work as a

conscious prognosis of the diamond

compositions.

8

N evertheless, that

Mo ndria n used this motive in his pic-

tures is worthy of note.

What

these

early paint ings

do

reveal

is the

art-

ist 's tendency toward two-dimen-

sional, surface-orien ted design as

well

as simple geometric patterns.

Mondrian

an d

Impressionism

an d

Cubism

These internal and external sources

are at

best secondary influences

on

Mondrian's development of the dia-

mond paint ing. Rather, the diamond

appeared

in

response

to

directions

within

Mondrian 's own works of the

preceding si x

years

and was specifi-

cally

the result of a dialogue between

cubism an d impressionism. A s this

dialogue continued

to inform

Mondrian 's paint ing throughout his

career, it is important for us to exam-

ine the period of

1912-1918

at some

length before discussing the dia-

monds which develop from it .

Mondrian had worked in an im-

pressionis t man ner as early a s 1900,

although his pictures never

fully

con-

formed

to that style—a logical con-

sequence of his relative isolation in

Holland. This provincialism

i s

also

a

characteristic of his subsequent pic-

tures

in expressionist, pointillist, and

fauvist

idioms. Only

after

his move

to

Paris

i n

December 1911

and his

18


20/111

1.

Mill

by the

Water, c.

1905,

oil on

canvas mounted

on

cardboard, 30.2 x 38.1 cm

( I l

7

/s

x 15 in.), T he Museum o f

Modern Art, New York. (Unless otherwise

noted,

all paintings

an d

drawings

are by

Piet Mondrian.)

direct contact with cubism does

Mondrian 's

ar t

really achieve

a

sig-

nificant

stature.

The

cubism Mondrian found

in

Paris was at the end of its high ana-

lytical period,

a

moment when

th e

works

of

Picasso

and

Braque were

at

their most com plex (fig. 2). Intri-

cately detailed, filled with nuances of

shading and drawing, and painter ly,

these canvases are as close as cubism

came to abstraction. Given these

characteristics, i t is extraordinary

how rapidly Mondrian absorbed this

difficult style into his own new

works, which by 1914 have a sophis-

tication and unity that nearly matches

that of these sources.

It

is impor t an t to isolate two as-

pects of this absorption: firstly that i t

was of a

formal

rather

than thematic

nature, and secondly that even if

cubism w as becoming less spatial an d

less descriptive, Mondrian's transla-

tion w as more two-dimensional an d

abstract. In the classic cubist paint-

ings of this moment the subject still

retained

a

sculptural presence, albeit

that of bas-relief. Th e planes in the

cubist

scaffolding

shunt back and

forth

spatially,

fur ther

model ing the

image(s).

Finally the figure or still life

rests firmly on the bottom of the

paint ing—though

it

fades from

th e

edges along

th e

three upper sides—

giving

an even greater impression of

palpable mass.

As

early as March

1913

Mondrian's work

w as

described

as a

very

abstract

cub ism"

9

(by Gui l -

laume Apol l inai re) ,

and by

1914 this

term was quite appropriate. In such

paint ings

as

Composition

No. 6

(fig.

3) of that year , Mondrian has trans-

formed the

cubist scaffolding into

a

grid which spreads

ou t

la tera l ly

like a

screen. Given this structure

th e

color

planes, which are in pinks, blues, and

grays,

ar e

also positioned much more

two-dimensional ly. The drawing is

no w almost entirely composed of

horizontal and vertical l ines, with

only occasional accents of curv ilinea r

elements—a disposition

toward

th e

geometric which becomes a ha l lmark

of Mondrian 's mature s tyle.

Faced with this style, there

are

almost no clues as to the subject of

th e paint ing. But as Robert Welsh

ha s shown,

10

this picture can be con-

nected with building façades i n Paris;

indeed many of Mondrian 's works

from

this period derive from archi-

tectural sources, including church

architecture, railway stations as well

as apartment structures. These sub-

jects

ar e

clearly different from

th e

figurai an d still-life themes of Picasso

and B raque. Wil l iam Rubin has sug-

gested that Mondrian perceived

an

analogy between the cubist scaffold-

in g

wi th it s

upward

na r rowing and

dematerialization

11

and Gothic

archi tecture and thus selected th e lat-

ter for his theme. But i t seems to me

that Mondrian 's subjects

ar e

more

properly unders tood as being a result

of hi s parallel increasing interest in

impress ionism.

While

w e

have

no

documenta ry

evidence

tha t Mondr i an w as s tudying

th e im press ionists ' paint ings during

this

period,

his works reveal many

analagous features .

T he

s t ructure

in

Mondrian 's pic tures , a l though

it

clearly derives from cubism, has a

tendency

toward a more evenly

posed composition, delicate tonalit ies

of

p ink

an d

blue,

and a

less tangible

appearance, al l characteristics of the

impress ionist canvas . Furtherm ore,

th e subjects—Paris architecture,

Gothic cathedrals,

and the

slightly

later

seascapes—are

ones s tandard

to

this style, especially to the paintings

of

Monet . Significantly, these themes

provided Mondrian 's cubis t works

with

subjects

that no t only have a

given structure of horizontal and ver-

tical elements, corresponding

to his

pictorial constructions,

but

also

are

planate, an d thus in keeping with the

increasingly screenlike surface of his

images. This ma nne r of selection is

impressionistic;

12

these artists

edited their paintings

by

choosing

views

that would accord with their

19


21/111

2. Pablo Picasso, Spanish (French

School),

1881-1973,

Ma Jolie (Woman

with a

Zither

or Guitar),

1911-1912,

o il

on canvas, 100.0

x

65.4

cm

(3 9

3

/s

x

25

3

/4

in.) , The Museum of Modern Art, New

York.

Acqu ired through th e Lillie P . Bliss

Bequest .

style, avoiding a vista with any large

areas of solid color which would

break

their facture o f smal l interwo-

ve n strokes of differing hues . In addi-

tion

an

im press ionis t paint in g

can be

seen

as essentially a project ion of a

scene

on to

a

flat

surface, not u nl ike a

photograp hic or c in emat ic image. As

w e have noted Mon drian 's 1914

structure has a similar screenlike ap-

pearance, although highly abstracted

from

it s

visual

source. Thus both

styles

as a

resul t

o f

th is qual i ty have

a

lightness, which

is

notab ly dis t inct

from

the sense of volume and weight

still evident in cubi sm.

Mondr i an ' s

1914

works differ

from

cubist paintings in another

w a y : th e rela t ionship between th e

image

and the surrounding pic toria l

space.

It is

this

difference—and it s

development in Mondr ian ' s hands

3.

Composition No.

6 ,

1914,

oil on

can-

vas, 88.0 x 61.0 cm (34

5

/s x 24

in .),

Haags Gemeen temuseum, The Hague.

—which leads

to the

d i amonds .

W e

have seen how the image in the

cubist

painting is disposed toward

th e frame in such a mann er that a

neutra l

space surrounds it on the

three upper sides, while

th e

lower

portion rests on the bottom

edge.

Rubin

has observed that in Mon-

drian 's works :

the dissolution of the scaffolding near

th e edge is consistently carried out on all

four

sides.

. . .

Moreover, M ondrian 's

"floating" of his now more filigree struc-

ture in the la teral as well as the shallow

recessional

space of the composition gives

it a

lightness

and

less allusively architec-

tural appearance.

. . ,

13

The

cubists were,

of

course, aware

of

this neutral area which sur-

rounded thei r increas ingly

flatter

an d

more abstracted structures. This area

w as necessary to provide an a m b i g u -

ou s

ground

for the

painted image

which itself fluctuated between vol-

ume and flat pattern. Nevertheless i t

presented, as Braque referred to it , a

problem of corners.

14

As a solu-

4. Georges Braque, French,

1882-1963,

Still

Life with

Dice and

Pipe, 1911,

oil on

canvas, 79.0

x

59.0

cm

(31V8

x

23 % in.),

Private collection.

t ion

to the

problem B raque

and

Picasso tried fitting their composi-

tions into oval or c i rcular formats

(fig.

4), but here th e

diff iculty

of ad-

just ing

th e basically geometric an d

modeled s t ructure

to the

edge

of the

work

sti l l remained, with

its at-

tendant ques t ion of how to visual ly

account for the discontinuities caused

by th e con junc t ion of the two-

dimensional presence of the frame

and the

sculptura l impl icat ions

of the

painted field.

Mondr ian adopted

th e

oval com-

position into

his

works

as

well, often

paint ing an ou t l ined oval s t ructure

on a rectangu lar canvas. But in other

works

a

change occurs.

In

Composi-

tion No. 6,

fo r

example,

th e

image

is

essentially

ovoid, but here th e border

is absent and the scaffoldin g dis-

solves into th e rectangular ground

around

th e

central construction.

Now the

paint ing reads

as a

rectangular

field

containing an image

that is oval in character. Further, as

Mondrian 's s t ructure is quite two-

20


22/111

dimensional th e spatial distinctions

between it and the surrounding areas

are far less ambiguous. This increases

its independence

from

the pictorial

field.

There are historical precedents for

this kind of imagistic independence,

using illusionistic space. One perti-

nent for our discussion is Rubens'

The Rape of the Daughters of

Leucippus

(fig.

5)

where

the

figures

form

a vertical (and close-up) dia-

mond configuration against

th e

hori-

zontal (and distant) landscape.

In

Mondr ian ' s

Composition No. 6

th e

cubist-impressionist screen acquires

a

uni ty of image which is comparable,

th e

first

stage in the development of

th e diamond.

Plus an d Minus

Mond r ian 's next set of works , th e

so-called p lus-and-m inus pictures,

form

the connection between his

cubist paintings

and the

diamonds.

They were created in relative isola-

tion from cubism, as Mondrian had

returned to the N etherlands for a

visit i n

August 1914

and was re-

tained there

by

World

War I. He be-

came

friends

with Bart van der Leek

an d Théo

van Doesburg, learning

and sh aring their style of sharp

geometric forms

an d

pure colors

which

by 1917 led to the de

Stijl

movement.

Mondrian 's Composition with

Lines (fig. 6) of that same year shows

the

developments

of

this

period.

Now the

cubist color planes ha ve

been eliminated, and the pai nting de-

pends en tirely upon

a

linear structure

in solid black against the white sur-

face. This

scaffolding,

although

still

distantly cubist in character, is here

disjointed,

made of short , independ-

ent, horizontal and vertical lines

which occasionally intersect. W hile

evenly

disposed on the surface,

certain crossing elements within this

5.

Peter Pau l Ru ben s, Flem ish, 1577-

1640, Th e

Rape

of the Daughters of

Leucippus, c.

1616,

oil on

canvas,

222 x

209 cm (87

3

/s x 82V4 in.) ,

Alte

Pinakothek, Munich.

field

do create minor points of focus.

Earlier

we observed how in the

1914 Composition No. 6 Mondr ian

had dispensed with th e oval border-

ing band and allowed the grid

itself

to

establish

th e

basic format.

Com-

position with Lines

represents

th e

end of this development; the struc-

ture here assumes a clear identity as

an independent shape. Furthermore it

is the structure alone which creates

the image. As we might expect in a

cubist-derived painting, there

is

still

the problem of corners. And when

we

read

th e

image

as

depicting depth

(see below), they do have an oddly

indeterminate character.

But we can

also se e this picture abstractly. Then

the black elements

form

a circular

structure,

and the

corners, being con-

tinuous with the neutral white field,

become sim ply part of the flat

ground.

In

spite

of its

abstract appearance,

Composition with

Lines

does derive

from

an external visual source—the

pier o r breakwater projecting into

th e ocean at Domburg .

15

This sub-

ject, and particularly the sparkle of

sunlight on the

water, relates

directly

to

impressionism rather than cubism.

Further, Mondrian 's means of s tat ing

this

theme—by

short disconnected

elements somewhat

evenly

distrib-

uted over the

surface—is

in accord

with this style. Also impressionist in

character is the relationsh ip of

Mondrian's choice of subject to his

formal ends, for as Rubin has writ-

ten:

Looking at the sea, which extended be -

fore him la teral ly rather than rising per-

pendicular ly (as did the facades), and

which was a flickering and elusive surface

rather than a concrete th ree-d imensional

object , Mondrian found that source

in

nature which is perhaps, through i ts

"formlessness,"

th e most inherently

abstract .

16

It is important to note in this com-

parison with impressionism, tha t

Mondrian 's works share

th e

s imilar

goal of captu ring reality. This ideal

rema ins a constant in his art, but

with the invention of the diamonds

and his mature style, the manner in

which it is expressed undergoes radi-

cal t ransformation.

Toward th e Diamond

One

more step

was

necessary

in

Mondrian 's work before

th e

abstract

circular s t ructure Com position with

Lines of 1917 was t ransformed in to

th e

first

d iamond pa in t ing of the fol-

lowing year. This took place

in two

related paintings

from 1917—

Composition

in Color, A

an d Com-

position in

Color,

B

(fig. 7)— as well

as a corollary drawing for the latter.

The two paintings are quite

different

from

th e preceding plus-an d-min us

pictures. Here Mondrian returns to

flat rectangles of color unbounded

an d

occasionally overlapping.

A l-

though the black structure is absent,

short black elements ar e placed on or

between th e color blocks. The ar-

rangement

is far

more casual than

tha t

in the

plus-and-m inus works

and

does not provide th e same unity. This

21


23/111

6 .

Composition

with Lines, 1917, oil on canvas, 108.2 x 108.2

cm

(4 2

5

/s x

42

5

/s

in .), Ri jksmuseum Kroller-Miiller, Otterlo

more disparate character prevents th e

composi t ion from having a part icular

identity, although it does indirectly

suggest a shape. Significantly, that

form is a d iamond.

1 7

Our

reading

o f Composition

in

Color, B a s a d i amond a r rangement

within

a

rec t angula r field finds

s t rong support in a drawing now in

th e Holtzman collection (fig. 8) . This

sheet, Composition Based on Dia-

mond

Shape,

has been dated 1914,

'but m ust surely date from 1916

o r

1917. It follows th e general form ula

of the plus-and-minus works wi th

crossing and independent horizontal

and vert ical lines, though here they

are longer and more abstract. But

there is also something new inscribed

onto this image; in the lower area are

diagonal l ines which indicate a dia-

mond format . They mark the first d i-

rect evidence of this orientatio n in

Mondr i an ' s work .

The

Hol t zman drawing

can be di-

rectly connected with th e more

elu-

7.

Composition in Color, B, 1917,

oil on

canvas, 59.0

x

44.0

cm

(19

3

/4

x

17

3

/s

in .), Ri jksmuseum

Krôller-Muller,

Otterlo

(Photo taken from Seuphor, p. 264).

sive d i amonds

of the two

1917 paint -

ings.

Welsh discovered that on the

reverse of Composition in Color, B

there

is a

p rel imina ry sketch

for the

paint ing which

shows

a

positive similarity

to

[the Holtz-

ma n] drawing in the disposition a nd

greater length

of the

grid lines,

in

com-

parison with their appearance in the

painting.

This [Holtzman] drawing may thus

have been

a p re l imina ry

design

for one of

the two paintings, and this would explain

th e inclusion o f a faint regu lar d iamond

or lozenge

form

in the draw ing as a com-

positional anchor for the p artly cruci-

form,

pa rtly ovoid and partly circular

dispersal

of the smaller images.

18

By viewing the drawing on the

verso of the paint ing and the earlier

Hol tzman sheet

as

transitional steps

we can

then

propose a

connection

between th e c i rcular plus-and -minu s

Composition with Lines

and the

sug-

gested diamond compositions in

color, th e la t ter replacing ma ny of

th e multiple black units with large

color planes,

but

still us ing some

black elements.

The

drawing also allows

us to

speculate abou t th e theme of the two

paintings. Welsh has proposed that

th e Holtzman sheet relates to earlier

works based on the

facade

of Notre

D a m e de s Champs,

19

and Jaffé has

fur ther

argued that this identification

can be

extended

to the

paint ings

a s

well,

although they present th e sub-

ject

in a highly

abstract

manner .

2 0

If

we accept Jaffa 's theory, then we can

see

how as late as 1918 Mondrian's

work was sti l l drawn from visual

sources, albeit i n a greatly removed

fashion.

22


24/111

8.

Composition

based

on

Diamond

Shape, drawings cat.

no. 1.

Collection of Mr. Harry Holtzman.

Th e Grid Diamonds

The

years

1918-1919

were crucial

ones

in

Mon dr ian 's

work . During

this period he created his first four

diamond paintings, an d they play th e

significant

role

in the

transition

of his

art

from

the plus-and-minus pictures

of

1917

to the

works

of his

ma ture

style of 1920-1921. Also at this time

Mondrian returned to Paris an d thus

to direct contact with th e cubist

movement

which had so greatly

changed his art before the war.

Mondrian invented

th e

diamond

painting

in

1918,

an d

three more

diamonds were finished

b y

1919.

The earliest work is gray an d black,

th e

second

in

brownish gray

an d

white, while the latter ones use color

planes. These pairs, joined with

tw o

vertical rectangles and one square

canvas, which date between them,

form

a

linked group

of

seven compo-

sitions,

which employ an all-over

grid pat tern.

The first tw o grid paintings ar e

diamond shaped, o ne dating from

1918 (fig.

9), the

other from 1919

(fig.

10),

bu t

probably begun earlier.

Both

are

made

up

entirely

of

straight,

hard-edged, linear elements, crossing

from one side of the painting to the

other.

The

ground

of

each picture

is

neutra l

in

relationship

to the

linear

composition which is quite dense.

Each

work

is divided diago nally into

a grid pattern of eight units, thus

forming

sixty-four smaller diamonds

which

correspond

to the larger, par-

ent shape. Mondrian has further

divided

this surface

b y

crossing hori-

zontal and vertical lines through the

points

of

each smaller module. Each

diamond is thus cut into quarters,

producing

a

surface

of two

hundred

an d

fifty-six

equal units—or nearly

equal—some

b eing slightly smaller

because Mondrian thickened certain

horizontals

an d

verticals

to

create

an

asymmetrical pattern, one which

contrasts

with th e grid, but neverthe-

less is conjunctive with it.

Because

th e

differences

in

width

between

th e

accented lines

an d

those

of th e grid ar e small in the first dia-

mond,

it is difficult to

decipher

th e

accented p attern. The easiest way to

see it is by

studying

th e

second dia-

mond,

for the

construction formed

by it s more differentiated lines is vir-

tually

identical with

tha t

of the 1918

painting. All widened lines in the ear-

lier picture are present in the

second,

save for one short horizontal below

center on the right. Three vertical

lines ar e

added

in the

1919 paint-

ing—two at the lower left and one

at the upper right.

In

both works

th e

balance

o f

this

delicate,

part-to-part structure with

th e

almost mechanical energy

of the

grid

is

quite extraordinary.

In the

1918

painting

th e

accented lines

a re

barely perceptible, but nevertheless

they do

visually shift away from

th e

grid. In the 1919 Philadelphia paint-

ing, where th e accents ar e more

strongly deployed,

the

lines

can be

read as the boundar ies of a series of

tangent rectangles, and the ground of

the work becomes another composi-

t ional

element. Indeed, Mondrian has

here left the weave of the canvas vis-

ible. Rather than painting

th e

ground

he rubbed it with white paint, allow-

in g the pigment to remain only in the

areas between th e woof an d warp ;

this creates a subtly modulated plane

behind

th e

grid

and the

accented pat-

tern. (Exposure to the air has turned

the canvas

very

brown, making the

rubbed-in white paint even more

noticeable by contrast; nevertheless,

the raw surface would have had a

yellowish

tone even when fresh.)

However,

in

both paintings,

an d

23


25/111

9. Lozenge with Grey Lines, paintings

cat. no. 1. Haags Gemeentemuseum, Th e

Hague.

especially

in the more evenly pro-

por t ioned first diamond, th e presence

of the rectangles i s countered by the

grid. Its

density combined with

it s

crisp graph ic character

an d

contrast

to the field,

produces

an

optically

flickering surface; th e eye, in reaction

to

this evenness

of

pattern, focuses

not on the

lines,

but on the

intersec-

tions, seeing in effect eight-pointed

stars.

Certain

formal

characteristics—the

high

contrast

of the

dark lines

a nd

th e

light ground,

th e

density

o f

sur-

face

markings,

and the

optical flic-

kerings these produce, as well as the

asymmetrical , accented

pattern—

allow us to connect the first dia-

monds directly to Composition with

Lines of the previous year, which has

similar formal qualities.

W e

have

a l-

ready noted the tendency toward

evenly

balanced, all-over

fields in

Mondr ian ' s

work

from

his

mid-

cubist

painting to the 1917 seascape.

The two

diamonds here then, par-

t icularly th e first, ma r k th e culmina-

tion of this trend.

The

d iamond forma t itself

can

also

be

seen

as a

culmination

of

another

tendency in Mondrian 's

images—the

tendency

to assume a shape, albeit

oval

or circular, against the

rectangular field. In

this context

th e

Holtzman sheet of a crosslike, plus-

and-minus composition marked to

suggest a diamond takes on even

greater importance.

The

crucial dif-

ference in the diamond paintings is

that here Mon drian identified

th e

shape

of the

painted composition

di -

rectly with the actual shape of the

paint ing, rather than placing

a

dia-

mond grid onto

a

square canvas.

In

this sense what

th e

diamonds

do is

simply get rid"

of the

neutral parts

of

the painting, the

"problem

cor-

ners endem ic to cubist and cubist-

based art.

21

Stars

an d

Constellations

Because

th e

sharp contrasts,

th e

graphic vocabulary, and the continu-

ous design create such an abstract

character, we might assume that the

diamonds are the first of

Mondrian's

nonthematic paintings. Yet just a s

they can be

linked

in

form with

th e

artist's preceding works—and specif-

ically

the seascapes—they also can be

thematically connected with these

paintings by their common deriva-

tion from

a

vis ual source.

In 1942 Mondrian recalled this

period

in a

general way:

Observing sea, sky, and stars, I sought to

indicate

their plastic function through a

multiplicity

of

crossing verticals

an d

horizontals .

22

This description might apply

to

cer-

tain of the

plus-and-minus

works,

for example fig.

6 ,

which suggests

a

horizon with scattered stars in the

sk y

above. However,

it is the sky and

stars a lone—minus any

indication

of

sea or horizon—which is the

subject

of

the first tw o

diamonds.

As

Welsh

ha s

shown, on Augus t 1, 1919, after

hi s return to Paris, Mondrian wrote

va n Doesburg, saying of one of these

paintings

that it was "a starry sky

which first inspired

me to

produce

it.

23

Welsh also observed

that:

Th e mention of a starry sky" no doubt

refers to the

optical

popping effect of

flickering intermediate gray

spots

which

occur at the

intersections

of the

various

lines

that can be read as an abstract

metaphor for a field of sparkling stars.

24

24


26/111

It is essential t o realize that i f

Mondrian's structure in these paint-

ings remains l inked t o that of ana-

lytical cubism— however geometr ized

—his themat ic approach ca n still be

l inked to imp ress ionism. Like th e

Paris façades and the seascapes in his

earlier paintings, the sky in the dia-

monds

is

formally compatible with

th e pictorial structure. This is evident

no t only in the all-over patterns and

accented designs which

ar e

analogus

to the starry sky, bu t also in the im-

measurably shallow layering of the

l inear construction which corre-

sponds to the way in which ou r eyes,

unable

to

evaluate

th e

endless

e x-

panse of the universe, see the heavens

as essentially

without

clear definition

of

dimension.

Further, there is no doubt ,

that

these paintings correspond to

Mondrian's expressed goals

fo r

this

time:

Impressed

by the

vastness

o f

nature,

I

was trying to express it s expansion, rest,

an d

unity .

At the

same time,

I was

fully

aware that the

visible

expansion of na-

ture is at the same time it s limitation; ver-

tical

and horizontal lines are the expres-

sion of two opposing forces; these exist

everywhere and dom inate everything;

their reciprocal action constitutes life.

I recognized that

th e

equ i l ib r ium

of any

particular aspect of nature rests on the

equivalence of its opposites.

25

Of

course, th e stars in the sky above

us

app ear—visual ly

anyway—to be

placed at random; certainly they do

not

fall into

th e

regular gridlike pat-

tern

of

these diamonds. Thus

the op-

tical flutters mus t be seen as anala-

gous to , rather than derivative

from,

their source. The

1918

d i amond,

with

it s

less pronou nced pat tern,

seems more akin to the starry sk y

than th e Philadelphia painting, where

planar rectangles

and a

separate

structural pattern are present. B ut

curiously it is

this structuring

in the

second diamond which indicates th e

emergence of a central theme in

Mondrian 's paint ing, th e equat ion o f

aesthetic form and metaphysical reve-

la t ion. In the s tarry sky Mond rian

found that order is indeed present

amid random ness . The natu re of th is

discovery

is spelled out in his

1919

essay

(i n

dia logue form) where

th e

art

lover,

a

realist painter,

and an

abstract painter discuss a bright,

starry sk y above a stretch of sand.

The abstract painter says:

Because

the stars seem

like

points, they

speak less o f themselves a nd more of the

primordial relation—at least

to

those

of

us who

have

t he gift of

abstract vision.

But the point as such, seen

visually,

speaks to us at most as a lum inous appa-

rition: i n itself it neither expresses no r rep-

resents anything. It cannot liberate us

10 .

Composition

in

Black

an d

Grey

(Lozenge with Grey

Lines),

paintings cat.

no. 2. Philadelph ia Mu seum of Art, The

Louise and W alter Arensb erg Collection.

11. Joseph Cornell, American, 1903-

1972, Rapport de Contreras

(Circe),

1966

(detail),

collage, 21.0 x 28.6 cm

8 V 4 x 11V4 in.), Hirshhorn Museum an d

Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institu-

tion, Washington.

25


27/111

12 .

Composition:

Bright Color Planes

with Grey Lines, pain tings cat. no. 3,

Ri jksmuseum

Krôller-Muller, Otterlo.

from

limita tion, because

it

says nothing

definite

about th e unive rsal. Seen

visually—that is to say, with

just

ou r

physical

eyes—the

poin t

itself

expresses

no relation, and hence cannot destroy our

individuali ty. And i t is

precisely this

i n-

dividuali ty

w hich continues to create

forms,

even where

form

does

no t

appear

directly.

Now we never see a point, but points .

And these points create forms. The line

appears

plastically between

tw o points;

between several points, several lines.

A nd

the starry sky we look up at is now show-

in g u s innum erable poin ts. All are not

equally accented: one star shines more

brightly

than another .

A nd

these uneven

light values produce form s in their turn.

Think of the constellations: they too are

forms. I merely mean to say tha t

form

is

no t

eliminated

from th e

starry

s ky

when

we see it as it appears naturally.

As I said before, the poin t itself is a

vague

thing, wh ile these various lum inous

points give determinateness to the inde-

terminateness of the

sky. They express,

though in a way that is m erely visual, the

relation in a certain form, f or instance, as

geometr ic figures

that veil th e

balanced

relation;

but if we see through

na tura l

r e-

lations, we can achieve a direct vision of

this perfect relation. We see the primor-

dial

relation of one star to another in the

diversity of measurements: w e merely

have

to arrange these harmoniously to

obtain

a

plastic representation

of

pure

equilibrium.

26

This discussion, written at a for-

mative period in his career, expresses

in

a less direct way a central th eme of

Mondrian's art. Just

as the

stars—

although

visually

scattered at ran-

dom in the sky—do make up constel-

lations

an d

thus have form,

so for

Mondr ian na tu re

was not to be

com-

prehended in its individual compo-

nents, but rather in the relationships

between them.

These

relationships

constituted the laws of Reality, but

were hidden by natural appearances .

In

this way the

first

two diamonds,

an d

especially the second, have cos-

mic significanc e beyond their osten-

sible theme of the starry sky. In the

later work the broader linear seg-

ments which connect the points of

the intersections—the stars—can be

seen as an abstract equivalen t of the

constellations

we

find

in the sky

(f ig .

11) and described above.

Most

signif-

icantly, this structure stands meta-

phorically for the hidden

laws

o f

reality, for rather than being de-

scriptive

of any actual

portion

of the

sky, here

it has

been arranged "har-

moniously"

to

obtain

a

plastic repre-

sentation of pu re equi l ibrium.

I b elieve that

after th e starry

sky"

d iamonds

Mondrian's

matu re

art be-

gins;

that in

these

tw o

works

he

created a geometric construct that

could both symb olically stand for the

cosmos and also form ally reveal the

laws

of

reality

he

felt were veiled

b y

natu ra l

appearance. In doing so

Mond rian must have realized

that

an

abstract construction could

be

suffi-

cient

to

express

his

m etaphysical

concerns without descriptive

o r

sym-

bolic reference to the na tu ra l world.

The diamond shape w as essential

to this recognition; i t was themati-

cally accurate. More

than

the oval,

th e tondo, or the

rectangle,

th e

dia-

mond avoids any tendency f or read-

in g

horizontal pattern as an indica-

tion of horizon, probably because of

the abstract natu re of the shape itself.

Thus

the sky

alone—rather

than th e

horizon

and the

sky—is

best pre-

sented in this format. Furthermore

26


28/111

Mondrian's aim of

expressin g "ex-

pansion, rest

an d unity w as

well

suited to the dynamic balance of the

d iamond . It has an energetic, out-

ward project ing shape and at the

same time, because of the graphic

cropping

effects

of its point-to-point,

exterior lines,

a

m ost emphatical ly

l imiting

pictorial field.

Significantly

this latter quality was

a

characteristic which Mondrian

took steps to reinforce, b y emphasiz-

ing the edge itself. An im portan t part

of

Mondrian's aesthetic was the way

in

which he

framed

his pictures. Tra-

ditionally

a

paint ing

was

framed

s o

that a

narrow margin

at the

edge

of

the

canvas

w as

covered.

By

1916

Mondr ian

had

replaced

th e

con-

ventional frame with a thin strip of

wood

which

he set flush

with

th e

sur-

face of the

painting.

27

In

this

way

14.

Composition with Gray

and

Light

Brown, 1918,

oil on

canvas, 80.6

x

49.5

cm

(31

3

/4

x

19V2

in.), T he

Museum

o f

Fine Arts , Houston,

Gift

of Mr. and Mrs.

Pierre Schlumberger.

forms

which

ran to the

edges would

no t

appear

to lie

behind

th e frame, as

the end of the canvas was now

visi-

ble. But beginning with th e d iamonds

Mond rian se t the framing strip back

from the surface, thus making the

45 °

edges even more grap hic

and ac-

tive

(see Study A ):

So far as I

know,

I was the first to

bring

th e

painting forward

from th e f rame,

rather than set it within the

frame.

[ He

later wrote] : I had noted that a picture

without a

frame

works better than a

framed one and that the

framing

causes

sensations

of

three dimensions.

I t

gives

an

illusion of

depth,

so I took a frame of

plain

wood

and

mounted

m y

picture

o n

it. In

this

way I

brought

it to a

m ore real

existence.

28

13 . Composition

in

Diamond Shape,

paintings cat.

no. 4.

Ri jksmuseum

Kroller-Miiller, Otterlo.

Color Planes

Logically

we might expect the

paint ings

which follow

th e 1918 an d

1919

d iamonds to extend their d e-

velopments.

Yet

artists work

in

dif-

ferent

ways an d paintings do not al-

ways fit neatly into th e schemes w e

might devise. Indeed, the succeeding

tw o

diamonds

(figs. 12 and

13), both

from

1919

an d

both

now in

Otterlo,

are

curious mixtures. Consolidating

th e

composition

an d

cont inuing

th e

format ,

they are simultaneously less

bold in their abstraction; yet in these

paintings Mondrian's mature style

emerges.

27


29/111

The key

difference

between the

two pairs of diamonds is that in the

second set Mondrian has filled in the

planes im plied in the earlier constel-

lations

to

produce

a field of

tangent

rectangles

of

varying colors.

Th e

third diamond, Composition: Bright

Color Planes

with

Grey

Lines,

has as

its underlying structure the same

eight-by-eight grid found in the ear-

lier work s and also uses bisecting

horizontal an d vertical bands. T hese

divisions are

b arely visible, however,

as the

planes

ar e

painted over

th e

l inear

elements, causing them

to ap-

pear only

faintly

under the

colors.

W h a t

is

remarkable about

th e

pat-

tern present on the surface is that—

with few

exceptions—it

matches the

structure

of the

first

tw o

diamonds,

thus

forming a

sequence

o f

three

paintings in which the transition

from an all-over linear schema to a

planar construction is quite apparent.

The use of

pale gray, red, blue,

an d

yellow

planes in this picture marks a

return to the artist's earlier Paris

paintings of 1913-1914. Indeed,

those Paris pictures may hav e been

uppermost

in Mondrian's

mind

a t

th e

time,

as he

painted these dia-

mond s either directly before leaving

for

France

or

shortly

after

hi s

arrival

there. In

fact ,

they are an interesting

mixture of his most abstract

thinking—the

linear design and the

diamond shape—combined with

elements from hi s

earlier cubist pic-

tures, including

the

compositional

fading

near th e framing edges (here

seen in the

more

faint

lines

on the left

an d

lower points).This connection to

cubism, or to

c ubist elements,

finds

support

in

contemporary rectangular

pictures, such as the Composition

with

Gray

an d

Light

Brown

of

1918

(fig.

14),

now in Houston,

where

th e

b rown

an d

gray palette

and the

loosely painted grid

pattern

both

suggest

the cubist style.

15 . Georges Braque, French,

1882-1963,

Still

Life

with

Guitar

in

Diamond-Form,

1917, oil on

wood,

60 x 92 cm ( 23

5

/s x 36V4

in.),

Ri jksmuseum

Kroller-Miiller,

Otterlo.

These cubist connections

ar e

also

found

in the fourth diamon d,

Com-

position in

Diamond

Shape. Here,

however,

th e scaffolding

does

not

match that

of the

previous works.

It

is far more open in appearance, with

man y m ore long vertical lines, espe-

cially at the top. This work also lacks

the underpinning eight-by-eight grid,

which gives

th e surface a

less

restricted

character. For the

first

time

th e vertical and horizontal s t ructure

is fit

independently into

a

d iamond

format . The

fourth diamond also

uses a different palette; Mondrian

has now

limited himself

to

only reds,

blues, and yellows. While here the

colors

ar e

pale—they

ar e

mixed with

white paint— nevertheless this restric-

tion

to the

p rimaries predicts

the di-

rection

Mondrian's work

will take in

th e

fol lowing

tw o

years.

The planar quality of these two

later diamonds suggests that they

may in

fact

be derived

from

Paris

façades,

as the Holtzman sheet m ay

also

be. But the

regularity

and

con-

t inuity

of the grid, the use of prim ary

color, th e

repetition

of the

constella-

tion construction,

and the

abstract

nature of the diamond format itself

argue against this connection. By far

th e most plausible theory is that

within these

four

diamonds

Mondr ian

has

made

th e

transition

from

"the impressed" composition

which

derives

from a

na tu ra l

phenomenon to an independent

structure w hich is created in accord-

ance with the

veiled

law s of real-

ity." Thus, if the

first

two diamonds

al lowed M ondrian to realize the pos-

sibility of expression, the

second

tw o

are abstract works which derive

from

that

recognition.

The Mature Style

It can be

argued

that

Mondrian's

in-

vention of the diamond forma t was

mad e possible by his isolation from

Parisian modernism, and especially

cubism, which allowed for greater

experimentation in his art. Neverthe-

less,

M ondr ian

w as

anxious

to

return

to Paris after th e war, doing so at the

first

opportunity.

29

He arrived there

sometime between February and July

of

1919, an d given h is earlier connec-

tions to the movement, surely recent

developments in cubism would have

been of

prima ry in terest.

There is little art historical discus-

sion of

Mondrian's

relationship to

cubism

after

the war, as scholarship

28


30/111

has

preferred

to

emphasize

his de

Stijl

connections.

But as we

have

seen, th e third and fourth diamonds

ca n

be called cubist related and are

less radical th an th e initial tw o paint -

ings in the format . That they date

from

this transitional period in his

work—which involves

the

return

to

Paris—perhaps

accounts for their

style.

It is one of the twists of history,

that while Mondrian's second set of

diamonds (and th e

Houston

rectan-

gle) look back

to

earlier cubism,

cubism itself ha d evolved during this

period

to be

more comparable wi th

th e character of Mondrian's first tw o

diamonds .

The

movement , pr imari ly

u n d e r th e direction of Juan G ris, ha d

been

turning toward a style which

w as more geometric, given to flat

plana r forms

and

simplified spatial

constructions. More important ly, in

certain works by Gris, Picasso, and

Braque, untradi t ional forms

of

picto-

rial shape

had

been used, including

the diamond format (fig. 15). Simul-

taneously, Braque

an d

Picasso

had

begun

to

emphasize

th e

shaped areas

in their pictures by raising the sur-

faces of the odd forms so that they

project above the level of the canvas,

creating an

effect

not un l ike the em-

phas ized shaping in Mon drian 's dia-

mo nds caused by the recessed

fram-

ing.*»

These new cubist works ar e less

radical

than Mondrian 's , as they are

clearly representational, not abstract.

Moreover, their eccentric shapes

are

still placed inside

a

rectangular for-

ma t ,

and

pictorial

elements—the

neck

of a

guitar

fo r

example—may

project out of this

form

into the sur-

rounding field, thus deny ing the

shape's discrete identity.

What this suggests

is

that

th e

re-

tardataire characteristics

of the

sec-

ond set of

d iamonds—the ir affinities

to analytical

cubism—were

no longer

necessary

to

guarantee

th e

moderni ty

of Mondrian 's works .

To the

con-

trary, hi s period of experimentat ion

had

a l lowed Mondrian

to

evolve

a

style

which no w paralleled that of

th e most recent cubism, but had an

abstract character .

31

1

believe

that

ju s t as his art emerges

from

cubism

(and

impressionism), i t continues to

be informed

by

that style,

not

through the direct inf luences of con-

temporaneous pictures, bu t through

th e

ongoing

inf luence of

certain

cubis t

principles, eviden t especially in

his continuing use of

l inear

cons t ruc-

tions with planes. Even

if

this

is the

case, Mondrian's return to Paris an d

discovery

of the

geometrized cubism

mu st have given

him a new

confi-

dence. Ce rtainly the origin of his

fully mature style

can be

traced

to

this period.

16 .

Diagonal

Composition, paintings

cat. no. 5. The Art Institute of Chicago,

Gift of

Edgar

K a u f m a n n , Jr .

Th e Fifth Diamond

Mond rian 's ma ture s tyle properly

began in 1919-1920, and by 1921 it

was fully in use. One of the paintings

mad e at that t ime was the

fifth

dia-

mond, Diagonal Composition (fig.

16), now in Chicago. As noted

above, i t is uncertain if Mondrian

painted the th i rd and four th dia-

monds in the Netherlands or in Paris.

Indeed

we do not know if these

paintings were in France at all during

this period.

But

although accounts

sa y

otherwise,

32

we dp know that

Mondr i an di d bring t he first dia-

m o n d to Paris, where it hung qui te

prominent ly in his studio; th e

second

paint ing

w as also in the studio, as

29


31/111

Nancy Troy ha s observed

33

(fi g. 24).

While the Chicago painting is re-

lated to the

first

diamonds by vi r tue

of

forma t , it s style is qui te

different

from

tha t

of the initial

works ;

here,

fo r

th e

first t ime, Mondrian

ha s

used

his mature vocabulary. As is true of

later 1921 paintings i n general, th e

planes are considerably larger and

thus much

fewer

in number. Space

became white, black

or

grey

wrote

Mondr ian

of

these paintings, "form

became red, blue

o r

yellow,

34

creat-

in g

a more sharply defined vocabu-

lary than that established by the

cubist-derived

pastel tones of the

preceding paintings.

The

linear ele-

ments ,

mondrian diamond compositions

Documents