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Lot Essay
‘The problem of giving comprehensible shape to new conceptions has been the constant occupation of artists in the last hundred years … Today, however, abstract art enters a phase of construction … It is the transformation from a process of destruction to one of construction, which places the abstract artist at the beginning, and not the end, of an era of subjective art. In this new phase of art, the object is invested in the material with which the artist works’ (V. Pasmore, ‘Abstract, Concrete and Subjective Art’, Broadsheet 2, July 1952).
Before the war, abstraction celebrated the flat, two-dimensional quality of the painted surface, seen in the likes of Piet Mondrian and in Britain, Ben Nicholson. Searching to further innovate geometric abstraction, Victor Pasmore’s Relief Painting in White, Black and Maroon is an expression of his belief that art was derived from nature, particularly underlying its processes rather than the final appearance. Here, Pasmore gives three-dimensional form to growth and harmony, refusing to use diagonal lines which he did not consider organic. Relief Painting in White, Black and Maroon combines Pasmore’s explorations into pure abstraction with his environmental projects, distilling formalised geometric structures into three dimensional pictures. Harmony is achieved through the balancing of positive and negative spaces created by form and colour. The carefully chosen hues of maroon counter-balance the cool mathematical precision of the machine-produced wood reliefs.
Pasmore believed that pure abstraction could not be attained through the two dimensional surface of a traditional canvas or the three dimensional mass of sculpture. Breaking down the traditional distinction between forms, his constructions marry sculptural and painterly elements. Looking back at history, Pasmore challenged the theoretical boundaries set between the different artistic disciplines. Pasmore wrote that, ‘Abstract painting, being tied to area, cannot define space; only imply it. The technique to define, rather than imply, space in the abstract demands a technique which is free both of mass (sculpture) and of surface (painting)’ (V. Pasmore, Statements, London, ICA, 1957). It was from this belief of marrying the two mediums that Pasmore’s ‘constructions’ were born.
Pasmore appears to purposefully juxtapose nature and the machine, colour and material. The present work gives a clear view of Pasmore leading advancements in abstract art, where technology was vital for the creation in this new mechanised age as it became the inspiration for these new artistic creations.
Before the war, abstraction celebrated the flat, two-dimensional quality of the painted surface, seen in the likes of Piet Mondrian and in Britain, Ben Nicholson. Searching to further innovate geometric abstraction, Victor Pasmore’s Relief Painting in White, Black and Maroon is an expression of his belief that art was derived from nature, particularly underlying its processes rather than the final appearance. Here, Pasmore gives three-dimensional form to growth and harmony, refusing to use diagonal lines which he did not consider organic. Relief Painting in White, Black and Maroon combines Pasmore’s explorations into pure abstraction with his environmental projects, distilling formalised geometric structures into three dimensional pictures. Harmony is achieved through the balancing of positive and negative spaces created by form and colour. The carefully chosen hues of maroon counter-balance the cool mathematical precision of the machine-produced wood reliefs.
Pasmore believed that pure abstraction could not be attained through the two dimensional surface of a traditional canvas or the three dimensional mass of sculpture. Breaking down the traditional distinction between forms, his constructions marry sculptural and painterly elements. Looking back at history, Pasmore challenged the theoretical boundaries set between the different artistic disciplines. Pasmore wrote that, ‘Abstract painting, being tied to area, cannot define space; only imply it. The technique to define, rather than imply, space in the abstract demands a technique which is free both of mass (sculpture) and of surface (painting)’ (V. Pasmore, Statements, London, ICA, 1957). It was from this belief of marrying the two mediums that Pasmore’s ‘constructions’ were born.
Pasmore appears to purposefully juxtapose nature and the machine, colour and material. The present work gives a clear view of Pasmore leading advancements in abstract art, where technology was vital for the creation in this new mechanised age as it became the inspiration for these new artistic creations.