Practices of Abstract Art

Between Anarchism and Appropriation

Edited By: Wiebke Gronemeyer, Isabel Wünsche

£57.99

Given the renewed interest in the phenomenon of abstract art, this collection of essays investigates the ambivalent role that abstraction has played in the visual arts and cultures of the last hundred years, engaging it in its increasingly diverse cultural environment.

Recent decades have seen a renewed interest in the phenomenon of abstract art, particularly regarding its ability to speak to the political, social, and cultural…

Recent decades have seen a renewed interest in the phenomenon of abstract art, particularly regarding its ability to speak to the political, social, and cultural conditions of our times. This collection of essays, which looks at historical examples of artistic practice from the early pioneers of abstraction to late modernism, investigates the ambivalent role that abstraction has played in the visual arts and cultures of the last hundred years. In addition, it explores various theoretical and critical narratives that seek to articulate new perspectives on its legacy in the visual arts. From metaphysical considerations and philosophical reflections to debates on interculturality and global perspectives, the contributors examine and reconsider abstraction in the visual arts from a contemporary point of view that acknowledges the many social, economic, cultural, and political aspects of artistic practice. As such, the volume progressively expands the boundaries of thinking about abstract art by engaging it in its increasingly diverse cultural environment.

Isabel Wünsche is Professor of Art and Art History at Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany. She specializes in European modernism, the avant-garde movements, and abstract art. Her publications include Galka E. Scheyer and The Blue Four: Correspondence, 1924–1945 (2006), Biocentrism and Modernism (with Oliver A.I. Botar, 2011), Meanings of Abstract Art: Between Nature and Theory (with Paul Crowther, 2012) and The Organic School of the Russian Avant-Garde (2015).

Wiebke Gronemeyer is a curator and researcher based in Hamburg, Germany. In 2015, she received her PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, with a thesis titled “The Curatorial Complex: Social Dimensions of Knowledge Production.” She is also a Research Associate at Jacobs University, Bremen. Information about her research and curatorial practice can be found at www.wiebkegronemeyer.de.

Nieves Acedo del Barrio, Pamela C. Scorzin, Naomi Hume, Wendy Kelly, Elena Korowin, Marilyn Martin, Birgit Mersmann, Gordon Monro, Aarnoud Rommens, Viktoria Schindler, Dorothea Schöne, Rose-Carol Washton Long, Wiebke Gronemeyer