Paths to Abstraction - AGNSW

The evolution of abstract art paralleled the dramatic technological developments of the modern world and, at the same time, irrevocably altered the practice of art. From Europe to the USA, from the first days of the German state to the Great War, from Whistler to Malevich, abstraction occurred almost serendipitously across time, continents and individuals. All at once it evolved from the desire to depart from life-like depictions, which the introduction of photography could now produce, to a real investigation into, and experimentation with colour, form, materials and subject matter. It is well-accepted that the pioneering efforts of Modernism have pathed the way for subsequent movements of Postmodernism in the latter half of the twentieth century and whatever ‘ism’ that now defines the multifarious character of contemporary art. Furthermore, not only did these forebears raise the still heavily-debated question of ‘what is art?’, but in inciting such debate they have also made it possible to include almost anything and everything into this previously-limited canon.


The AGNSW’s exhibition offers a well-constructed recount of the American-European journey to abstraction. The exhibition walls deliberately direct gallery visitors through the many phases early 20th century art.

While the exhibition offers a broad selection of works from the time, its expansiveness is achieved at the cost of any real depth. Paths to Abstraction merely skates on the smooth, uncontentious surface of the Modernist movements without delving into any profound analysis or litigious historical exploration. In staging such a mainstream recount, the curators were unable to capture the excitement and ‘radicalness’ that the artworks were at the time of their unveiling, in the anxious revolutionary zeal of pre-War Europe. That is, these works are not properly contextualised. Instead, they are positioned as the highest of high art, with all the aura that this canonising bestows. Even the accompanying captions use the term ‘avant-garde’ with all its institutionally-weighted connotations; so esoteric as to almost negate the essential rebellious undertones that characterises these works.

So though this exhibition marks a good starting point for those interested in contemporary art, it is, by no means, comprehensive. Such artworks and artists ought to be clearly recognised as the renegades of high art that they initially were, and the Modernist masters they have retrospectively become. [Image from http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/current/paths_to_abstraction]