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by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 14, 2023
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
One of the more minimalist of his abstract work, Composition in White Black and Red arrived in 1936
It is believed that at this stage in his career Mondrian was starting to experiment with multiple lines together in his abstract work.
Previously, it would be single lines, with single blocks of colour as seen in Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue from 1930.
Mondrian here chooses to dissect larger squares with closer lines to contrast against previous works, whilst there is less use of colour.
The black lines, which Mondrian saw as blocks of colour in their own right, are brought further to the foreground because of his reduction in size of the coloured sections of red and black. These are positioned right on the edge of the canvas.
A closer eye on this painting will reveal the artist's brushstrokes and also the way in which there is some contrast in colour, even in the seemingly rigid areas of white.