Paths to the absolute

by John Golding

"In this survey of the origins and development of abstraction in twentieth-century painting John Goding, himself a noted painter, teacher and art historian, analyzes the ambitions and careers of seven major artists, each of whom 'had been inspired by the fact that he was on the path to some new, ultimate pictorial truth or certainty, to a visual absolute'." "In his discussion of each artist the author has chosen key works to illustrate a visual progression away from figurative painting; each is described and analyzed in terms of colour, medium, content and scale, supplemented by a range of comparative material demonstrating stylistic influences, especially the pivotal role and impact of Cubism in general on Mondrian and Malevich. In the case of each painter attention is drawn to specific factors, such as the effect on Malevich of Futurism and its concern with depicting movement, and particular sources of inspiration or use of symbolism, for example the importance of water and the sea f