Modern

Development of 14 Themes

Description:

In the constant effort to convert the pictorial plane into a body separate from the archaic representative space of painting, music became one of the most effective motifs in the work of Concrete artists. It effectively enabled the conception of an expressive manifestation in which color and form would function within the pictorial space just like sound in time. In order to pull this off, of course, it became necessary to deal with these painterly elements as realities in and of themselves. “Concrete Art accustoms humankind to a direct relationship with things, rather than with fictitious representations of things.”1 This piece by Tomás Maldonado represents one attempt to create a visual equivalent to music. Hence the viewer observes how different colored forms (lines, points, rectangles) seem to act as pictorial mechanisms in time. The title, moreover, offers a clear clue as to its meaning. Still, as Maldonado himself observed, it was difficult for a painter to achieve that strict concrete order that they were after. All forms on the plane immediately generated the illusion of a space, precisely that space where the lines and forms in this painting “seem” to move.

  • Artist: Tomás Maldonado
  • Title: Development of 14 Themes
  • Date: 1951–1952
  • Materials: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 200.3 x 210.2 cm (78 7/8 x 82 3/4 inches)
  • Artist: Tomás Maldonado
  • Title: Development of 14 Themes
  • Date: 1951–1952
  • Materials: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 200.3 x 210.2 cm (78 7/8 x 82 3/4 inches)
Description:

In the constant effort to convert the pictorial plane into a body separate from the archaic representative space of painting, music became one of the most effective motifs in the work of Concrete artists. It effectively enabled the conception of an expressive manifestation in which color and form would function within the pictorial space just like sound in time. In order to pull this off, of course, it became necessary to deal with these painterly elements as realities in and of themselves. “Concrete Art accustoms humankind to a direct relationship with things, rather than with fictitious representations of things.”1 This piece by Tomás Maldonado represents one attempt to create a visual equivalent to music. Hence the viewer observes how different colored forms (lines, points, rectangles) seem to act as pictorial mechanisms in time. The title, moreover, offers a clear clue as to its meaning. Still, as Maldonado himself observed, it was difficult for a painter to achieve that strict concrete order that they were after. All forms on the plane immediately generated the illusion of a space, precisely that space where the lines and forms in this painting “seem” to move.