CONTRASTS OF FORM: GEOMETRIC ABSTRACT ART 1910-1980 October 7, 1985 - January 7, 1986
The Museum of Modern Art opens CONTRASTS OF FORM: GEOMETRIC ABSTRACT ART 1910-1980, an international survey of constructivist and geometric art, on October 7, 1985. The exhibition and its accompanying publication present selections from the recent gift of 249 works of geometric abstract art to the Museum from the Riklis Collection of McCrory Corporation. Augmented by important works drawn from the Museum's other holdings, the exhibition provides an in-depth view of one of the most vital and persistent traditions in modern art.
CONTRASTS OF FORM, which remains on display through January 7, 1986, was organized by John Elderfield, director of the Department of Drawings and curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, in collaboration with Magdalena Dabrowski, assistant curator in the Department of Drawings. The Riklis Collection of McCrory Corporation, received by the Museum in the spring of 1984, was formed by Celia Ascher, curator of the McCrory Corporation Collection, with the support of Meshulam Riklis, chairman of Rapid-American Corporation (parent company of McCrory Corporation). Despite the great significance of the collection, it has never been seen in New York.
Divided into five historical sections, ranging in date from 1910 to 1980, the presentation consists of seventy-five paintings, forty-eight works on paper, sixteen sculptures, and nineteen relief constructions. The exhibition is exceptional because it reveals how geometric abstraction has shaped the direction of twentieth-century art. It traces the style through each significant phase of its development, illuminating how work produced in the first half of the century has profoundly affected even the American art of recent years. Over one hundred artists are represented, including Europeans Robert Delaunay, Kasimir Malevich, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Piet Mondrian, Liubov Popova, Olga Rozanova, and Theo van Doesburg, and Americans Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, and Kenneth No!and (complete list of artists attached).
The first section of the exhibition traces the Cubist, Futurist, and Cubo- Futurist movements that emerged between 1911 and 1914, and provided the conceptual and formal basis for the development of geometric abstraction.
The next section focuses on the nonobjective movements that developed from 1915 to 1921 in Holland and Russia: Suprematism, de Stijl, and Constructivism, the latter of which was to become the dominant style. The third part, featuring works from 1922 to 1929, reveals how the ideas of Constructivism were dis- seminated internationally. These works indicate the high standards achieved even by less well-known artists during this productive period.
The final sections reflect the shift of centers of geometric abstraction from Germany to Paris to New York. The works from the thirties, forties, and fifties -- a period in which the Riklis Collection is especially strong -- illustrate the diversity as well as the endurance of ideas and forms in both European and American art. The exhibition ultimately reveals the
impact that the earlier innovations had on a new generation of American Color-Field and Hard-Edge painters, and particularly the Minimalists who emerged in the sixties.
Dr. Elderfield has noted, "The Riklis Collection of McCrory Corporation is characterized by its commitment to works of the highest quality. Under the informed guidance of Celia Ascher, the collection has contributed to a reappraisal of Constructivism and its influence on many important movements of twentieth-century art. The aim of the exhibition is to present highlights from this extraordinary gift in the context of the Museum's existing holdings in the same general field and to provide an overview of one of the most significant and vital traditions in the art of this century." In addition to its unprecedented gift, McCrory Corporation has endowed a gallery within the Painting and Sculpture collection galleries at the Museum.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the Joyce Theater in New York City will present a reconstruction of Oskar Schlemmer's TRIADIC BALLET, sponsored by McCrory Corporation. Adapted from a dance originated in 1912, the ballet had its first performance in Stuttgart in 1922, when Schlemmer was teaching at the Bauhaus. Performances are October 1 at 7:30 p.m., October 3-5 at 8:00 p.m., and October 6 at 2:00 and 7:30 p.m. For information and ticket-charge call 212/242-0800.
A lecture series and film program will also accompany the exhibition.
Details to be announced.
Catalog: Contrasts of Form: Geometric Abstract Art 1910-1980. Essays, chronologies, and artist biographies by Magdalena Dabrowski. Introduction by John Elderfield. Fully illustrated with 70 color and 88 black-and-white illustrations. 288 pages. Clothbound, $45; paperback, $19.50 ($23.50 after February 14,1986). Published by The Museum of Modern Art.