Mondrian, Pete

Born in the small Dutch town of Amersfoort ^[5] in the family of the director of a local school. The father could not provide for his family, but he was sensitive to his son's talent, and at the age of 20 Mondrian went to study in Amsterdam ^[5] .

He started as a teacher of painting in elementary school, the early work - landscapes of the Netherlands in the spirit of impressionism . I became interested in theosophy of Helena Blavatsky . He deeply accepted the quest for cubism at the exhibition of cubists in Amsterdam ( 1911 ). In 1912 he moved to Paris , as a sign of the beginning of a new life, changed his name to "Mondrian".

He spent the years of World War I at home, in 1915 he became close friends with the artist Theo van Dusburg , and together he founded the movement " Style " and the eponymous art magazine. The magazine has become an organ of neoplasticism - the utopia of a new plastic culture as the ultimate consciousness in the meticulous transmission of generalized beauty and truth by the most ascetic means, basic, primary colorful tones, lines, forms.

Mondrian consistently developed this non-figurative trend in France , where he lived from 1919 to 1938 , then in Great Britain , and from 1940 in the USA .

In the American period of his work, he tried to adapt the principles of neoplasticism to transmit dynamic effects ( ^[6] ).

He died of pneumonia on February 1, 1944 and was buried in the Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York ^[7] .

The design of Mondrian’s New York studio, in which he worked for only a few months and which was carefully recreated by his friends and followers on photo and film, was, as it were, the last work of the master, these “Murals” were shown at exhibitions in New York, London , Tokyo , Sao Paulo , Berlin . Mondrian’s Paris apartment, his pipe and glasses are captured in minimalist photographs by Andre Curtes ( 1926 ), which became emblematic for modern photography.

Mondrian called for the "denaturation" of art, for the rejection of natural forms and the transition to pure abstraction ^[8] . Since 1913, Mondrian’s paintings have evolved towards abstract matrices consisting of black horizontal and vertical lines. Gradually, the arrangement of lines on the canvas was ordered to such an extent that they began to represent regular lattices with cells ^[9] . Cells were painted with primary colors, that is, red, blue and yellow. Thus, the structure of the picture was formed by color - non-color dichotomies, vertical - horizontal, large surface - small surface, the unity of which was supposed to symbolize the balance of forces in the harmony of the universe ^[8] .

Despite the extreme limitation of visual means, the work of Mondrian had a great influence on his contemporaries and gave rise to new trends in painting and graphics.

• The New Art - The New Life: The Collected Writings of Piet Mondrian / Harry Holtzman, Martin S. James, eds. Boston: GK Hall, 1986

• In the 1930s, French fashion designer , who worked at the Paris fashion house Hermès at the time, created a line of suitcases and bags inspired by Mondrian’s later work: with red, blue and yellow leather squares inlays. ^[eleven]
• In the fall-winter collection of 1965-1966, the French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent presented the famous Mondrian dresses - simple knitted dresses without a collar and sleeves from knitted fabric that had decor in the form of large colored cells - “quotes” from paintings by an abstract artist.

• In honor of the artist, the programming language Piet is named, the programs on which resemble post-pictorial abstraction.
• In the third episode of the first season of the British series Virtuosos , a group of scammers steals a picture of Pete Mondrian from an art gallery, and then fakes it, creating a new “his” picture that does not really exist, passing it off as an artist’s early work.
• In the residential quarter "City of Embankments" in Khimki, pedestrian crossings are made in the style of Mondrian's paintings ^[12] .
• At the metro station "Rumyantsevo" of the Moscow Metro in the style of Mondrian painted track walls ^[13] .

• Mondrian and Theosophy

• Deicher, Suzanne. Pete Mondrian (1872-1944). Constructions in space. - ART Rodnik. - 96 p. - ISBN 978-5-9794-0026-6 .
• A. Boelke-Heinrichs, A. Czock, J. Dilling, B. Esser, A. Feise. 100 artists of the XX century / Editor E.V. Belioglov. - Chelyabinsk: Ural LTD, 1999. - S. 112-113. - 210 p. - ISBN 5-8029-0037-7 .
• Seuphor M. Piet Mondrian, life and work. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 443 pages 1956
• Piet Mondrian, 1872-1944: centennial exhibition. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1971.
• Chandler A. The aesthetics of Piet Mondrian. New York: MSS Information Corp., 1972.
• Threlfall T. Piet Mondrian: his life's work and evolution, 1872 to 1944. New York: Garland Pub., 1988.
• Deicher S. Piet Mondrian, 1872-1944: structures in space. Köln: Benedikt Taschen, 1995.
• Mondrian: Great Modern Master / Faerna José María, ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995.
• Schapiro M. Mondrian: On the Humanity of Abstract Painting. New York: George Braziller, 1995.
• Joosten JJ, Welsh RP Piet Mondrian: Catalog Raisonné. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.
• Bax M. Complete Mondrian. Hampshire: Lund Humphries, 2001.
• Rembert V. Piet Mondrian in the USA: the artist's life and work. Dulles: Parkstone Press, 2002.

• Description of famous paintings by the artist
• The official website of the heirs (English)
• Biography with photographs
• From David Sylvester, "About Modern Art: Critical Essays, 1948-1997"
• Piet Mondrian (1872-1944 )
• Piet Mondrian Biography
• Pete Mondrian's gallery of paintings and biography
• Piet Mondrian Pintor holandés 1872 1944 YouTube
• Lecture by Irina Kulik “Pete Mondrian - Maurits Escher” at the “Garage” Museum of Modern Art