Geometric Shapes in Art
Let's take a look at some movements and artists that use geometric shapes:
Bauhaus
Bauhaus was a German school of art that came out of the arts & crafts movement. The arts & crafts movement was more about flowing lines and flowery lines. Bauhaus was in direct opposition to that - it used geometry. Some German architecture that used the Bauhaus geometries still stands today in the cities Bauhaus was founded in.
Wassily Kandinsky, one of the fathers of abstract modern art, painted geometric shapes to represent spirituality and emotions. It was during the Bauhaus period that he found geometrics playing more of a role in his work.
Cubism
Cubism evolved around 1907-1914 in Spain and France. Pablo Picasso and Georges Brauque created surrealistic works using cube shapes. This means they took images that would be organic, meaning natural and flowing, and recreated them as if they were just planes and angles.
Futurism
Futurism appeared around 1911. It was a derivative of the Cubist movement, but it is known for its representation and distinctive depictions of futurist society such as fast cars, machinery, and explosions of energy. These geometric shapes were more complex Cubism, but still has the same surreal style of representing images rather than painting as one would a still life.
Vorticism
Vorticism emerged out of Cubism in England between 1912 and 1915. Similar to Futurism, its use of sharp planes and abstraction places it into the geometric art category.
Suprematism
In 1915, Russian Suprematism was founded using primitive shapes and circles. The piece shown here was created in 1916 by Kazimir Malevich. Supremitism lasted for only a short time as a movement.
Example of art from the Supremitism movement
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Swiss Design
Swiss Design, created in Switzerland in the World War II and post-World War II eras, used photographs and asymmetrical (uneven) layouts, and used geometry, such as rectangular accents. Although not as elaborate as Cubism, Swiss design does use geometry.
Minimalism
In the 1960s and 1970s, Minimalism was popular with its complex shapes. Minimalism is the absence of decoration. It could be argued that the canvas itself can be part of the geometric shape as well as the geometric shape used on the canvas. However, not all minimalism used geometry.
Fractal Art
In modern-day art, Fractal Art is created by mathematical algorithms generated by computers to create the points, planes, and angles of geometric elements. The artists can then print or paint the resulting formations.
Lesson Summary
The term geometric shapes refers to geometry, which is the math of shapes made of points and lines. Some shapes are simple, such as the triangle, square, and circle. Others are more complex, particularly as they were expressed in art. Cubism evolved about 1907 through 1914 in Spain and France. The founding fathers Pablo Picasso and Georges Brauque created surrealistic works using cubes in abstract form. Other art movements that utilized geometric shapes include Bauhaus, Futurism, Vorticism, Suprematism, Swiss Design, Minimalism, and Fractal Art.
Learning Outcomes:
Your goal at the end of the lesson should be to:
- Explain what geometry and geometric shapes are
- Describe some of the movements and artists that used geometric shapes
