Adventures of the Black Square: abstract art and society 1915-2015

Useful exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery looking at 100 years of geometric abstraction starting with Malevich’s Black Square.

I say useful because I am trying to understand and appreciate abstract art and this was an excellent guide through a specific type of abstraction. As with most of art I sort of get the early stuff but it loses me in about 1960! Having done the Malevich show at Tate Modern last year it is interesting to see where his ideas went next and I have also noticed since that show how many contemporary shows seem to be quoiting the Black Square.

The leaflet contained the best description I’ve seen of geometric abstraction “art made up of pure line, form and colour set against non-illusionistic space”. It was worth going just for that definition.

I loved the fact that in the early rooms there were so many catalogues on display but I would have liked to know a little bit more about the shows particularly the ones on those which weren’t written in English. I was more drawn to the works which saw real things in abstract form or abstract form in the life around such as photographs of tall buildings from strange angles.

In the second section upstairs I was struck by how long some of the commentaries on the pictures became trying to explain the thinking behind them. That’s where I got lost! I do feel that if you can’t just look at a work and appreciate it then I’m not sure it’s worked. Explanations can help you understand it more but if you need half an essay I think the picture has somehow missed it’s opportunity to engage with you.

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