There are several theories as to why Mondrian did not use Green.
Theory 1. Green reminded him of an unsuccessful part of his life as a painter.
His abstracts were not selling and he had to do paintings of flowers.
He hated doing these floral arrangements and decided never to use green again.
http://www.snap-dragon.com/MondrianRefs.…
Theory 2. Green reminded him of a part of his life he did not like.
This site thinks it’s because he grew up in the Dutch countryside, and was thoroughly sick of trees and of green. He'd had it up to here with all that.
http://frank-davis.livejournal.com/93191…
Theory 3. He had a red-green color blindness.
There is a red-green type of color blindness and perhaps Mondrian did not see or use green well.
http://www.ralf-dahm.com/index.php?id=44
Theory 4. Green did not fit his human-made reality:
“PHILOSOPHIOCALLY AND ARTITSICALLY MONDRIAN CREATED AN ENTIRELY HUMAN-MADE REALITY. TO MONDRIAN, RED, YELLOW AND BLUE WERE THE ONLY COLOURS, APART FROM BLACK AND WHITE. MONDRIAN AVOIDED THE USE OF THE COLOUR GREEN, BECAUSE OF ITS ASSOCIATION WITH NATURE.”
http://madamepickwickartblog.com/mondria…
Theory 5.
Maybe it was subconscious and even he didn’t know why he developed this emotional reaction to green.
“Later in life, some say he developed an intense dislike for the color green. He went out of his way to avoid trees and painted the leaves on an artificial tulip in his studio white.”
He would trade places if he had a seat that looked outside.
http://www.centralptonews.org/CESCAP/Art…
source: "Why Did Piet Mondrian Hate Green? - Yahoo! Answers." Yahoo! Answers - Home. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.
We had severe storms last night. I need to remove myself from the city's code red alert notification. The phone rings with an automated message telling me abut tornadoes and such in my area. I thought this would be good, but in the middle of the night when the phone rings to let me know about thunderstorms, I think it's a bit overkill. I had trouble going back to sleep, especially since for some reason they called twice.
I'm almost finished with a couple of small proposals. They should have taken no time at all, but I become very self-critical about selecting work, as though it's an end all thing. Usually, I try and access the mind of a committee. What would be pleasing to someone else? Is is big enough for them to think it's "serious"? Are the pools and flowers too morose, and what about the flowers in and of themselves? Awhile back someone made a small slam against flower paintings suggesting that their gallery was too refined to show flower paintings. I guess irony isn't dead if you've never heard of it and I guess if you're not ironic, you risk being an amateur. Context is a funny thing. I finally decided to pick my favorites, figuring that my intro letter covered my schizo approach. Sometimes I love being me, but sometimes it's like being a tetromino in a Tetris game.
Today is a studio day.
I'm pretty sure while I've been writing this, the grass grew another inch.
8 comments:
One could say that Mondrian did in fact use green, in his early Dutch tradition landscapes - it was his neo-plastic efforts that lacked the color.
In his collected essays, "The New Art - The New Life" compiled by Harry Holtzman & Martin S. James, he draws out his desire to stick to the primary elements - in line and in hue. Hence, green got cut for the achromatics and RBY. So, Theory #4 comes closest - although one could argue the heavy influence of nature and landscape in the late neo-plastic works. (Trees, windmills, oceans, churches...)
(Alas, I'm to lazy to go find the page to reference the quote. But it's there.)
Green green. It is everywhere, fast and furious. My yard has re-jungle-ized in just days. I've not yet run the mower, but it's a slack neighborhood. No angry stares. The first cut will be tough. I may need taller wheels. Wisteria and lilacs going strong. More rain and tornadoes tonight. Spring is almost a rude awakening this year.
Well thank you Chris. I appreciate the additional reference.
The mosquitos are monster-size already too.
The mayor "partially activated the Office of Emergency Management, preparing for the storms to come though tonight/tomorrow, anticipating it will be the worst storms so far this year..."
That was in my inbox this evening.
I hate being separated from my studio during these storms and the home studio floods. sigh. I too dream of a distant land....
I suggest we all read J.G. Ballard "Drowned World." Nice bedtime story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drowned_World
...and tornadoes of course. waiting for the tornadoes.
"too refined to show flower paintings"
Huh?
I am too refined to show at that gallery.
(The pool and flower paintings are not too morose. Just the right amount.)
Ah - dare I say I am a little envious of your environmental conundrum? While we have a wide variety of bizarre weather in San Francisco (80° degree afternoon, then fog, then hail all in the same day) we rarely get storms. And I barely remember the thrill of a good New England thunder and lightning storm.
However, we don't mess around with tornadoes and I hope you don't have to, either.
(We did have a nice jolty earthquake last week though. All the green went back and forth.)
Post a Comment