Mondrian at the Fogg

Red squares. Black lines. Yellow rectangles. White backgrounds. Primary colors, basic geometry. If you can use a ruler, you too can have your creations grace the walls of a museum.

Yet, it’s not quite as simple as it looks. For anyone who has ever tried to sketch a doodle resembling Dutch artist Piet Mondian’s works, actually creating a balanced composition is frustratingly difficult. Adding color to such a collection of lines presents another challenge.

Mondrian has never been fully accepted by museum-goers, who often fail to apprecitate the subtlety of his manipulations of color and form. His home in the canon of modern art has also never been secure—Mondrian all to often is accused of being a mere designer.

The posthumous answer to Mondrian’s critics comes in the form of the Fogg’s new curatorial masterpiece, “Mondrian: the Transatlantic Paintings.” With the academic rigor and focus on conservation expected of a university, the exhibit singlehandedly restores Mondrian’s reputation as a painter who knew how to manipulate our innate response to color and form.

The man who coined the term “Neoplasticism” to describe his work gets his due from technological innovation. With x-radiography, UV and infrared studies, as well as stereomicroscope analysis to examine pigment changes, the conservationists at the Fogg have managed to discover a wealth of information literally behind the lines.

Lines, colors, positions of shapes-—additions and subtractions run rampant throughout Mondrian’s paintings. Displayed in the exhibit are the fruits of exhaustive research, as UV photos show changes to the works. His works were in a constant state of flux.

With this technology, the potency of a small changes to a painting from the extension of a single black line to the creation of a lighter shade of blue reveal Mondrian’s careful consideration of every element of fhis compositions.

The transatlantic paintings get their name precisely from the changes Mondrian made to his works as the painter fled Europe from the threat of World War II.

These 17 paintings drawn from collections including the Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art were started in Paris and London between 1935 and 1940. The paintings came with Mondrian on his journey to New York.

The artist arrived in the city in 1940, just four years before his death. Upon his arrival he was offered his first solo exhibition at the famed Valentine Gallery in New York city.

Without time to create new works for the exhibit and frustrated with works he had assumed finished, Mondrian took to revision his works.

He was not bashful about these efforts, often including a second date at the corner of his paintings. At some point before the exhibition, Mondrian decided his blues were too dark and unilaterally took to lightening them.

New York City’s dynamic culture reinvigorated an aging Mondrian. The “boogie woogie” jazz music of the era invaded Mondrian’s canvas, as he wished to add more vibrancy to his works. A display of the scientific studies aid in the process of his revision to the works and a computer kiosk station helps animate the changes.

The exhibit even reveals a Mondrian strapped for time, as close microscopic investigation reveals flecks of paint he missed in his efforts to scrape away a color. The exhibit reveals when Mondrian painted on wet surfaces and when he had the time to delicately restretch his canvases.

The paintings are all exhibited in one room, creating a dialogue between Mondrian’s manipulation of space and color. The intuitive perception of harmony and balance changes with each painting, underscoring the careful consideration Mondrian took with each element of his creations.

The evidence of flux, of shapes and lines changing only slightly but changing perception dramatically is also the source of definition—Mondrian, with his constant revisions to his works secures his identity as a painter.

The Fogg does not just restore Mondrian to a painter but to a Modern artist worthy of consistent inclusion in the canon.

Mondrian teeters on the edge of abstraction, with recognizable shapes but that have no apparent form. Though he painted in a smock and tie, he was untraditional in every way—he was the first to paint on a horizontal plane, carefully constructing his paintings on a table.

But technique aside, the Fogg establishes Mondrian not only as a painter but as a thinker—willing to challenge the traditional opposition between black and white and color and the opposition of shapes and lines. The Fogg’s superb exhibit allows opposition to become unity within the boogie woogie of a Mondrian.