The Abstract

The David Owsley Museum of Art highlights the abstract in its first week of themed tours. Seven different distinct pieces are featured in the abstract tour. Docent Caitlyn Walter shared her insight on the artwork.

Head: 3300-2000 BCE

“The heads originally had full bodies and were typically stylized as female figures. Thousand have been found southeast of the Greek mainland but no one knows what they were used for. It’s been believed that they served as fertility figures. Almost all have been found in burial sites. These heads have been used as inspiration for contemporary cubist faces.”

“These rocks are chosen from nature. There is a series of criteria that goes into how one is chosen. A person must look for openness, thinness, folds or cresses and wrinkling in the stone. It’s made of lingbi stone which was exclusive to one or two provinces in China during that time period. These stones were chosen to use as models for landscape painting. They are often seen in traditional Chinese gardens. They were also used as a center piece for meditation.”

Before 1970

“This piece originated from a headhunter tribe in Papua New Guinea. The tribe would give sacrifices to these Yipwon figures. They offered their own blood or blood of enemies because they believed the spirit that lived in these figures would go out at night and take the souls of their enemies and prey.”

About 1970

“The face was made by the indigenous people of Alaska. It was used as trade between the Alaskan natives and foreign settlers. It’s made from whale vertebra. Alaskan natives believed if an animal was killed then every part of it should be used. The face is not a ritual object because of its lack of detail.”

1922

“The artist of this painting is Bart Antony van der Leck. No one knows what this painting is based from. Artists during this time believed when someone becomes emotional they go to war with themselves and fall to pieces. This led artists to take the emotion out of art. They wanted to have a more practical take on art and push back against the art that came before.”

1965

“This painting was made by Lee Krasner. She was an artist from the abstract expressionist movement. Krasner was one of few successful women artists in the 1950’s. Her career really took off after her husband painter Jackson Pollock’s death in 1956.”

The David Owsley Museum of Art will continue highlight different themes each week throughout the semester. The next theme is Politics.