ARTIST PROFILE: PIET MONDRIAN

Piet Mondrian was known for white canvas with

horizontal and vertical lines, and rectangular
shapes filled with primary colors. There are so
many ways to explore the art process of line
and color, lets look at some ways we can
make Mondrian reminiscent works
of art using graphic design software.
*http://thecraftyclassroom.com/CraftArtistMondri
an.html
Mondrian in his Paris studio in 1933 with Lozenge Composition with Four Yellow Lines, 1933 and Composition with Double Lines
and Yellow, 1933. Photo by Charles Karsten. Piet Mondrian, the Dutch artist whose works will go on display at Tate Liverpool next
month, was one of the leading figures in the development of modern abstract art, and was an integral part of the Dutch art
movement De Stijl ("The Style").
Born Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan on March 7 1872, he was exposed to art at an early age; his father was a qualified drawing
teacher, and his uncle studied at the Hague School of artists.
Piet was determined to become an artist himself, but was pressured by his family to forge a career in education, and so he
qualified as a primary school teacher.
However, when he graduated aged 20, he did not look for a teaching position, and instead moved to Amsterdam to enroll in the
Academy for Fine Art.
His early paintings were mainly of the Dutch landscapes that he was surrounded by. Many of these works depict scenes of
country fields, rivers and windmills.
When Mondrian moved to Paris in 1911, his artistic influences immediately changed. He moved away from his naturalistic
tendencies and began to embrace Cubist styles, favored by the likes of Picasso.
At the outbreak of World War I, Mondrian returned to his native Netherlands, where he became friends with Bart van der Leck,
who was known for using only primary colors in his paintings.
When the war ended, Piet returned to Paris, and began working on the grid-based abstract paintings for which he is now best-
known.
In 1938, to escape the advance of the Nazis ahead of the Second World War, Mondrian moved to London, and then to New York,
where he spent the final four years of his life. He opened his first one-man show, aged 70, at the Valentine Dudensing Gallery.
He died of pneumonia on February 1, 1944, aged 71. His memorial service was attended by several notable figures from the art
scene of the time, including Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp and Alexander Archipenko.
In modern culture, the influence of Mondrian lives on, in everything from Nike trainers to the Liverpool skyline.

Piet Mondrian fell in love with white. Mondrians most famous paintings are made up of
pure red, yellow, black, white, and blue as in Composition A (1923, Galleria Nazionale
d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome), at left. Over time, though, his artwork
became simpler and white became progressively more important. Wider fields of color
dominated his paintings, separated by large sections of pure white, as in the
Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow (1930, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art,
Hartford, CT), at center. Just five years later, in 1935, white itself became the focus, as
in the Composition in Blue and White. Mondrians fascination with white was described
by Charmion von Wiegand, when he visited the painters studio in New York:
Everything was spotless white, like a laboratory. In a light smock, with his clean-
shaven face, taciturn, wearing his heavy glasses, Mondrian seemed more a scientist or
priest than an artist. The only relief to all the white was large mat boards, rectangles in
yellow, red and blue, hung in asymmetric arrangements on all the walls. Peering at me
through his glasses, he noticed my glance and said: "Ive arranged these to make it
more cheerful." Art conservators are not entirely sure what pigments Mondrian used in
his paintings. His artwork has undergone in-depth scientific analysis in the hopes of
discovering the chemical compositions of the pigment used, which is essential
knowledge for conservation purposes
Mondrian, Tableau, 1921 In Tableau, Mondrian is attempting to present the dynamic harmony that exists
between geometric forms. Fun fact: Mondrian wrote that his interest in horizontal and vertical lines had to do
with the Theosophic belief that the horizontal was male, and the vertical female. Together, the horizontal and
vertical create an essential harmony. - See more at: http://www.quailhollow365.com/blog/2011/02/artwork-of-
the-day-mondrians-trees-along-a-river/#sthash.gFnxDFCa.dpuf

Composition in White, Black, and
Red
Artist: Piet Mondrian
Dimensions: 3' 4" x 3' 5" (1.02 m x
1.04 m)
Created: 1936
Media: Oil paint

Broadway Boogie-Woogie is a painting
by Piet Mondrian completed in 1943,
shortly after he moved to New York in
1940. Compared to his earlier work, the
canvas is divided into a much larger
number of squares. Wikipedia
Artist: Piet Mondrian
Location: Museum of Modern Art
Dimensions: 4' 2" x 4' 2" (1.27 m x
1.27 m)
Created: 19421943
Media: Oil paint
Mondrian Interpretations
Mondrian Interpretations
DESIGN CHALLENGE: MONDRIAN
Step 1: After opening Inkscape , go to FILE Document Properties. Set your page
size to US Letter 8.5x11. Next, slide over to the Snap tab. Under Snap to
Objects select Snap only when closer than: Slide the slider to the left to #1., the
lowest setting. Do this for the next to categories Snap to Grids and Snap to
Guides. Close the dialogue box.




Step 2: Go to VIEWGrid. Select Grid to turn on the visible blue grid in your canvas.
Step 3: Decide how heavy/thick you want your black & white grid to be. You will set
the STROKE STYLE on all of your lines and shapes to this number from now on.
Plan your artwork. Where do you want lines? Boxes? Intersections? Use your blue
grid as a guide!
DESIGN CHALLENGE: MONDRIAN
Step 4: Begin to create your black & white grid. ZOOM IN to make sure your boxes line up and are adjacent. The key to
Mondrians style is the symmetry , organization, and CLEAN lines.
Your design should fill up the entire page.
ONLY squares and/or rectangles.
No concentric shapes.
You may choose THREE accent colors only.
If you choose to use a visible grid, it must black & white only.
Step 5: Reflection
Write about your design process when creating this piece. What did you do? Why? Did you keep the design simple? Was it
complex? Do you like Mondrians work? What do you like about his work? What do you dislike about his work?
*TIP: Type your reflection in Microsoft Word FIRST! Then, copy and paste it into Inkscape. This will allow you to spell check
and make corrections easily before pasting it into Inkscape. Make sure it is NOT within the page border! It should be
directly underneath the page.

Project Due:
5
th
Period Thursday, October 9
th
, 2014
7
th
period Friday, October 10
th
, 2014

SAVE AS: LastNameFirstName_GD#_MondrianProject

RUBRIC CHECKLIST:
Project is saved w/ proper file name: LastNameFirstName_GD#_MondrianProject
Overall composition is neat, none of the design is outside of the page border.
Grid is neat with no edges/corners sticking out. If no visible grid is used,
squares/rectangles are neatly aligned along each edge. Grid is black and white
(only).
Primary color scheme is used (only).
Students artwork bears resemblance to Mondrians style
Students artwork is well planned & executed with no errors.
Student retained information pertaining to the use of Inkscape throughout the
project and referred to notes when necessary.
Student remained on task througout the length of the project; maximum effort
was given.