MONDRIAN: His Life, his Art, his Quest for the Absolute by Nicholas Fox Weber - Review

 



Painter, Piet Mondrian's avant-garde paintings are instantly recognizable and some of the most important work of the 20th century. In 2022, one of his pieces sold for $51 million dollars,  but in the beginning - the early1920s -  it was a different story. Cultural historian, Nicholas Fox Weber has written a five-hundred and fifty-six page tome, of this reclusive artist's work: MONDRIAN: His Life, His Art, His Quest for the Absolute (Knopf). 

Mondrian was born in the Netherlands in 1872. Early in his career he sold popular paintings to survive, while honing in on his own simplified style. In 1917 he started a magazine that began a movement of straight lines and primary colors, evolving into his geometric, bold-colored abstractions.

Today, his work influences architecture and fashion. When I've had the opportunity to view his paintings in museums, I've found myself overwhelmed by the complex simplicity and use of white and primary colors.

MONDRIAN: His Life, His Art, His Quest for the Absolute also examines his many eccentricities, including his solitude and avoidance of closeness. He ultimately believed art revealed universal truths.

Weber is a gradu­ate of Colum­bia Col­lege (B.A., major in Art History), Yale Uni­ver­sity (M.A., Art History; Fellowship in American Art) and the University of Groningen (PhD). He is the author of fourteen books including The Bauhaus Group, Le Cor­busier, The Clarks of Cooperstown, Balthus A Biography, Patron Saints, The Art of Babar, and The Drawings of Josef Albers. For over forty years, NFW has devoted himself to the legacy of both Anni Albers and Josef Albers.

Weber is represented by literary agent William Clark Associates. He is currently writing a biography of Anni Albers for Yale University Press and a book about tennis called 'The Art of Tennis' for Godine.

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