Piet Mondrian

The film traces Mondrian's development by relating and comparing some thirty of his paintings and drawings. His career opens with rural landscapes of his native Holland, executed in the atmospheric style of the late nineteenth-century Hague School. The already rather `schematic' Dutch landscape (flat horizons, vertical towers, the natural geometry of tree and plant structures) is gradually simplified by the artist into abstract elements. Eventually he restricts himself to the black verticals and horizontals and the primary-colored rectangles that were to represent for many the ultimate modern painting. His writings on art are quoted in the commentary of the film. A portrait of the painter emerges through the use of photographs and other documents evoking his surroundings and activities.

`...clear, lucid narration free from jargon ... it elucidates the basic tenets that shaped the modernist vision ... This visually beautiful short production will enhance library and school collections ... could be used effectively by students of language as well as by anyone interested in the art and culture of the twentieth century.' Video Rating Guide for Libraries, USA

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