Mondrian vs van Doesburg

In October we took advantage of a school break and went to New York City. There Laurence and I tortured the boys with trips to various museums and cultural happenings. One of the places we visited was the Guggenheim, the museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

For those of you who have never visited the museum, it is a giant spiral. From the atrium it looks pretty cool (it reminded me of the Baltimore Aquarium which spirals around a giant fish tank), and it's fun to walk up the ramp and into the various short halls that lead into the different galleries. Stephen and Harrison were very enthusiastic and came up with all sorts of "Call of Duty" (a video game where you hunt aliens in various settings) scenarios that could take place in it.

One of the small galleries contained an exhibit by some artist. (Honestly, I have no idea what the artist's name is. I am new to this blogging and failed to bring a notebook to write down this type of thing. I figured I could look it up on the internet, but it turns out you need more info than "some artist at the Guggenheim". I don't even know if it was a temporary or permanent exhibit. Or which level it was on, which is a problem with the ramp. Or even the artist's gender. Anyway, I'll try to do better in the future, because, of course, you are dying to know the name of this artist.) We entered and it was like a library, complete with bookshelves and books, which you could take down and read. (No, I don't remember what the books titles were or what they were about.) Part of the exhibit was roped off and it had a table and chairs, more shelves, and shattered glass (fake it turns out) all over the place.

I have no idea what it meant or what it referred to. I do know the explanatory sign made a reference to the split between Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg over their views regarding diagonal versus horizontal and vertical lines. (Please just think about that for a moment. Even if you are a serious student of art, the absurdity of it has to get you.)

These two Dutch artists became friends after van Doesburg wrote an article about an exposition for a magazine. (Apparently he could not make a living simply painting.) The exposition contained some works by Mondrian and van Doesburg was transported, or at least interested enough to contact Mondrian. They corresponded for years, then van Doesburg moved to Paris where Mondrian lived. They hung out together a great deal until "van Doesburg insisted on the diagonal's dynamic aspects." (Wikipedia) This proved too much for Mondrian, who loved the grid format, and the friendship ended. (No worries, it was only temporary. You do have to wonder, though, if they remained close.)

Above is a picture by Theo van Doesburg titled "Counter-Composition XIV." I do not have a Mondrian for comparison because he died in 1944 and his works are not yet in the public domain. (He must be dead for 70 years, so check back in 2014 and I'll have one posted.) This is not as big a problem as you might expect. Simply tilt your computer 45 degrees and you'll have an idea of what a Mondrian looks like.