Artwork Page for Geometric Abstraction

Details / Information for Geometric Abstraction

Geometric Abstraction

c. 1950

Pim van Os

(Dutch, 1910–1954)
Culture
Netherlands
Medium
gelatin silver print
Measurements
Image: 23.7 x 17.7 cm (9 5/16 x 6 15/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1993.143
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Active just after World War II, Pim van Os was a pioneering Dutch photographer who gained considerable recognition in postwar Europe for his experimental imagery. This abstract composition was made exclusively with the camera, and the movement of light is both the means of expression and the subject of the picture. Layered geometric shapes give the slightest sense of a three-dimensional arrangement of bold shapes.
A vertically oriented, abstract photograph is filled with semitranslucent geometric planes in black, white, and gray. Sharp, jagged polygons radiate from a central horizontal axis that bisects the composition. Small, thin-outlined circles scatter along the left and right edges, some partially cut off. High contrast and layered gradients define the intersecting forms, with sharp white edges creating a dense, shattered arrangement of overlapping triangles and polygons.

Geometric Abstraction

c. 1950

Pim van Os

(Dutch, 1910–1954)
Netherlands

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