The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Geometric Abstraction

c. 1950

Pim van Os

(Dutch, 1910–1954)
Netherlands
gelatin silver print
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.)
John L. Severance Fund 1993.143
Location: Not on view

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.
  • “1993 Annual Report.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 6 (July 1994): 143–218. Mentioned: p. 162 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 367
  • The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 89, p. 121.
    CMA, September 13 - November 27, 1994: "Recent Acquisitions: Prints, Drawings, Photographs," no exhibition catalogue.
  • {{cite web|title=Geometric Abstraction|url=false|author=Pim van Os|year=c. 1950|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1993.143