MONDRIAN, PIET

born March 7, 1872, Amersfoort, The Netherlands died February 1, 1944, New York, New York, U.S. original name Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan painter who was an important leader in the development of modern abstract art and a major exponent of the Dutch abstract-art movement known as De Stijl (The Style). In his mature paintings, Mondrian used the simplest combinations of straight lines, right angles, primary colours, and black, white, and gray. The resulting works possess an extreme formal purity that embodies the artist's spiritual belief in a harmonious cosmos. Additional reading Life and work The first comprehensive source on Mondrian was Michel Seuphor, Piet Mondrian: Life and Work (1956), a descriptive catalog of all Mondrian's paintings with an extensive bibliography. Another extensive catalog was Maria Grazia Ottolenghi, L'opera completa di Mondrian (1974); while a more recent one is Robert P. Welsh and Joop M. Joosten, Piet Mondrian: Catalogue Raisonn, 3 vol. in 2 (1998). Further monographs on Mondrian include Frank Elgar, Mondrian, trans. from French (1968); L.J.F. Wijsenbeek, Piet Mondrian, trans. from Dutch (1968), written by a former director of Haags Gemeentemuseum, which houses the largest collection of Mondrian's work; Hans L.C. Jaff, Piet Mondrian (1970); and John Milner, Mondrian (1992, reissued 1994). Themes and criticism Specific aspects of Mondrian's oeuvre and artistic goals are examined in Nancy J. Troy, Mondrian and Neo-Plasticism in America (1979); Kermit Swiler Champa, Mondrian Studies (1985); David Shapiro and Christopher Sweet, Mondrian Flowers: Essay (1991); Meyer Schapiro, Mondrian: On the Humanity of Abstract Painting (1995); and Serge Fauchereau, Mondrian and the Neo-Plasticist Utopia (1994). Major Works: The Red Cloud (1907; Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague); Woods near Oele (1908; Haags Gemeentemuseum); Windmill in Sunlight (1908; Haags Gemeentemuseum); The Red Tree (1908; Haags Gemeentemuseum); Still Life with Gingerpot (191112; Haags Gemeentemuseum); The Gray Tree (1912; Haags Gemeentemuseum); Oval Composition (Trees) (1913; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam); Blue Facade (1914; Museum of Modern Art, New York City); Composition (1916; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City); Composition in Black and White (1917; Rijksmuseum Krller-Mller, Otterlo, Neth.); Composition in Colour A (1917; Rijksmuseum Krller-Mller); Composition III with Colour Planes (1917; Haags Gemeentemuseum); Composition: Colour Planes with Gray Contours (1918; Max Bill Collection, Zrich); Composition in Diamond Shape (1919; Rijksmuseum Krller-Mller); Composition Checkerboard (1919; Haags Gemeentemuseum); Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow Green (1920; Wilhelm Hack Collection, Cologne); Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue (1921; Haags Gemeentemuseum); Composition 2 (1922; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum); Composition 1 with Blue and Yellow (1925; Kunsthaus, Zrich); Composition with Yellow and Blue (1929; Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam); Fox Trot A (1927; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.); Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow (1930; Mr. and Mrs. Armand P. Bartos Collection, New York City); Composition with Yellow Lines (1933; Haags Gemeentemuseum); Vertical Composition with Blue and White (1936; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dsseldorf, Ger.); Composition with Blue (1937; Haags Gemeentemuseum); Composition London (194042; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo); New York City I (194142; Sidney Janis Gallery, New York City); Broadway Boogie Woogie (194243; Museum of Modern Art, New York); Victory Boogie Woogie (194344; Burton Tremaine Collection, Meriden, Conn., on loan to Museum of Modern Art).