Mondrian and Photography

An open book spread about the artist Piet Mondrian. The left page features a full-page, black-and-white photo of three men in suits forming a playful human tower outdoors on train tracks. The right page displays the book's table of contents.

A two-page spread from an art history book. The left page has the title The Group Portrait: Individual versus Collective, with text and two small black-and-white photos from the 19th and 20th centuries. The right page features a large, dramatic black-and-white group portrait from 1942 of the Surrealists, showing several men and women in formal attire posed on multiple levels in front of a dark, ornate background.

A two-page book spread displays two historical photographs from the early 1900s. On the left, a black-and-white portrait shows a woman seated in an ornate chair with two men standing behind her in a dark, cluttered room. On the right is a sepia-toned bust portrait of three mustached men in suits. Text captions are visible below the right image.

A two-page spread from a book about artist Piet Mondrian, featuring historical photographs. On the left, a sepia photo shows Mondrian reading by a stove in a rustic room, with a smaller image of a handwritten postcard below. On the right, a black-and-white photo shows Mondrian in his attic studio, sitting before a large canvas on an easel with a palette and brush in hand.

A two-page spread from a book. On the left page is a sepia photograph from 1909 of a bearded Piet Mondrian in a phrenological pose, with one hand raised and the other against his chest. On the right is a black and white photograph from 1911 of Mondrian in a suit standing beside his fiancée, Greta Heijbroek, who is seated in an ornate chair. Captions are visible below the left photo.

A two-page book spread showing two black-and-white photographs of Piet Mondrian's studio from 1925-26. The walls are covered in a geometric arrangement of black, white, and grey rectangular panels, characteristic of De Stijl. The room is furnished with an easel, a sofa, chairs, and an ornate stove, capturing the artist's integrated living and working environment from slightly different angles.

A two-page book spread with two black and white photos from 1928 on the roof terrace of the modernist Villa Stein-de Monzie. The left photo shows five people from a high angle on the tiled patio. The right photo shows a group posing on and around a white outdoor spiral staircase.

A two-page book spread featuring two black and white 1933 photographs by Charles Karsten of Piet Mondrian's studio. On the left, Mondrian poses in a suit beside two of his abstract paintings on an easel. The studio wall is a composition of light, grey, and dark rectangles. The right page shows a cropped close-up of the two paintings, a lozenge canvas above a rectangular one, highlighting their geometric grids against the similarly patterned wall.

A two-page book spread with three black-and-white photographs of artists Piet Mondrian and Harry Holtzman in a studio. On the left, a large photo shows the men standing beside a tall, geometric sculpture. On the right, two smaller photos depict them interacting with the artwork in different poses, with a similarly styled painting visible on the wall.

A two-page book spread with black and white portraits of artist Piet Mondrian in his studio by Arnold Newman. On the left, a close-up shows Mondrian framed by the geometric lines of an easel. On the right, a wider view shows him standing among several of his iconic abstract grid-based paintings.

A two-page book spread showing three color photographs of Piet Mondrian's studio, taken by Harry Holtzman after the artist's death. The white walls and furniture of the room are covered with an abstract arrangement of red, yellow, blue, and white squares and rectangles, transforming the entire space into a work of art.

A black-and-white two-page book spread with four photographs of a fashion model posing in Piet Mondrian's studio. In each image, the model wears an elegant dark dress and stands among Mondrian's abstract geometric paintings. Captions on the right identify the photos as being taken by Fernand Fonssagrives in the artist's studio after his death in 1944.

Mondrian and Photography

Picturing the Artist and His Work

€ 29.00

€ 58.00

VAT included. Shipping costs will be calculated at checkout

Edited by: Wietse Coppes, Leo Jansen

February 2023, 368 Pages, 400 Photos

Hardcover

250mm x 278mm

ISBN: 978-3-7757-5400-2

HATJE CANTZ VERLAG
Mommsenstr. 27
10629 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: contact@hatjecantz.de

According to Article 9(7) of the GPSR Regulation, no additional security information is required for books without supplements or special functions.

Press download

| Seeing Piet, the Man, behind Mondrian, the Artist

The general public's image of Mondrian is of a serious man in a suit and tie with a reserved, rather aloof look. It is the same group of some ten photographs that shaped this image over time, although there are around 400 known photographs of the artist and his studios that provide a far more balanced and livelier image of Mondrian. This gorgeous book is not a biography, but rather a visual and emotional reference work for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the world of this extraordinarily modern artist. The studios in Amsterdam, Paris, and New York are works of art themselves, as fascinating as the guests in these rooms. There are snapshots showing his private life, taken during journeys or visits, photographs of vernissages and dinners as well as formal portraits that he uses to promote the image of a serious, uncompromising artist. Detailed captions and richly illustrated essays on the significance of photography in the context of Mondrian's work make this book an extraordinary document of his time.

PIET MONDRIAN (1872-1944) was one of the pioneers of abstract art. Hailing from a strict Calvinist family, the artist became famous for his compositions of black lines and rectangular fields in primary colors, but his early work was influenced by 19th century Dutch landscape painting.