The concrete art emerged in Europe in the early twentieth century , with the intention of producing works that they used very elements of languages. At first: plans and colors . As they spread to other languages, Concrete Art began to work with surfaces, sounds, silences, scenographic frames, etc. Deep efforts were made in the creation of an autonomous language , which did not need to be related to traditionally figurative themes . [ 1 ]
Geometric shapes dominated the plastic experiences of the first phase. The Russian avant-garde , constructivism , suprematism , Bauhaus , Neoplasticism ( De Stijl ), among others, were movements that contained ideas of concrete art in their forms of expression, even before Theo van Doesburg ‘s manifesto was written. [ 2 ]
Concrete Art Manifesto
The term was used by Theo van Doesburg in Paris, in the Concrete Art Manifesto . In Art Concret magazine , founded in 1930, he laid the conceptual foundations for the movement:
- Art is universal;
- The work of art must be entirely conceived and formed by the spirit before its execution;
- The painting must be entirely constructed with purely plastic elements, that is, plans and colors. A pictorial element only means ‘itself’ and, consequently, the painting has no other meaning than ” himself ”;
- The construction of the painting, as well as its elements, must be simple and visually controllable;
- The technique must be mechanical, that is, exact, anti-impressionist;
- Striving for absolute clarity. [
