Piet Mondrian : The Complete Writings. Essays and notes in original versions

18 x 25cm near fine hardback, shrinkwrapped. Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He was one of the pioneers of 20th-century abstract art, as he changed his artistic direction from figurative painting to an increasingly abstract style, until he reached a point where his artistic vocabulary was reduced to simple geometric elements. Mondrian's art was highly utopian and was concerned with a search for universal values and aesthetics. He proclaimed in 1914: "Art is higher than reality and has no direct relation to reality. To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual. We find ourselves in the presence of an abstract art. Art should be above reality, otherwise it would have no value for man. From the cover notes: 'From the beginning of 1914 until his death in 1944, Mondrian wrote more than a hundred essays on the subject of art and society. All of Mondrian's writings proclaim his conviction that art paves the way to a better society.'.…