Who is Naum Gabo?
Born in Bryansk, Russia, in 1890 legendary Modern artist Naum Gabo saw the First World War, the Revolution, the rise of Stalinism, the rise of Nazism and the Second World War. Miraculously, Gabo was seemingly always one step ahead of danger as he travelled from East to West, dying in America in 1977, inspiring breakthrough after breakthrough in the major cities he visited.
Where it all began
In 1912 Gabo met Wassily Kandinsky while studying engineering at Munich University and discovered abstract art. From this experience he came to blend a kind of Kandinsky-inspired metaphysical approach to art and abstraction while replacing the more spiritual/pseudo-religious tendencies with an engineer’s passion for technology, innovation, and movement.
A child of change
Gabo built his career as an avant-garde star in Moscow after the revolution but left as the propagandists tightened their hold. He moved to work at the famous Bauhaus in Berlin until 1932, meeting artists of the De Stijl movement and working on a Diaghilev ballet called La Chatte (1926). Avoiding another oppressive regime in the nick of time, he moved to Paris and joined the Abstraction-Création group of that included such towering figures as Mondrian, Arp, Hepworth, Nicholson, Schwitters, and once again Kandinsky. He escaped the Nazis yet again in his move to London in 1935 and spent the war in a very small Cornish seaside village called Carbis Bay, where, in one of the oddest twists in a period of very odd twists, he and Ben Nicholson worked as the local Air Raid wardens.
The effect on his art
Here he began using more curves as he fed off the natural curve of the bay and the energy of the constant sea-waves, introducing everyday, convenient materials like strings and thread to mock up his designs. Having influenced crucial 20th century artists in Moscow, Berlin, Paris and London he made his final emigration to the USA in 1946.
Critical view
Gabo was particularly keen on empty space. Traditionally empty spaces within a drawn shapes are restricted and weighed down by the outlines. Gabo’s idea was to use modern materials like plastics, glass and metals to convey an idea of space without making it seem heavy at all (which, let’s remember, was a lot harder to conceive of before the Space Age and any knowledge of zero-gravity). Additionally, his use of line-like plastic edges, waves and actual movement attempted to give the feeling of torsion, connection or locomotion to the space. His equation might look something like: space + movement - body. He was aiming for something as light and fluid as possible. This is what makes Gabo’s work so revolutionary, so engaging and so important to see in the real.
Born in Bryansk, Russia, in 1890 legendary Modern artist Naum Gabo saw the First World War, the Revolution, the rise of Stalinism, the rise of Nazism and the Second World War. Miraculously, Gabo was seemingly always one step ahead of danger as he travelled from East to West, dying in America in 1977, inspiring breakthrough after breakthrough in the major cities he visited.
Where it all began
In 1912 Gabo met Wassily Kandinsky while studying engineering at Munich University and discovered abstract art. From this experience he came to blend a kind of Kandinsky-inspired metaphysical approach to art and abstraction while replacing the more spiritual/pseudo-religious tendencies with an engineer’s passion for technology, innovation, and movement.
A child of change
Gabo built his career as an avant-garde star in Moscow after the revolution but left as the propagandists tightened their hold. He moved to work at the famous Bauhaus in Berlin until 1932, meeting artists of the De Stijl movement and working on a Diaghilev ballet called La Chatte (1926). Avoiding another oppressive regime in the nick of time, he moved to Paris and joined the Abstraction-Création group of that included such towering figures as Mondrian, Arp, Hepworth, Nicholson, Schwitters, and once again Kandinsky. He escaped the Nazis yet again in his move to London in 1935 and spent the war in a very small Cornish seaside village called Carbis Bay, where, in one of the oddest twists in a period of very odd twists, he and Ben Nicholson worked as the local Air Raid wardens.
The effect on his art
Here he began using more curves as he fed off the natural curve of the bay and the energy of the constant sea-waves, introducing everyday, convenient materials like strings and thread to mock up his designs. Having influenced crucial 20th century artists in Moscow, Berlin, Paris and London he made his final emigration to the USA in 1946.
Critical view
Gabo was particularly keen on empty space. Traditionally empty spaces within a drawn shapes are restricted and weighed down by the outlines. Gabo’s idea was to use modern materials like plastics, glass and metals to convey an idea of space without making it seem heavy at all (which, let’s remember, was a lot harder to conceive of before the Space Age and any knowledge of zero-gravity). Additionally, his use of line-like plastic edges, waves and actual movement attempted to give the feeling of torsion, connection or locomotion to the space. His equation might look something like: space + movement - body. He was aiming for something as light and fluid as possible. This is what makes Gabo’s work so revolutionary, so engaging and so important to see in the real.
| What | Naum Gabo, Annely Juda Fine Art |
| Where | Annely Juda Fine Art, 4th Floor, 23 Dering Street (Off New Bond Street), London, W1S 1AW | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Bond Street (underground) |
| When |
30 Oct 14 – 19 Dec 14, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM |
| Price | £Free |
| Website | Click here for more information |
