With acknowledgement to: anthroposophie.net
Linking up with MeetingTheBar, hosted by Victoria over at dVerse —it’s all about balance…
Homage to Mondrian
Avant-garde minimalist, stunning,
Piet Mondrian made the running,
black, white, opposing pairs,
primary colours—oblongs, squares.
strict Dutch Calvinist, he did his duty,
yet used intuition for basic forms of beauty,
a Utopian ideal, of order, harmony, rhythm,
his paintings neat, neoplasticism,
pure abstract control freak,
his technique,
“…more or less Cubist
…more or less pictorial”
symmetry avoided. A memorial:
aesthetic balance through opposition,
driven to simplify, a man with a mission.
Polly Stretton © 2012
Nederlands: Anoniem. Piet Mondriaan. 1899. Den Haag, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
journalread 
27/07/2012 at 09:20
He does look rather intense …
Thanks for commenting, all 🙂 xxx
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27/07/2012 at 11:12
Never thought of it before but, I suppose there have always been control freaks. He does look pretty humourless. I must be honest and admit I’ve never heard of him before either. Really liked your poetry though Polly 🙂
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27/07/2012 at 11:57
heh-heh … y’know, the research said he was a control freak, and interesting that like Geoff, you think he looks humourless Bren.
Glad you liked the poetry, thanks 🙂
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27/07/2012 at 11:58
Nice tribute to the artist ~ I find it fascinating to read about their process of creation ~ Thanks for sharing ~
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27/07/2012 at 12:01
Thank you ~ I’m spellbound by the different things picked up on in poetry and always intrigued by painters and the way they create ~ I see lots of similarities to poets ~ what say you?
Thanks for your comments 🙂
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27/07/2012 at 12:45
pretty cool…and def a nice tribute to him and his thought process as well…there is something to the simplicity of his works….nice bend of the words ma’am
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27/07/2012 at 13:25
Many thanks for your kind words Brian – it was interesting to research him – I’ve always loved his work, but finding out about the man was brill 🙂
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27/07/2012 at 12:52
Bravo – stunningly clever! Sums up his work beautifully!
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27/07/2012 at 13:26
Aw, thanks Alex 🙂
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27/07/2012 at 13:30
Black, white, opposing pairs,
Primary colours – oblongs, squares.
Perfect balance… thanks for introducing me to someone I will look up.
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27/07/2012 at 13:32
Oh how lovely that you picked up on the balance – I am heartened 🙂
Thanks for your comments Laurie
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27/07/2012 at 14:39
Super clever. K.
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27/07/2012 at 14:55
Goodness, what a nice thing to say … I think! 😀
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27/07/2012 at 14:48
Shows the danger of balance!
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27/07/2012 at 14:55
Now that is an interesting comment John 🙂
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27/07/2012 at 15:08
I love this piece of work. A fitting tribute. It reminds me that balance only appears to be complicated. In his work he achieves balance through placement of simple imbalanced parts. Speaks of life doesn’t it.
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27/07/2012 at 15:17
heh-heh, yes, it can work that way … wouldn’t it be lovely if all were so simple?
Thank you for your thoughts K., glad you think it a fitting tribute.
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27/07/2012 at 17:40
love how the artwork resembles the soul of an artist..just like poetry does..and i like much how you captured him
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27/07/2012 at 19:44
It really does – I totally agree your comments Claudia – it’s so obvious when you see it written as you’ve done – glad you like my ‘capture’ of him (!) 😀
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27/07/2012 at 19:22
Perfectly written! I love the rhythm!
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27/07/2012 at 19:47
Well, me oh my, I’ll take the compliment and thank you very much … so glad you like the poem and thank you again for your comments 🙂
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27/07/2012 at 19:45
Polly, when I was writing the prompt, Mondrian came to mind. During my docent training, they used the above image as an example of asymmetrical balance. Great choice; great poem.
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27/07/2012 at 19:49
Ah, Victoria, that’s spooky … but I must confess I’ve always loved his work and he immediately came to my mind when I read your ace prompt – stunning that you thought of him too …
Where did you / do you work, Victoria? That must be / have been an interesting job …
And many thanks for your kind comments 🙂
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28/07/2012 at 02:48
Polly, thank you for this introduction, I’m not familiar with him. I love the idea of “balance through opposition”, just as chaos comes to order. I am intrigued by his mission. Lovely post, thanks for visiting mine. 🙂
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28/07/2012 at 06:27
He’s so worth getting to know! But then, I am a tad biased …
Glad you like the underlying concepts and thank you so much for visiting 🙂
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28/07/2012 at 15:17
Nicely researched and written. Looks like a man with some sharp corners 🙂
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28/07/2012 at 15:20
Thank you … and what an ace description of the man ‘sharp corners’ heh-heh 🙂
I think I’d say ‘sharp corners, but full lips …’ *gleeful* 😀
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28/07/2012 at 18:20
I really enjoyed this, bringing once more to awareness the power and beauty of this painter, whose work I have admired from a distance for so long. You make him very human, bringing his work and his personality to life in a very charming way.
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28/07/2012 at 18:23
Thank you so much for your thoughts and comments Chaz … he strikes me as a man of contrasts, clearly a great mathematician, yet someone who relied equally on intuition … that’s some powerful combination. Like you, I’ve admired him forever, it was great to find out more about him.
Thanks once again for visiting 😀
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29/07/2012 at 01:04
Takes me back to my A Level Art History classes – I rather like the boldness of his images, but don’t think I’d have liked to be stuck in a lift with him.
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29/07/2012 at 07:04
Now there’s a thought! 😉
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29/07/2012 at 16:46
I remember when we learned about Mondrian in school. A bunch of frustrated students were like, “What’s so great about that? I could have painted that!” And our teacher said, “Yes, but you DIDN’T. And that’s the difference between you and Mondrian.” It was actually quite a profound lesson, when you think about it.
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29/07/2012 at 16:47
OMG Ethan, that’s SO true! What a lesson to learn. What an ace teacher 🙂
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29/07/2012 at 16:52
Haha, those teachers were actually a little crazy. There was a period of a few weeks where we wore togas in class every day and built Greek city-states (I was Sparta). And they had us analyze songs by Dylan and The Beatles. I’m really not sure how their curriculum ever got approved, but I’m so glad it did.
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29/07/2012 at 16:55
Doncha love crazy teachers? I can imagine a class full of kids dressed in togas building Greek city states … having said that, how on earth did you do it? I guess I can imagine a class full of kids dressed in togas – heh-heh. As for analysing Dylan and Beatles songs, I know ’em all, so bring on the analysis!! Looks to me like you had a pretty good schooling 🙂
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29/07/2012 at 20:54
Haha, lots of PVC pipe is all I remember about the city-states.
I remember we had to analyze “A Day In The Life” and “Ballad Of A Thin Man”. I think they were trying to give us songs that have zillions of interpretations already, just to see what we came up with.
Yeah, that class kind of screwed me up permanently… but in a good way. 🙂
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