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Piet Mondrian: A Life Paperback – September 27, 2022
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“Janssen’s biography of the Dutch master is riveting and eloquent.” –Terence Trouillot, Artnet
Piet Mondrian: A Life is the first comprehensive biography of Piet Mondrian to be published in English. This remarkable book provides a long-overdue and compelling account of the life of perhaps the most influential abstract artist of the 20th century. Hans Janssen, former chief curator at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, draws on his own research and that of a cohort of distinguished scholars, as well as previously unknown letters, writings and archival materials, to reveal unexpected new insights into the artist’s life and the circles in which Mondrian moved.
From his student days in Amsterdam to his life in Paris after the First World War, to his time in London and New York from 1938 until his death, Mondrian is here presented as someone in constant interaction with the world around him. Far from a lonely, isolated figure as he is often portrayed, he is revealed as an artist reacting to the emergence of modernity and taking the lead in shaping art for the world in which we now live. Translated into English in the 150th anniversary year of the artist’s birth, and already celebrated and anticipated in the New York Times, this is a vital contribution to the scholarship on Mondrian as well as on the development of abstract art.
A cofounder of the De Stijl movement and pioneer of 20th-century abstraction, Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) developed his iconic style of Neoplasticism―a rigorously limited yet generative language of straight lines and primary colors―out of a progressive exploration of painting that took him from naturalistic landscape painter to theoretician of geometric abstraction.
Hans Janssen (1954–2021) is the author of Piet Mondrian: The Man Who Changed Everything and coauthor of The Story of De Stijl, and was a curator of modern art at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.
- Print length408 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRidinghouse/Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague
- Publication dateSeptember 27, 2022
- Dimensions6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-101909932515
- ISBN-13978-1909932517
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Style for him, from first to last, served a quest to manifest soul-deep spirituality as a demonstrable fact of life. His aim, he said, was not to create masterpieces, though he did that, too. It was 'to find things out.' He reduced painting’s uses and procedures, the whats and the hows, to a rock-bottom why. -- Peter Schjeldahl ― New Yorker
[Demonstrates] an extraordinary feel for the paintings and an uncanny sense of Mondrian’s inner self. -- Maxwell Carter ― Wall Street Journal: WSJ.
A fascinating study of an artist so obsessed with his life’s work that he would let nothing and no one get in its way. -- Tobias Grey ― Airmail
Product details
- Publisher : Ridinghouse/Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague (September 27, 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 408 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1909932515
- ISBN-13 : 978-1909932517
- Item Weight : 1.95 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,078,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #173 in Individual Artist Essays
- #2,008 in Biographies of Artists, Architects & Photographers (Books)
- #73,994 in Humor & Entertainment (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2024This book was recommended as the definitive biography of Mondrian. It certainly is that and covers all phases and aspects of his live and career. I did find parts of it a bit over long and dry but, all in all, I think it does give the complete and detailed account of this great artist. i recommend it.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2023The English translation of this eccentric biography was published after its author's passing. Hans Janssen was a highly recognized Mondrian expert with numerous titles on that subject to his credit. But this one is not a straightforward account of Mondrian's life and his art. One could make a case for such treatment, but the skipping around in time doesn't make the narrative more interesting or illuminating. There are other issues that make this book extremely frustrating: First, Mr. Janssen discusses in detail very many little known artists in Mondrian's orbit, and often takes a while talking about their paintings and even argues for their influence over Mondrian, though without providing images that would make the author's arguments palpable. Having to go online to check on those paintings is rather annoying. Not having them in the book feels like a lazy decision by the publisher. Second, Mr. Janssen takes pride in having crafted imagined scenes and entire conversations among the protagonists, reportedly based on information gathered by him. The end result is a contraption "inspired by real events", neither a novel nor the comprehensive biography Mondrian still deserves. Too bad.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2022It's a paperback.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2023I guess this is supposed to be a biography. It would be nice if it proceeded in chronological order. It’s one of those books where the author speculates about what his subject must have been doing because that was the kind of thing he would have done. The reason I didn’t give it one star is there are some good reproductions of the paintings.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2022Was a gift
- Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2022There are so few books available on Mondrian. This one is worth reading and owning.
Top reviews from other countries
- auldmareReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive
All you need to know
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Vittorio SantoroReviewed in Germany on January 26, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Piet Mondrian, A Life
Magistral !
- MingusReviewed in Australia on November 11, 2022
2.0 out of 5 stars This is NOT a hardcover - it is paperback!
WARNING: This is NOT a hardcover - it is paperback!
- JCTReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2023
4.0 out of 5 stars A different angle?
There is, clearly explained, quite a lot of invention in this biography. The life of M is amplified by adding his thoughts. Normally I would not like this but it did help me understand M a little more.
- SouffeeReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 27, 2023
4.0 out of 5 stars A highly detailed account.
Whether you treat this book as a normal biography or a reference work to dip into when certain aspects of his oeuvre come up depends how interested you are in Mondrian. It fulfils both jobs. I’ve just read pages at random so I can’t decide which side of the fence I fall. However from what I have read it is well written and interesting. It is not a highly packed with colour reproductions type of tome but what photos there are, are very apt. There’s been some moaning about the book not being a hardback but it seemed obvious to me it was a paperback. Perhaps the price was misleading as it’s quite expensive for a paperback but it’s quite a tome even so.