Description
Because Piet Mondrian depicted this specific farm no fewer than 13 times, determining when he actually made this drawing is difficult. Prior to 1908, he rarely dated his work; moreover, his artistic evolution is hard to trace chronologically since he made two kinds of work simultaneously: formally experimental landscapes and—forced by his meager finances to appeal to buyers—naturalistic scenes. Based on stylistic similarities to other works of that time, Robert Welsh, a scholar of Mondrian’s early work, dated the sheet to around 1905-06.
Provenance
J. P. Smid, Amsterdam, possibly before 1962 [Welsh and Joosten 1996]. Sold, Paul Brandt, Amsterdam, October 29, 1962, lot 570 (ill.), as "Ferme sous bois au bord d'une petite rivière." Ralph Goldenberg, Chicago [Welsh and Joosten 1996]. Sold by B.C. Holland Gallery, Chicago, to the Art Institute, 1978.
Accession Number
53175
Medium
Pastel and charcoal on buff wove paper
Dimensions
47.5 × 60 cm (18 3/4 × 23 5/8 in.)
Classification
charcoal
Credit Line
Brewer Woods Fund
Background & Context
Background Story
Piet Mondrians Geinrust Farm: Close Frontal View from around 1905-06 is a pastel and charcoal drawing on buff wove paper that represents a crucial phase in the artists development, when he was moving from the atmospheric landscape painting of his early period toward the increasingly abstract compositions that would eventually lead to the pure geometric abstraction of his mature style. Geinrust, a farm along the Gein river south of Amsterdam that Mondrian painted repeatedly between 1902 and 1908, provided the artist with a subject that combined the topographic specificity of the Dutch landscape tradition with the geometric simplicity of a gabled farmhouse and the horizontal and vertical lines of fences, trees, and waterways that would become the fundamental elements of his abstract compositions. The close frontal view of the title indicates that Mondrian is approaching the farmhouse from directly in front, eliminating the atmospheric perspective that characterized his earlier landscapes and presenting the building as a flat pattern of vertical and horizontal lines on the picture plane. The pastel and charcoal medium, with its capacity for both broad tonal areas and sharp Linear definition, allows Mondrian to create a composition in which the farmhouse and its surroundings are reduced to their essential geometric forms while retaining enough specific detail to remain recognizable as a Dutch farm. The buff wove paper provides a warm ground that unifies the composition and eliminates the need for a separate sky, simplifying the composition to its essential horizontal and vertical elements.
Cultural Impact
Mondrians Geinrust farm drawings are crucial documents for understanding the development of his abstract style, demonstrating the reduction of the Dutch landscape to its essential geometric elements. Geinrust Farm: Close Frontal View influenced the understanding of how representational subject matter evolves into abstract composition.
Why It Matters
A pastel and charcoal drawing by Mondrian from 1905-06 of Geinrust Farm in close frontal view, reducing the Dutch farmhouse to essential vertical and horizontal geometric forms while retaining recognizable detail of a crucial transitional phase toward pure abstraction.
