untitled, Charmion von Wiegand

Artwork Overview

Charmion von Wiegand, untitled
Charmion von Wiegand, untitled
Charmion von Wiegand
untitled
1945
Charmion von Wiegand, artist
1896–1983
untitled, 1945
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: canvas; oil
Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 50.8 x 30.5 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 20 x 12 in
Credit line: Museum purchase: Helen Foresman Spencer Art Acquisition Fund
Accession number: 2000.0104
Not on display
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Label texts

Archive Label 2003:
This painting is a superb representative of the modernist art movement called Neo-Plasticism. Artists involved in this movement sought to create works of art that would convey a universality of expression. They hoped to achieve this goal by restricting their pictorial elements to geometric shapes, primary colors, and the non-colors of black, white and gray. The theory of Neo-Plasticism was evolved by the Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian.

Charmion von Wiegand began her career as an abstract painter in the late 1930s. In 1941, she met Piet Mondrian in New York. Her subsequent association with Mondrian, coupled with her own dedication to the tenets of this “new plastic art,” led her to create vibrant paintings such as this one.

Exhibitions

Art Into Art: Inspired Responses
2006–2007
20/21
Susan Earle, curator
2016–2021
20/21
Susan Earle, curator
2009–2015
20/21
Susan Earle, curator
2016–2021

Resources

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 133. I’m David Cateforis with another art minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. Charmion von Wiegand, an American journalist and artist, met the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian in New York in 1941, and was deeply impressed by his nonobjective art. Like Mondrian, von Wiegand sought to achieve a spiritual quality in her painting by eliminating references to nature and working strictly with primary colors, black and white, and pure geometric forms. Her small 1945 canvas in the Spencer collection offers an asymmetrical arrangement of vertical and horizontal bars divided into red, blue, yellow, and black rectangles, surrounded by white. Because the composition lacks depth, the lively geometric design seems to play upon the surface of the canvas. This untitled work recalls Mondrian's 1943 painting, Broadway Boogie Woogie, which without depicting skyscrapers, neon signs or tapping feet, successfully evokes the rhythms of Manhattan and the pulsing beat of the Boogie Woogie dance he loved. Von Wiegand actually watched Mondrian at work on this painting, so it is not surprising that her canvas in the Spencer reflects its influence. With thanks to Nancy Hernandez for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast