Showing reality through abstraction

For a student accustomed to tests, scores, and right and wrong answers, abstract art is something of a relief. By definition, there is no wrong way to look at it.

"It's more real than representational art because what you see is what you see," said Tara Young, Seattle Art Museum (SAM) curator. "Everyone has an individual experience with it."

That's the whole idea; abstract art contains none of the highbrow symbolism of the representational art of the old masters, Young explained. The images represent only themselves, becoming a Rorschach test of sorts for the viewer. In other words, a curator is no more sophisticated a viewer of modern art than a 10-year-old kid.

International Abstraction: Making Painting Real Part I is on view on the fourth floor of the SAM through July 27. Co-curated by Marek Wieczorek, UW assistant professor of modern art history, the exhibit highlights the beginnings of abstract art from a handful of isolated European artists in post-World War I Europe through World War II.

Included in the exhibit are some well known names, including Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Joseph Albers. Albers' paintings of squares within squares are ubiquitous in books on modern art. In fact, the Albers squares are the first things visitors see upon entering the exhibit. Twelve prints, in shades of black and gray, are individually framed but grouped together to form the work "Gray Instrumentation I."

Although there is no right or wrong way to look at abstract art, knowing what to look for can make viewing more enjoyable. Of the two pieces by Klee, only one is of the ethereal, watery kind for which he is well known. The other is a tightly constructed work in aqua called "Temple Wall Painting II."

"He was an artist who played with language and letter forms," said Young. "Somewhere in there is the letter K."

It is also possible to sense the chaos of post-World War I Germany in some pieces. Kurt Schwitters, one of the founders of the Dada movement, used waste material from the street in his art, as in "Hanging Down," a piece made of torn cardboard, burlap and scraps of mail.

"Everything had broken down [after World War I]," Schwitters said. "A new thing had to be made from the fragments."

Among the works on display at SAM are several that are quite rare.

"One of my favorites is an Agnes Martin, a little work on paper," said Young of the small "Winter Yellow," with floating organic shapes. Martin, who lived briefly in Bellingham before settling in New Mexico, destroyed most of her early work, to which "Winter Yellow" belongs.

"She is much better known for her minimalist work. It's really unusual to have a work of hers that's almost representational."

Another rare piece is Marcel Duchamp's "Discs Bearing Spirals," a piece Young said Wieczorek was impressed to discover in the museum's permanent collection.

"That is a very important piece," she explained. "It's related to films he made where he actually played the pieces on record players." The works, when spinning, create optical illusions, as if the pieces are rising or expanding.

The exhibit was begun as part of a class Wieczorek taught in 2002, called International Abstraction Between the World Wars.

"He wanted to bring students into our storage, and he gave us a list of artists that he was hoping to see," Young said. "He was sort of surprised by what we have."

Many of the pieces had never been shown before, because of their fragility or because there had not previously been an exhibition that gave them an appropriate context.

SAM asked Wieczorek to organize an exhibit along the lines of the class he taught.

"It was really fun for him," Young said. "He has a whole different perspective and a lot of expertise; he has even been a curator."

The second part of the exhibit will open in August, and will bring the story of abstraction up to date. Among the works to be shown are pieces by such luminaries as Jackson Pollack, Robert Motherwell and Arshille Gorky.

On the first Thursday of the month, admission to the museum is free. As the first round of summer-quarter tests approach, it's nice to know there's somewhere you can go where you just can't get it wrong.