What impelled an artist who strived to acquire traditional skills in order to be recognized by the academy to forge a path to radical abstraction? This is one of many complex questions Weber, a consummate arts biographer, addresses in this epic biography of a “complete original,” Piet Mondrian. Weber thoroughly chronicles Mondrian’s strict religious upbringing in the Netherlands, and his boldly philosophical rejection of repression and tradition, even as he remained committed to discipline and order. Enthralled by nature, he painted in search of its essence, seeking a “new form of spiritual beauty,” a quest Weber traces through Mondrian’s extensive writings as well as his paintings. Tall, fastidious, always impeccable in suit and tie, and passionate about jazz and dancing, Mondrian found liberation in Paris. He fervently pursued the immutable, while juggling crucial yet volatile relationships with friends, patrons, and acolytes, steadfastly avoiding intimacy as his paintings became ever more austere, if cosmically dynamic. Weber closely scrutinizes key works, and draws on numerous sources to track Mondrian’s perpetual financial and health struggles; his fleeing WWII Paris and London for New York; and the shift in critical response from mockery to reverence. Twelve years in the making and brimming with exacting details and striking insights, Weber’s vital and enlightening portrait will be the foundation for all future studies of the “jazz-loving pioneer of abstraction.” (Oct.)
Mondrian: His Life, His Art, His Quest for the Absolute by Nicholas Fox Weber will be published in the English language by Alfred A. Knopf in October 2024.
Nicholas Fox Weber has been the executive director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation for four decades. He is the author of iBauhaus, Le Corbusier, Balthus, and Patron Saints, among others. His next book, Mondrian: His Life, His Art, His Quest for the Absolute will be published by Knopf in October. He lives in Connecticut, Paris, and Ireland.