ABSTRACT ART, usually means painting and sculpture in which the materials of art (for example, paint and canvas) and the ways in which they are used (forms and colors) are the means that convey the artist’s purpose. Many 20^th century artists feel that they can EXPRESS “reality” most directly in abstract art.

抽象艺术，通常意味着绘画和雕塑，其中的艺术材料（例如，颜料和画布）和使用它们的方式（形式与色彩）都是传达艺术家目的的手段。许多20世纪的艺术家认为，他们用抽象艺术能最直接地表达“现实”。

Origins.  When a painting or sculpture distorts or exaggerates the image of a recognizable figure or subject, it is often said to have been abstracted from that figure or subject.  In the first decade of the 20^th century, Henri Matisse exaggerated and heightened “natural” color, and Pablo Picasso fragmented and rearranged the “natural” contours of his subjects. These artists were working on the threshold of abstract art. In 1913, Wassily Kandinsky painted the presumably first pure abstraction—Improvisation No. 30. Its forms were free, and its colors were strong and violent. Rather than being representational, the work “EXPRESSED” an emotional condition.

起源。当一幅绘画或一尊雕塑扭曲或夸大了一个可辩识的人物或对象时，它常常被说成是对那个人物或对象的抽象。在20世纪头10年中，亨利·马蒂斯夸大并强化了“自然”色彩，而巴勃罗·毕加索揉碎并重新安排了其对象的“自然”轮廓。这些艺术家正处于抽象艺术的门槛上。1913年，瓦西里·康定斯基画出了可能是第一幅纯粹的抽象画---即兴创作第30号。其形式是自由的，而且其色彩是强烈而暴力的。该作品并不是具象的，而是“表达了”一种情绪的状态。

Development.  In the early 1920’s the work of the de Stijl movement (named after its periodical) was almost classical in form, contrasting sharply with Kandinsky’s experimental freedom. Its leading exponent was Piet Mondrian, whose art relied chiefly on horizontal and vertical lines of differing widths. In the Soviet Union, Kasimir Malevich experimented with geometric forms and used the terms “nonobjective” and “suprematist” to describe his work. His most famous painting, White on White, is a white square placed against a white background. Jean Arp called his works “concrete art” because they represented only their own concrete sensuous existence as forms and colors. The most ambitious manifestation of abstract art is “abstract EXPRESSIONISM,” best represented by the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock and the sweeping brushwork of Willem de Kooning.

发展。在20世纪20年代早期，风格派运动（以其期刊命名）在形式上几乎是古典的，与康定斯基实验的自由针锋相对。其主要的倡导者是皮特·蒙德里安，他的艺术主要依靠不同宽度的水平线和垂直线。在苏联，卡西米尔·马列维奇用几何形式进行了实验，并使用“非写实的”和“至上主义的”术语来描绘他的作品。他最著名的绘画《白上之白》，是一个以白色为背景的白色方格。让·阿尔普称其作品为“具体艺术”，因为他们只是将他们自己具体的感性存在表现为形式和色彩。抽象艺术最雄心勃勃的表现是“抽象表现主义”，最有代表性的是杰克逊·波洛克的水滴画和威廉·德·库宁包含丰富信息的笔法。

In its early years, abstract art met with opposition, especially in Nazi Germany, where it was considered decadent, and in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Even in democratic countries some critics considered abstract art “subversive” (aesthetically) and incomprehensible. Today, however, this type of art is generally accepted as a legitimate form of artistic EXPRESSION. See also ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM.

在绘画的早期，抽象艺术遭遇了强烈反对，尤其在纳粹德国，在那里它被认为是颓废的，在斯大林统治下的苏联也如此。甚至在民主国家中，一些批评家认为抽象艺术具有“颠覆性”（在美学上）和不可理解性。然而，今天这类艺术已被普遍接受为一种合法的艺术表现形式。也可参阅抽象表现主义词条。

                          G.R. SWENSON, “Art and Artists” Magazine

                                        G．R．斯文森，“艺术与艺术家”杂志

                                                                   2023年8月14日译

（译者注：该词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第1卷，第55页）