From Mondrian's bold geometric forms to Kandinsky's use of symbols to Pollock's "dripped paintings," the richly diverse movement of abstract painting challenges anyone trying to make sense of either individual works or the phenomenon as a whole. Applying his insights as an art historian and a painter, John Golding offers a unique approach to understanding the evolution of abstractionism by looking at the personal artistic development of seven of its greatest practitioners. He re-creates the journey undertaken by each painter in his move from representational art to the abstract--a journey that in most cases began with cubism but led variously to symbolism, futurism, surrealism, theosophy, anthropology, Jungian analysis, and beyond. For each artist, spiritual quest and artistic experimentation became inseparable. And despite their different techniques and philosophies, these artists shared one goal: to break a path to a new, ultimate pictorial truth.

The book first explores the works and concerns of three pioneering European abstract painters--Mondrian, Malevich, Kandinsky--and then those of their American successors--Pollock, Newman, Rothko, and Still. Golding shows how each painter sought to see the world and communicate his vision in the purest or most expressive form possible. For example, Mondrian found his way into abstraction through a spiritual response to the landscape of his native Holland, Malevich through his apprehension of the human body, Kandinsky through a blend of religious mysticism and symbolism. Line and color became the focus for many of their creative endeavors. In the 1940s and 50s, the Americans raised the level of pictorial innovation, beginning most notably with Pollock and his Jung-inspired concept of action.p>Golding makes a powerful case that at its best and most profound, abstract painting is heavily imbued with meaning and content. Through a blend of biography, art analysis, and cultural history, Paths to the Absolute offers remarkable insights into how a sense of purpose is achieved in painting, and how abstractionism engaged with the intellectual currents of its time.

This book delves into the art of Piet Mondrian, Kasimir Malevich, Vasily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and Clyfford Still. There are individual chapters devoted to the first 4 painters names, and 2 chapters given to discuss Newman, Rothko, and Still as a group.

This book obviously can't do an in depth look at the painters featured, but it does impress upon the reader how each artist brought a spiritualness into his art, and how through that discovered his way of reaching the absolute in his art.

There is a mix of in color, and black and white, reproductions in the book. The works of the artists that proved to most influencial in abstraction are shown in color, while others--not so much of lesser importance, but not as perhaps influencial--are shown in black and white. Also, there are pictures from artists such as Picasso and Matisse, and others, featured to show how the abstraction artists used--or were inspired by-- different movements to find their way into abstraction.

The most interesting part of the book is the discussion of how spirituality is in the abstractionist art. For example, Mondrian was for many years a follower of Theosophy, and part of the Theosophy doctrine was that one is free of all oppression...and everything will be free of all oppression. Mondrian would later move on to seek different teachings, Golding states, but Theosophy gave him his first real direction into becoming an abstractionist.

This book is a good introduction for anyone not familiar with abstraction and its influence on modern art, as well as a having a wealth of information about the artists themselves.