Mondrian Exhibitions

Mondrian Exhibitions & Catalogues

Every exhibition produces a catalogue and there are a lot of these in circulation. Initially, I bought them through eBay, but I am now trawling Alibris and Abebooks. Some of these pictures enlarge upon clicking.

(Oct 2002) I'm now extending this page to cover all the PM exhibitions I can find. There's a niche in the market here - I don't suppose I'll ever write the definitive book on PM exhibitions, but I'll aim for a good online resource. There is a comprehensive listing in the Catalogue, ending in 1993, but that is rather dry and unenthusiastic. I am experimenting with "virtual exhibitions", creating galleries of the works in particular exhibits. The virtual exhibitions are proving very time consuming - the gallery function in FrontPage is rather flaky and I am looking for another solution.

Mondrian de 1892 à 1914 Les chemins de l'abstraction This exhibition was at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris from 25th March to 14th July, then Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas from 18th August to 8th December 2002. It is a great show of more than 100 works leading up to the Compositions. I will try to set it up as a virtual exhibition when time allows. LA Times review here.
Christie's the Lindenboom Collection of early works by Piet Mondrian, 1999 The catalogue of the sale. 27pp, 4 excellent colour illustrations plus B&W
Piet Mondrian 1872-1994 Haags Gemeentemuseum, Dec 94 - Apr 95 National Gallery of Art, Washington, Jun 95 - Sep 95 Museum of Modern Art, New York, Oct 95 - Jan 96 This must have been the most extensive Mondrian exhibition to date. I do not have the exhibition catalogue and it was held after the Catalogue Raisonné was published, but I do have the book published in association with the exhibition (see right). Judging from that, it looks as though 186 works were on show. A fine chap (though no great fan of Mondrian), called John Haber publishes online reviews of exhibitions in and around New York. Click here for his review of this show.
Mondrian in New York Galerie Tokoro, Tokyo, 1993 127 pages, many colour illustrations. Articles from herbert henkels, Christian Derouet (in French) and Harry Holtzman. This is a great document. There were some Mondrian pictures in the exhibition but, more importantly, there were many Mondrian artifacts, such as his easel, palettes and brushes, his furniture and his record collection and the Wall Works - reconstructions of the coloured cardboard rectangles he spent so much care rearranging on his white walls. I will put more of the contents on show later. I paid $25 from an Abebooks seller - I'll look up he details.
Mondrian Acquisitions 1979-1988 Haags Gemeentemuseum 1988 64 large pages, 42 illustrations, in colour where appropriate.
Mondrian in the Sidney Janis Family Collections, New York Haags Gemeentemuseum 1988 64 large pages, 67 illustrations, in colour where appropriate. another excellent publication in the same format as the entry above.
Sidney Janis, 1988 32pp, 31 illustrations, 6 in colour
Sidney Janis, 1980 24pp, 31 illustrations, 1 in colour
Mondrian, The Diamond Compositions National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979 Although issued in conjunction with the exhibition, this is a book in its own right, giving a detailed analysis of the diamond paintings. Well worth a read. 110 pages, 76 illustrations including 7 in colour.
National Gallery of Canada, Bulletin 29 / 1977 This is probably my favourite, issued to celebrate the gallery's acquisition of Composition 12 with Small Blue Square. It contains an extensive and fascinating article by Robert Welsh, The Place of Composition 12 with Small Blue Square in the Art of Piet Mondrian. He suggests that this work sits squarely between the classical compositions and the later works such as the New Yorks and the Boogie Woogies. The article is online here, but without illustrations. 32pp, 19 B&W illustrations plus a colour plate of the picture itself.
Post-Mondrian Abstraction in America Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1973 Only two Mondrian works shown, but many interesting pieces, including the Holtzman sculpture, right. 32 pp, 25 illustrations including 4 in colour
Piet Mondrian Centennial Exhibition, Guggenheim Foundation, 1971 One of the more substantial catalogues, well worth acquiring and including articles by Welsh, Joosten and others. 223 pp, 132 illustrations of which about 30 are in colour
Mondrian: The Process Works, 1970 Pace Gallery, New York 11th April - 16th May 1970 Los Angeles County Museum 14th July - 30th August 1970 64 pp. Many b&w illustrations and photographs, 1 tipped-in plate. 2 articles by Harry Holtzman on Mondrian's methods and his environment plus Mondrian's article Home - Street - City, 1926 Exhibition details here. Catalogue $17.50 (with a fairly poor dj) from Vagabond Books, LA. Not cheap, but well worth the expense, as it turned out.
Mondrian, 1969 This is the catalogue for the exhibition in the Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris. No page numbers, strangely, but it is probably 200+ 97 illustrations, including 18 in colour
Piet Mondrian, 1966 This is the catalogue for the exhibition which toured Toronto, Philadelphia and The Hague in 1966. The dust jacket is yellow and blue, the cover underneath is rather more interesting. 230pp, 114 illustrations including 4 colour.
Mondrian, de Stijl and their impact Marlborough-Gerson Gallery. New York, 1966 60pp, 50 b&w illustrations and 4 in colour. Introduction by Prof. A. M. Hammacher. $7 from Avenue Books, St. Augustine, Fl.
Sidney Janis, 1963 This must have been a wonderful exhibition to attend. 24pp, 63 B&W illustrations Virtual exhibition here.
Sidney Janis, 1962 Picture taken from the 1980 Janis catalogue. I haven't bought a copy of the 62 catalogue yet, but here are the covers from an eBay sale.
Sidney Janis XX^th Century Artists, 1960 20pp, 46 illustrations, all B&W, 4 by Mondrian (all earlier works)
Sidney Janis Arp & Mondrian, 1960 The cover is very plain, but the inside pages are more interesting. 48p, 46 illustrations, all B&W, 2 colour. 20 Arp, 18 Mondrian and 8 of previous exhibitions.
Sidney Janis 10^th Anniversary Exhibition, 1958 108pp, 115 illustrations, 9 in colour. There are 4 Mondrian works and 6 photographs of exhibitions of (or including) Mondrian.
Sidney Janis, 1957 16 pp, 31 illustrations, including 2 tipped-in colour plates, plus 5 exhibition illustrations. Exhibition image from a subsequent Janis catalogue.
Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1955 62pp, 55 illustrations including 2 in colour There is a delightfully quaint 1 page insert - see here. Virtual exhibition here
Kunsthaus, Zürich, 1955 75pp, 118 small b&w illustrations and 3 photographs. Articles in German by Max Bill and Mondrian.
Gemeentemuseum 's-Gravenhage, 1955 34pp, 129 small b&w illustrations and 1 photograph. Articles in French by Seuphor and Mondrian. $25 from Avenue Books, St. Augustine, Fl.
Sidney Janis, 1953 8 small pages. 34pp, 5 b&w illustrations and 1 photograph. The picture of the exhibition is from a subsequent Janis catalogue. $12 from Avenue Books, St. Augustine, Fl.
Sidney Janis, 1951 Again, taken from a subsequent Janis catalogue.
Sidney Janis, 1949 From a subsequent Janis catalogue.
Kunsthalle, Basle, 1949 50pp 5 illustrations and a photograph of Mondrian. One of Mondrian's essays in German, Neue Gestaltung, and one by Seuphor in French, Refléxions et souvenirs. $12 from Art Books Only, East Hampton, NY.
Stedelijk Museum, 1946 56pp, 22 small b&w illustrations and 1 photograph. Articles in Dutch by Seuphor, Til Brugman, J.J.P. Oud, C. van Eesteren and Mondrian. $25
Entartete Kunst' exhibition, Munich, 1937 from Blotkamp, p 225, illus 168 Painting by Mondrian in the 'Entartete Kunst' exhibition, Munich, 1937.
Unversity of Chicago, 1935 from Blotkamp, p 202, illus 151 Installation photograph of Picasso's The Studio (1927-8) flanked by paintings by Mondrian, Miró and Hélion, at an exhibition of the Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago, 1935.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1926 from Blotkamp, p 207, illus 153 Installation photograph of the 'De Stijl Onafhankelijken' exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1926, including paintings by Smits, Servranckx, Huszár and Mondrian.
Hollandsche Kunstenaarskring, Amsterdam, 1917 from Blotkamp, p 101, illus 76 Installation photograph of three paintings by Mondrian at the Hollandsche Kunstenaarskring, Amsterdam, 1917: Composition in Colour B, Composition in Line, Composition in Colour A.
Galerie de L'Effort Moderne, Paris, 1911 from Blotkamp, p 179, illus 128 Installation photograph of the exhibition 'Maîtres du Cubisme' at the Galerie de L'Effort Moderne, Paris, 1921.

Whitechapel Art Gallery insert
Mondriaan appreciated music very keenly, with a specific personal taste for Bach and classical music. He was also an early enthusiast for jazz and boogie woogie and the eventual contact with America confirmed his feelings for this kind of music. Mondriaan often worked in his New York studio with boogie woogie, playing on the radio or on records ; and the phrase ' boogie woogie ' appears frequently in the titles of his later compositions.

The Trustees of the Whitechapel Art Gallery acknowledge with gratitude the loan from the Decca Record Company Ltd. of a Deccalian three-speed record reproducer and a selection of long-playing London origins of Jazz and Vogue boogie woogie piano records which are played at intervals during the course of the exhibition ; as well as the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, and No. 6 in B flat major, played by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Karl Munchinger, on Decca LXT 2501. The numbers of the boogie woogie records are as follows:

Pioneers of Boogie Woogie ... ... AL 3506
Jimmy Yancey—A lost recording date ... AL 3525
Cripple Clarence Lofton—A lost recording date ... ... ... ... ... AL 3531
Pioneers of Boogie Woogie, Vol. 2 ... AL 3537
Boogie Woogie Mood ... ... ... LRA 10016

" Mention must be made of a special type of piano blues known as Boogie-woogie, which was heard at Negro ' rent parties' in Chicago in the early 1920's {Jimmy Yancey, ' Pine Top ' Smith) long before it became famous in the world at large (c. 1936) with Albert Ammons and Meade ' Lux ' Lewis (' Honky Tonk Train Blues '). This type of playing is characterized by an ostinato bass figure, usually harply rhythmic, against which the right-hand rhapsodizes eely, the sections usually comprising 12 measures and the eatment often being contrapuntal {sometimes in only two dely-spaced parts), with repeated tones, broken-octave emolos, and short figures reiterated in great rhythmic variety. "
Harvard Dictionary of Music, by Willi Apel.
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1946 (page 378).

BOOG1E-WOOGIE
(From boogie, slang, a Negro performer + rhyming imitative sound.) A primitive-sounding percussive style of playing blues on the piano, characterized by a persistent bass rhythm and florid figurations of a simple melody often in contrary motion to the bass,

At the other extreme, this link is to the story of Jubal Brown who makes a habit of throwing up over modern art he disapproves of.