This survey of five decades of late 19th century and early 20th century abstract art chronicles the evolution of a movement that the book argues was the inevitable precursor to Modernism.

Filled with full-page reproductions as well as stunning details of the most influential abstract paintings of the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, this important volume follows the broad and diverse ways that painters such as Whistler, Monet, Cézanne, Denis, Vuillard, Matisse, Derain, Picasso, and Barque learned from each other as they embarked on an entirely new kind of expression.

Informative and fascinating essays explore questions such as how these artists arrived at such a convergence, why abstract art took root so quickly, and why it has never been singled out by critics or historians as an independent art movement.

This beautifully produced volume illustrates how abstraction arose directly from a tradition of speculation about the nature of art and aesthetic experience.

Terence Maloon, senior curator of special exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, was previously the art critic for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Author — Edited by Terence Maloon.

Hardcover. 296 pages. 9½" × 11".