MONDRIAN: His Life, His Art, His Quest for the Absolute
By Nicholas Fox Weber
The celebrated painter David Salle once remarked — quoting a friend — that one could easily recognize a canvas by Alex Katz even if it tumbled from an airplane at 30,000 feet. The same holds true for the iconic Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). His distinctive grids and vibrant hues of yellow, red, and white are unmistakably his own.
Nicholas Fox Weber’s latest biography, Mondrian: His Life, His Art, His Quest for the Absolute, is a substantial and remarkably beautiful volume published by Knopf, a house renowned for producing exquisite books for over a century. Just a glance at Mondrian is enough to inspire a desire to own and display it prominently. However, the contents within vary in their appeal.
Weber, who has previously penned biographies of notable figures such as Balthus and Le Corbusier, presents a thorough and much-needed exploration of Mondrian’s life. This is one of the few comprehensive biographies dedicated to the reclusive artist who transitioned from figurative painting to the realm of geometric and boldly colored abstraction, ultimately establishing himself as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.
For the average reader — whom Samuel Johnson might refer to as the common reader — the prospect of consuming 600 pages centered on Mondrian may seem daunting. This is particularly true because Weber’s prose often feels rather flat and monochromatic. Numerous paintings are described in painstaking detail, leading to a sense of literary lethargy.
This reader began to feel as if he were laboriously gnawing through a block of wood. Each moment in the narrative seems drawn out just a beat too long. Yet, Mondrian was an extraordinarily eccentric individual, and the intriguing details of his almost alien existence compel the reader to keep turning the pages.
Mondrian’s upbringing was shaped by a strict and severe Orthodox Protestant father, who held the position of school headmaster and was adamant that his son should not pursue a career in painting. However, one of Mondrian’s uncles, a successful commercial artist, recognized the boy’s talent and provided him with lessons that set him on the path to becoming the celebrated artist he is known as today.
