The Dialogue in Towards the Minimal and the light is between: Mies Van der Rohe and Jo Baer.
Key words: Light, Materials, Geometry, Shapes, Presence.
Light is the main character in the work of both dialoguers. Attracting the viewers to start from the whitespace, making it the protagonist. Subsequently, to observe and analyze the contrast in colors, materials and shapes.
A central element in the dialogue among these two works is that at first sight the observers create an illusion that they have seen it all, but as they observe and begin to deconstruct each piece, they realize qualities such as geometric shapes, borders, weight, height, magnitude and liveliness; as well as the simplicity and continuity of the spaces, that typically don’t show where they begin and where they end.
Mies tended to incorporate fine art pieces to his collages; Baers work could have been selected and included in Mies’s creations for their similarities of style and idiosyncrasy.
Both of them lean towards a square and rectangular geometry, patterns, and avant-garde views aiming with that to confront the viewers with their arrangements of the color palettes, the forms and their progressive views of aesthetics.
MoMA Mies van der Rohe Archive. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe
Ron Bacardi y Compania, S.A., Administration Building, Santiago, Cuba, project., Interior perspective (1957)
Colored paper, veneer, ink and photo collage on illustration board
30 x 40" (76.2 x 101.6 cm)
After the fall of the German Monarchy, and the creation of the democratic Weimar Republic in 1918, there was an emergence and boom of modernist artists and architects; creating groups such as Bauhaus. Although Mies possessed a great creative talent, he had virtually nothing to build, leaving his best works from that period in paper (1918-1926) he continued to use collages and renders in his architectural practice; that now belong mostly to the collection of MoMA.
Subsequently, between the years of 1957 and 1962 the Bacardi Company was being modernized and it was expanding to keep up with the globalization of rum consumption. Mies helped define the company’s brand by creating the Head Quarters in Santiago, Cuba. It is a work of great relevance due to that despite the critical political period during the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the building became one of Mies’s major statement projects.
The most noticeable qualities to this collage might be the angular geometry and the juxtaposition between the calmness and the power of the composition. It is an unafraid exploration of the practical, physical and expressive potential of the materials.
Defined by its wide whitespace, having the structure and design of the building subtly delineated, adding to this a weighty piece or green marble, and a rectangular wood structure in front of a wide glass picture window, makes the collage a great representation of the simplicity and continuity of Mies’s style.
Museum of Modern Art, NYC - installation view
Jo Baer
Primary Light Group (Red, Green, Blue). Triptych out of a set of 4, in a series of 16 (1964-1965)
Oil on Canvas
152.3 x 152.3 cm each.
Influenced by De Stijl group and the Constructivists in the 50´s, some major abstract expressionists like: Donald Judd and Dan Flavin drifted to a less emotional practice focusing in the simplicity of both form and content; allowing the viewer to have a profounder experience of the art, more intensely with out distractions of themes and compositions, naming it: Minimalism.
In a group dominated by male artists Baer positioned herself as one of the protagonists of the Minimalist movement by placing total emphasis on light and not on flatness, colour or shape.
At first glance we see a triptych, rectangular as a whole, squared as units. Then, we observe a thin line of colour followed by a slightly thicker black line encircles its main whitespace. The noteworthy feature here is the colour line, which has the black line enclosing it, while the white is pushing it far apart.
Inspired by the principle of Mach Bands, Baer accentuates the contrast by attracting attention to the darkness while perceiving at the same time the thundering lightness of the light area. Mach bands are perceptual illusions, but exact and measurable, objective ones. Subtle yet clear, as described by the artist.
1. How do you perceive the connection among the use of light in the practice of both artists?
2. Which is the main quality connecting both the pieces? And why?
Ex. Materials, geometry, contrast.
3. Where does your mind wonders while contemplating the geometry and the light?
4. How do you feel when exposed to the contrast?
5. How could you apply Mies Van Der Rohes’s and Jo Baer’s principles to your personal, professional or academic experience?