Piet Mondrian

Dutch artist influenced by Cubism, who developed a highly geometric nonobjective style he called neoplasticism. Co-founder of the magazine called STIJL in 1917, he published a book on his theories in 1920 called "Le Neoplasticisme" (French). His theories of simplification and abstraction altered the course of painting, influencing Bauhaus, modern architecture, and industrial design. Typical of his work are canvases using only vertical and horizontal lines at 90 degree angles, usually primary colors with a black and white background. He was born Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (he later dropped one of the "a’s" in his last name) into a strict Calvinist family. In 1909, he joined the Dutch Theosophical Society, which saw mankind as moving toward a universal spiritual brotherhood, and that such progress can be expressed in geometric forms. He moved to Paris in 1912, and was in Holland visiting his sick father when World War I broke out. He stayed in Holland for five more years, pushing further into abstract art, and returned to Paris in 1919. Back in Paris, he discovered the good life, which included American jazz and nightclub dancing, and he saw the rhythm as similar to the "dynamic equilibrium" he wanted for his abstract paintings. He moved to New York City in 1940 to escape the Nazis. Subsequently, two of his great last paintings were "Broadway Boogie Woogie," 1943, and "Victory Boogie Woogie," 1944. He died in New York City on 2/01/1944. Link to Wikipedia biography