With roots in early Cubism and Futurism and reaching maturity in Op art and Minimalism, "Abstract Art" encompasses all forms of non-figurative expression. This book explores the diverse ways artists from the early 20th century, beginning with Kandinsky, through the 1960s used abstraction to express artistic ideas, such as the paint splatters of Jackson Pollock, the geometric shapes of Piet Mondrian, the non-objective squares of Malevich, and the complex compositions of Wassily Kandinsky.Each book in Tachen's "Basic Genre series" features: a detailed introduction with approximately 35 photographs, plus a timeline of the most important events (political, cultural, scientific, etc.) that took place during the time period; and, a selection of the most important works of the epoch; each is presented on a 2-page spread with a full-page image and, on the facing page, a description/interpretation of the work and brief biography of the artist as well as additional information such as a reference work, portrait of the artist, and/or citations.