Exhibiting Abstraction

The time around 1910 has entered art history as the moment when «abstraction was invented». However, where and when works of non-figurative art became present in the public eye has been afforded little attention to date. Exhibiting Abstraction is the first publication to be devoted entirely to the presentation of abstract art between 1908 and 1915. It uncovers strategies for the dissemination of early abstract painting in exhibitions with the aid of a register of exhibited works by Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Wassily Kandinsky, Frantisek Kupka, Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian and Francis Picabia shown to the public within this period, and an analysis of the artists’ exhibition activities. The key role played by art exhibitions in the works’ introduction and dissemination is highlighted.

Christina Bartosch, Austrian art historian; she studied art history at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne and University College London, and gained her doctorate at the University of Vienna in 2020. Her research specialities lie in the field of exhibition history and the history of abstraction. From 2017-2020 she was responsible for the scientific output of the FWF-funded research project she co-initiated, "Exhibitions of Modern European Painting 1905-15", Institute of Art History, University of Vienna. The Database of Modern Exhibitions (DoME) was created in the same context. She is the founder and director of the company "recollect", which plans and implements the maintenance and management of public and private collections. Since 2022, she has lived and worked in Hongkong.