Two grand and immersive compositions introduce some of the different approaches to abstract art explored in the Structure and Clarity wing.

The central room in the wing is devoted to the abstract or ‘constructive’ art of the inter-war years. The artists associated with a range of groups embraced the possibilities of producing art that was, to different degrees, coolly geometrical and no longer imitative of visible reality. Aspiring to universal qualities, these artists set out a utopian ideal for art and society, which bound them to wider developments in design and architecture. The surrounding displays show the impact of abstraction on a variety of media such as film and photography, as well as looking at the minimalist art of the 1960s, whose crisp, unadorned aesthetic echoed but also departed from the work of the 1920s and 1930s.

Some of the broad concerns with dynamics can be seen in the opening pairing of works by Henri Matisse and Bridget Riley. For The Snail 1953, Matisse cut and arranged sheets of colour into a finely tuned composition related to, but at a remove from, the natural world from which he drew his inspiration. The planes of paper suggest the colour spectrum while also bringing variety and complexity. None of the sheets is geometrically defined, though the act of cutting lends them precision. Bridget Riley is a great admirer of Matisse’s command of colour, but her individual concern with form and tonality is seen very clearly in Deny II 1964. The gradation of greys and geometrical progression create visual movements within the structure of the composition.

Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954) was born in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, in northern France. He spent much of his working life in Paris and the South of France.

Bridget Riley was born in 1931 in London, where she lives and works.

Curated by Matthew Gale