Though the best geometric paintings resemble one another more than anything else, any sense of a single family is an illusion. Whereas one line reflects a rational Constructivism that includes Moholy-Nagy, Sol Le Witt, Francois Morellet, and Manfred Mohr , another strain, epitomized by traditional Islamic art and among the moderns Mondrian, regards geometries as a key to ultimate truths.
It should first be said that Mondrian came to his mature, familiar style after many years of doing...