Balenciaga and the influence of abstract art

The TV series will likely be released in January Cristobal Balenciaga premiered, a story inspired by the Spanish designer's life during his time in Paris, starting along with his arrival in 1937. The plot attempts to explore his personality and drives, highlighting key moments in his personal and skilled life, resembling z relationship with other famous designers, the creation of the Fail Fabric, the design of Queen Fabiola's wedding dressand the creation of Air France stewardess uniforms.

Although fashion is present throughout the show's six episodes, the couturiers' creations take a back seat, as an alternative specializing in personal experiences with family, friends, colleagues and colleagues.

However, several scenes in the primary episode show the influences that may shape his work. Balenciaga is seen as an advisor José Ortiz-Echagues Book (“Spain: People and Clothing”), which describes the country intimately popular regional clothing and costumes. Accordingly written functions The Basque designer draws much of his inspiration from Spanish culture, painting and tradition.

For example, his 1947 Bolero made from blue velvet with black felt decoration and bead embroidery is an interpretation of the flamboyant clothing of bullfighters (known in Spanish as a “light suit”), characterised by color contrasts and wealthy embroidery and embellishments. Similarly, his 1949 Dress with black stripes on a red background bears a striking resemblance to that traditional women's clothing of the Pas Valleyin Cantabria.

These influences were also reflected within the 2019 exhibition “Balenciaga and Spanish painting”where pieces by the Basque designer were presented alongside a collection of works by Spanish painters resembling Velázquez, Murillo, El Greco and Francisco de Goya.

These included, amongst other things: Shantung silk wedding dress embroidered with silver thread (1957), accompanied by the painting “Isabel de Borbón, wife of Felipe IV.” by Rodrigo de Villandrando (around 1620). There was also one Evening ensemble consisting of cotton tulle dress, metallic thread embroidery on viscose satin and silk taffeta overskirt (around 1951), presented next to the painting “St. Elizabeth of Portugal” by Francisco de Zurbarán (around 1635).

The subtle similarities between Balenciaga's modern garments and their historical influences reveal a non-literal interpretation of traditional forms. This reinterpretation wouldn’t have been possible without the influence of the emerging abstract art movement that grew alongside Balenciaga's profession.

New artistic directions

In the early to mid-Twentieth century, abstract movements emerged in painting that moved the seat of art from its traditional home of Paris to New York. This was not reflected in the style world because the French capital continued to be established because the epicenter of high fashion.

In contrast to the avant-garde movements of the early Twentieth century, which expressed recent values ​​for a brand new world, the abstract movements in art of the Nineteen Forties and Nineteen Fifties opened the doors to recent types of individual expression.

The chromatic compositions of artists resembling Ad Reinhardt and Mark Rohtko offered a very recent field of experimentation Results that were of great relevance to fashion.

In Rothko's case, his seemingly easy works gained complexity through the layering of color fields. Known for his or her careful compositional balance, they achieve visual harmony with a select color palette resembling intense reds and deep blues, occasionally balanced by softer tones.

Reinhardt, then again, was known for his extreme abstraction and minimalist approach. He disbursed with all non-essential elements and the subtle effect of his works was based on a particularly limited color palette: black and dark tones predominate, giving his geometric and strict compositions a sense of order and structure.

The influence of abstract art on Balenciaga

Some of those characteristics of color, composition, precision and formal synthesis might be present in Balenciaga's work. Examples of this are the Orange wool crepe day dress (1968), the black wool sack dress (Autumn-Winter Collection, 1957) or Model 125 from the 1965 summer collectionmade at Maison Balenciaga in Paris.

Abstract art also had a profound impact on mid-Twentieth century architecture, making a recent visual language of sculptural forms. This is clear within the works of Architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Oscar Niemeyer and Félix Candela and plenty of others.

These works were characterised by an honest, unfussy use of materials that showcased their natural texture and color. At the identical time, they were characterised by solid, smooth geometric shapes. These clean lines and defined volumes eschewed the ornamentation and composition of previous buildings, opting as an alternative for a sculptural aesthetic rooted in abstract forms.

Architecture undoubtedly influenced Balenciaga's modern use of form and volume. In the second half of the Nineteen Sixties, several evening and Bride- Dresses designed by Balenciaga presented the distorted geometric shapes And sculptural lines typical for the buildings of that point. Other clothes, like this Balloon dress (1958) and the Dress from the summer collection (1959) were characterised by generous volumes and clear lines.

An all-encompassing murals

After the Second World War, Balenciaga's work was marked by a major change, as he offered the girl of his time a picture that was removed from traditional aesthetics. This was in contradiction to Christian Dior's 1947 New lookwhich placed a renewed give attention to the feminine silhouette as an antidote to wartime austerity.

After the war, the Basque couturier began to rewrite the foundations of fashion along with his modern silhouettes “barrel line”, Doll, bag, balloon And Peacock tail Dresses, simply to name just a few. These creations resulted from a commanding control of geometry. They were distinguished by their formal purity and were supported by profound technical craftsmanship. The result was a unprecedented sculptural sensibility based on the inspiration of abstract art.

Therefore, one could say that Balenciaga offered not only an interpretation of the past, but additionally a take a look at tradition through contemporary eyes. Abstraction is utilized in his work each as a lens for reinterpreting Spanish culture and as an inventive language shared with the art and architecture of the time.

While this artistic context is usually missed in writings and research concerning the designer, it can be crucial in understanding his excellence not only as a designer but additionally as a real artistic genius of his time.

Perhaps nobody has said it higher than Balenciaga itself: “A couturier must be an architect of plans, a sculptor of forms, an artist of colors, a musician of harmony and a philosopher of sense of proportion.”