Margarete Petersen Study -Is it abstract art?

firemaiden

On the study group front page, reads "studying the abstract art of the Margarete Petersen tarot"

I am reminded that Miro never considered his work to be abstract, and must admit that while MP's work does sometimes appear quite abstract at first glance, I do not consider it abstract, or not completely abstract anyway-- the closer I look, the more representational elements I see -- I would love to have your thoughts on this.

Anyhow, what*is* meant by "abstract art"? Do you consider MP's tarot art to be abstract?
 

lunalafey

I don't see this deck as anything close to my understanding of abstract art.
I could be totally wrong, and my mother would slap me- but I believe that abstract art is more of a chaoitic throw of geometric shapes or scribbles and such- sometimes the images give the impression of something.......but then that gets into impressionistic art. The difference between the two I think is defined by geometry/shapes used & the bold coloring.
I found this link that shows all different abstracts:
http://www.art.com/asp/display-asp/_/ui--F3BDF10766524C7EA466171A2FF78D64/ID--1822/abstract.htm
 

firemaiden

Ah Luna, that is very interesting. Your answer both affirms my thought - that this is not abstract art, and also negates it, LOL; the wonderful link you posted shows very MP-like landscapes. Hmmmmm. *firemaiden amuses self in an endless loop-tape of contradictory throught*
 

Rusty Neon

From the MP deck card samples I've seen on various websites, the art of the MP deck looks like Visionary Art to me, which runs along the continuum between representational art and non-representational (abstract) art, depending on the artist and what's being painted. On the whole, the MP art strikes me as less abstract than the Tarot of the Spirit art and more abstract than the Osho Zen Tarot art.
 

Le_Corsair

What is it? Durned if I know.

My own criteria for judging if an artwork is abstract is this: Can I tell what it is by looking at it? If I can't, it's abstract. If it hangs upside down in a museum for years and no one notices, it's abstract (this actually happened).

Bob :THERM