The Art Concret Style of Léon Tutundjian

Amidst the milieu of the 1920's Parisian avant-garde, Léon Tutundjian's (1906–1968) early style incorporated biomorphic and cubist elements into abstract figurations and still-lifes. By 1928, however, Tutundjian's abstract style migrated from biomorphic into geometric. The work that Tutundjian created in this year emphasized severe mechanical forms and color to create enigmatic compositions. Subsequent to this stylistic evolution, in 1930 Tutundjian—alongside Theo van Doesburg, Otto G. Carlsund, and Jean Hélion—summarized his aesthetic developments through the singular issue of Art Concret magazine. Working under the Art Concret title, the group advocated for a more deliberate technique of abstraction, arguing that a work of art should be entirely conceived in the mind prior to being executed.

In addition to their predilection for premeditation, Art Concret renounced existential meaning as a critical component to the creation of abstract art. As summarized within their foundational text, the Art Concret movement believed that "[a] pictorial element has no other meaning than 'itself' and thus the picture has no other meaning than 'itself'"—a vast departure from the representational approach through which abstractionism was pioneered.

For Tutundjian the liberation from representational significance fostered an unadulterated exploration of artistic subtleties, such as weight, depth, and balance. Tutundjian's investigation into composition is seen clearly in the above untitled painting from 1929, in which a delicately drafted structure of lines is contrasted by an opaque and rounded form. The precise line-work of the architectural construction varies in weight, expertly counterbalancing the imposing shape that rests upon it.

During his association with the Art Concret movement, Tutundjian experienced newfound success that lifted the artist out of the material hardship that had plagued his early career. Previously relegated to working on paper, Tutundjian's new financial flexibility granted him the opportunity to explore new mediums. Most notably, in 1929, the artist began to create a series of highly lauded reliefs that remain some of his best-known works. Within the year, Tutundjian created approximately thirty mixed-media reliefs composed of cement, scrap steel, and wood mounted on board.

Through these three-dimensional constructions, Tutundjian utilized a series of steel cylinders and bars to form cantilever compositions that exemplified a severe set of aesthetic ideals—later summarized in the Art Concret’s foundational text. The resulting compositions utilize the same material literacy that characterized his earlier works, alongside the refined consideration for balance that came to define his Art Concret style.

Visible in the untitled relief, pictured above, Tutundjian's mixed media works employ delicate balance to exude a sense of lyrical premeditation that was critical to Art Concrete. The calculated materiality of these reliefs captured the attention of his contemporaries, specifically Jean Hélion, Theo van Doesburg, and Jean Arp. Notably, when describing a circular relief from 1929, Jean Arp pronounced it to be "the most beautiful thing I have seen in a while." Tutundjian's reliefs were considered to be so emblematic of the tenets of Art Concret that one was chosen to be the centerpiece of the movement's singular publication.

Despite his success working in the style, in 1931, following the death of Doesburg, Tutundjian abandoned Art Concret in favor of Surrealism. Though short-lived, the work that Tutundjian made during this period are superlative examples of the artist's severity and refinement and are considered the most prolific of his career. Today, a number of these works are held in important public and private collections of modern art, including the Centre Pompidou, France; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington.