Lesson: Predicting New Shapes - Tabernacle

This lesson provides students with an exploration of geometric shapes Charmion Von Wiegand used in her painting, Tabernacle. Students will predict and create what new shapes will be formed by combining and/or cutting apart existing shapes. Students will identify and become familiar with Von Wiegand's work and the geometric figures used in the Tabernacle.

Charmion Von Wiegand (1896-1983)

United States

Tabernacle 1950-52

Oil on canvas

28 x 22 1/8 in.

Bequest of Mary E. Johnston, 1967.1123

American born, Charmion Von Wiegand went through several occupations and artistic styles before creating the type of style we see in Tabernacle. Once an editor, writer, art critic, and creator of landscape paintings, she eventually transformed her style dramatically after being influenced by Piet Mondrian. Mondrian, a neoplastic abstract artist, created abstract art with primary colors and horizontal and vertical lines only.

While Von Wiegand was greatly influenced by Mondrian, after the interview she conducted with him, she did not adopt his strict adherence to a primary color palette. The Cincinnati Art Museum's Tabernacle is a great example of an abstract geometric painting that is clearly influenced by Mondrian but has a varied color palette incorporating an assortment of blue, black, white, gray, and pink. The composition also creates various geometric shapes and patterns. This would not be the last style of Von Wiegand's art; later she would produce collage and more figurative art.