Wilhelm WorringerThinkers

Abstraction (n.) offers ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠deliverance from the hazards of being human and from the seeming arbitrariness of ordinary organic existence, in the contemplation of something immutable and necessary.

Abstraction (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠born of fear in art: a vast spiritual dread of open space, answered with calm, regular geometric figures.

The Urge to abstraction (n.) springs ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠from an immense spiritual dread of space — a great inner uneasiness before the phenomena of the world; the first thing God made in the world was fear, and fear may be the root of artistic creation.