Paul Wood, An Introduction to the Idea of Abstraction and Interpretation  Paul  Wood starts the day considering the roots of abstraction in Symbolism, and how it tended to be theorised by Modernist writers, including Alfred Barr. He also covers the role of Cubism in helping to realise a fully abstract art, with particular reference to Mondrian and Malevich, as well as exceptions to that rule, such as Kandinsky. The talk also explores the contrast between idealist and materialist ideas about abstraction, with reference to the Russian avant-garde. Finally it will describe a 'second wave' of 'informal' abstraction of which Abstract Expressionism was part.Further ReadingJohn Golding, Paths to the Absolute, Thames and Hudson, 2000.Paul Wood and Charles Harrison (eds.) Art in Theory 1900-1990, Blackwell, 1992.