1913-1967 - Adolph Frederick Reinhardt studied at the National Academy of Design in New York and then joined the abstract, avant-garde group, the American Abstract Artists. Influenced by Indian art and a desire to create a distinctive style, Reinhardt split from this group and developed his own style of geometric abstraction. After meeting Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman in the 1940’s, he began working in layers of shapes, primarily rectangles. This gradually gave rise to his Minimalist phase, which sparked the movement in the 1960’s.