What did the word Plastic mean for artists of the modern era? I encounter this word bandied about all the time when I study Modern/Contemporary art. Piet Mondrian titled a book with the term plastic. Whenever I think of plastic, I think of cellulose that forms objects that people use today. Furthermore, I think of something artificial and fake. This link provides a definition what makes art plastic, but the traditions of creating predate it. Not to mention it predates plastic’s invention. Or am I wrong? Help me out.
ETA: Please check M’s response to this post.
Speaking of plastic…
Art History Ramblings 
Interesting question! I think that your confusion over the word “plastic” has to do with the English translation of the term. I looked up Mondrian’s essay “Dialogue on the New Plastic” (in Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas edited by Paul Harrison and Charles Wood). In the introduction to this article, the editors explain, “It should be noted that the Dutch term beelding carries connotations of forming and making which are absent from the more basically material sense of “plastic” (p. 284).
So, it looks like Mondrian was referring to the act of forming and making art (or things that can be made/formed with one’s hands) when he wrote this essay, and the term “plastic” was the best fit for translation. (That being said, it looks like Mondrian’s “Plastic Art and Pure Plastic Art” was his first essay that written in English. Perhaps he kept the “plastic” term because it was the best fit for the Dutch term that he wanted to express.)
I hope that makes sense!
This makes a lot of sense, thank you! I need to find these essays and read them myself (never had the opportunity, I know, I’m bad.).