Color Field

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In quantum mechanics, color field is a whimsical name for some of the properties of quarks.
Kenneth Noland, Beginning, magna on canvas painting by Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 1958. Kenneth Noland working in Washington, DC., was a pioneer of the color field movement in the late 1950s.

Color Field painting is an abstract style that emerged in the 1950s after Abstract Expressionism and is largely characterized by abstract canvases painted primarily with large areas of solid color. An alternate but less frequently encountered term for this style is chromatic abstraction.

Contents

Discussion and analysis

Color Field painting is related to Post-painterly abstraction, Suprematism, Abstract Expressionism, Hard-edge painting and Lyrical Abstraction. It initially referred to a particular type of abstract expressionism, especially the work of Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, Adolph Gottlieb and several series of paintings by Joan Miró. Art critic Clement Greenberg perceived Color Field painting as related to but different from Action painting. During the early to mid-1960s Color Field painting was the term used to describe artists like Jules Olitski, Kenneth Noland, and Helen Frankenthaler, whose works were related to second generation abstract expressionism, and to younger artists like Larry Poons, Larry Zox, and Frank Stella, - all moving in a new direction. In 1964 Clement Greenberg curated an influential exhibition that traveled the country called Post-painterly abstraction. The exhibition expanded the definition of color field painting. In the late 1960s Richard Diebenkorn began his Ocean Park series; created during the final 25 years of his career and that are important examples of color field painting. Color Field painting clearly pointed toward a new direction in American painting, away from abstract expressionism.

Color Field painting sought to rid art of superfluous rhetoric. Artists like Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, Morris Louis, Jules Olitski, Kenneth Noland, Helen Frankenthaler, Larry Zox, and others often used greatly reduced references to nature, and they painted with a highly articulated and psychological use of color. In general these artists eliminated recognizable imagery. Certain artists quoted references to past or present art, but in general color field painting presents abstraction as an end in itself. In pursuing this direction of modern art, artists wanted to present each painting as one unified, cohesive, monolithic image.

In distinction to the emotional energy and gestural surface marks of Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, Color Field painting initially appeared to be cool and austere, effacing the individual mark in favor of large, flat areas of color, which these artists considered to be the essential nature of visual abstraction, along with the actual shape of the canvas, which Frank Stella in particular achieved in unusual ways with combinations of curved and straight edges. However Color Field painting has proven to be both sensual and deeply expressive albeit in a different way from gestural Abstract expressionism.

Morris Louis, Where, 252 x 362 cm. magna on canvas, 1960, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Morris Louis's painting Where 1960, heralded a major innovation that moved Abstract Expressionist painting in a new direction toward Color Field, and Minimalism.

Clement Greenberg was the first art critic to suggest a dichotomy between differing tendencies within the Abstract Expressionist canon. Barnett Newman, is seen as one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the color field painters. Newman's late works, such as the Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue series, use vibrant, pure colors, often on very large canvases. Mark Rothko was one of the painters that Greenberg referred to as a color field painter exmplified by 1957 #20 (seen below). Although Rothko himself refused to adhere to any label. Clyfford Still was also considered one of the foremost color field painters - his non-figurative paintings are largely concerned with juxtaposing different colors and surfaces in a variety of formations. Still's arrangements are irrregular, jagged, and pitted with heavy texture and sharp surface contrast as seen below in 1957D1. Robert Motherwell's, Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110, 1971 is the work of a pioneer of both Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting. Robert Motherwell's Elegy to The Spanish Republic series (as seen below) embodies both tendencies.

Having seen Jackson Pollock's 1951 paintings of thinned black oil paint stained into raw canvas; Helen Frankenthaler began to produce stain paintings in varied oil colors on raw canvas, in 1952. Her most famous painting from that period is Mountains and Sea,(as seen below). She is one of the originators of the Color Field movement that emerged in the late 1950s. Frankenthaler also studied with Hans Hofmann. Hofmann's paintings are literally a symphony of color as seen below in The Gate, 1959-1960. Hofmann was renowned not only as an artist but also as a teacher of art, both in his native Germany and later in the U.S. He was one of the first theorists of color field painting and his theories were influential to artists and to critics particularly to Clement Greenberg as well as to others during the 1930s and 1940s. In 1953 Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland were both profoundly influenced by Helen Frankenthaler's stain paintings after visiting her studio in New York City. Returning to Washington, DC., they began to produce the major works that created the color field movement in the late 1950s. Morris Louis's painting Where 1960, was a major innovation that moved abstract painting forward in a new direction. Kenneth Noland working in Washington, DC., was also a pioneer of the color field movement in the late 1950s who used series' important formats for his paintings. Some of Noland's major series were called Targets, Chevrons and Stripes (see above). Gene Davis also was a painter known especially for paintings of vertical stripes of color, like Black Grey Beat, 1964, and he also was a member of the group of abstract painters in Washington DC during the 1960s known as the Washington Color School. The Washington painters were among the most prominent of the mid-century color field painters.

During the final three decades of his career Sam Francis' style of large scale bright Abstract expressionism was closely associated with Color field painting. His paintings straddled both camps within the Abstract Expressionist rubric, Action painting and Color Field painting. Jack Bush was a Canadian abstract expressionist painter, born in Toronto, Ontario in 1909, Bush became closely tied to two movements that grew out of the efforts of the abstract expressionists: Color Field Painting and Lyrical Abstraction. His painting Big A is an example of his color field paintings of the late 1960s. During the late 1950s and early 1960s Frank Stella was a significant figure in the emergence of Minimalism, Post-Painterly Abstraction and Color Field painting. His shaped canvases of the 1960s like Harrah II, 1967, revolutionized abstract painting. In the late 1960s Richard Diebenkorn began his Ocean Park series; created during the final 25 years of his career and they are important examples of color field painting. The Ocean Park series exemplified by Ocean Park No.129, connects his earlier abstract expressionist works with Color field painting. During the late 1960s Ronnie Landfield was among a new generation of abstract painters who emerged combining color field painting with expressionism. His works are reflections of both Chinese landscape painting and the Color Field idiom as exemplified by Rite of Spring, 1985. His paintings bridge Color Field painting with Lyrical Abstraction.

Paintings

Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952. Having seen Jackson Pollock's 1951 paintings of thinned black oil paint stained into raw canvas; Frankenthaler began to produce stain paintings in varied oil colors on raw canvas, in 1952. She is one of the originators of the Color Field movement that emerged in the late 1950s.

Sam Francis, Black and Red, 1950-1953. During the final three decades of his career Sam Francis' style of large scale bright Abstract expressionism was closely associated with Color field painting. His paintings straddled both camps within the Abstract Expressionist rubric. Action painting and Color Field painting.

Mark Rothko, 1957 #20, 1957. Clement Greenberg was the first art critic to suggest a dichotomy between differing tendencies within the Abstract Expressionist canon. Mark Rothko was one of the painters that Greenberg referred to as a color field painter. Although Rothko himself refused to adhere to any label.

Clyfford Still, 1957 D1, 1957. Still was also considered one of the foremost color field painters - his non-figurative paintings are largely concerned with juxtaposing different colors and surfaces in a variety of formations. Still's arrangements are irrregular, jagged, and pitted with heavy texture and sharp surface contrast.

Hans Hofmann, The Gate, 1959-1960. Hofmann's paintings are literally a symphony of color. Hofmann was renowned not only as an artist but as a teacher of art, both in his native Germany and later in the U.S. He was one of the first theorists of color field painting and his theories were influential particularly to Clement Greenberg as well as to others during the 1930s and 1940s.

Gene Davis, Black Grey Beat, 1964. Gene Davis was a painter known especially for paintings of vertical stripes of color, and a member of the group of abstract painters in Washington DC during the 1960s known as the Washington Color School. The Washington painters were among the most prominent of the mid-century color field painters.

Barnett Newman, Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue? 1966. is seen as one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the color field painters. Newman's late works, such as the Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue series, use vibrant, pure colors, often on very large canvases.

Frank Stella, Harrah II, 1967. During the late 1950s and early 1960s Frank Stella was a significant figure in the emergence of Minimalism, Post-Painterly Abstraction and Color Field painting. His shaped canvases of the 1960s revolutionized abstract painting.

Jack Bush, Big A, 1968. Jack Bush was a Canadian abstract expressionist painter, born in Toronto, Ontario in 1909. Bush became closely tied to the two movements that grew out of the efforts of the abstract expressionists: Color Field Painting and Lyrical Abstraction.

Robert Motherwell, Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110, 1971. A pioneer of both Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting, Robert Motherwell's Elegy to The Spanish Republic series embodies both tendencies.

Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park No.129, 1984. In the late 1960s Richard Diebenkorn began his Ocean Park series; created during the final 25 years of his career and they are important examples of color field painting. The Ocean Park series connects his earlier abstract expressionist works with Color field painting.

Ronnie Landfield, Rite of Spring, 1985. During the late 1960s Ronnie Landfield was among a new generation of abstract painters who emerged combining color field painting with expressionism. His works are reflections of both Chinese landscape painting and the Color Field idiom. His paintings bridge Color Field painting with Lyrical Abstraction.

Color Field artists

See also

References

External links

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Article keywords: color field painter,

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