Kenneth Noland: The Dynamics of Color

Kenneth Noland - Untitled - 1978 - Aquatint - 14 1/4 x 15 3/8 in. - The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (click photo for larger image)American artist Kenneth Noland (born 1924) worked within the Abstract Expressionist school. He was one of the first painters to use the technique of staining the canvas with thinned paints, and of placing his colors in concentric rings and parallels, shaped and proportioned in relation to the shape of the canvas.

“In his art, Noland tends to deal with only a few elements: color, and a singular form within a given structure. He has concentrated on using geometric motifs in a succession of formats: circles, chevrons, and diamonds, as a means of focusing on the way in which color can function dynamically on the two-dimensional surface.” (Phillips Collection)

Janet Fish

Janet Fish - Grocery-wrapped Pears - 1971 - pastel on brown wove Canson paper - sheet: 50.8 x 65.4 cm (20 x 25 3/4 in.) mount: 73.7 x 65.4 cm (29 x 25 3/4 in. - National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.American contemporary Realist Janet Fish (born 1938) paints still life paintings—many of which focus on bouncing and reflective light. It’s been suggested that her achievements have helped to revitalize both still life and realism, which have often been looked down upon by artists and critics alike. However, “even in modern times still life has presented opportunities for artists to create a visual equivalent of states of being…” and this is certainly a view held by Janet Fish.

She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised on the island of Bermuda. Her grandfather, Clark Voorhees (1871-1933) was an American Impressionist painter whose works very much inspired her. Her father was a teacher of Art History, and her mother was a sculptor and potter. Janet began her art studies in Maine, and eventually studied at the Yale University School of Art and Architecture. She was one of the first women to receive her MFA from Yale.

Janet’s solidification as an artist did not come easily—because the generation of young artists who came of age in the 1950s were influenced by the then dominant New York School of Abstract Expressionists. But now her work is exhibited by many prestigious museums and institutions around the world. She’s also received numerous fellowships and awards. Janet Fish now lives and paints out of her SoHo loft in New York City, and her Vermont farmhouse.

Jack Levine: Sharp Social Commentary

Jack Levine - Reconstruction - 1962 - Oil on canvas - 88.9 x 101.6 cm (35 x 40 in.) - Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (click photo for larger image)Jack Levine (1915-2010) was known best for his satirical figural compositions that express sharp social commentary. Born in Boston, and  of Lithuanian descent, Levine grew up in Boston’s South End, an area crowded with European immigrants. The realities of street-life—drunks, prostitutes, politicians, and policemen—left a vivid impression on Levine. They became central to his art, which often satirizes the quirks and corruption of various segments of society.

Levine first trained at the Jewish Welfare Center in Roxbury, MA. He later attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Harvard University. Between 1935-40, he was sometimes part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project.

Levine is typically defined as an American Social Realist. Social Realists created images of the "masses" a term that “encompassed the lower and working classes, labor unionists, and the politically disenfranchised”. American artists became dissatisfied with the French avant-garde and their own isolation from greater society, which inspired them to search for a new vocabulary and a new social importance. Influenced by American Scene Painting and the Ashcan School—these artists believed their content is what made them “modern”.

Autumn - a la Thomas Moran

Thomas Moran - Autumn - c. 1893-97 - Oil on canvas - 76.2 x - 91.4 cm (30 x 36 in) - The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma (click photo for larger image)As we enter the Fall season—a painting of an autumn scene is in order! Hudson River School painter and printmaker Thomas Moran (1837-1926) is most well known for his idealized views of the American West. This son of poor immigrant hand-weavers was entirely self-taught. He got some training as an engraver and opened an engraving business with his two brothers. “But his heart was in painting, and his predilections intensely, youthfully Romantic.” Influenced by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), Moran received international attention and acclaim for his portrayals of the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone.  

The Hudson River School encompasses two generations of painters, inspired by Thomas Cole’s images of America's wilderness - in the Hudson River Valley, and also in the newly opened West. The particular use of light effects, to lend an exaggerated drama to such elements as mist and sunsets, developed into a subspecialty known as Luminism.

Charles Burchfield: A Sense of Wonder

Charles Burchfield - November Sun Emerging - 1956-59 - Watercolor on paper - 37 3/4 x 31 7/8 in. - Private collection (click photo for larger image)Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967) was an American painter whose work ranged from the realistic to the highly mystical. During the 1920s and ‘30s, Burchfield’s work emphasized the loneliness and harshness of American cities and small towns, rendered in stark realism. However, after 1940, he returned to exploring personal interpretations of nature, which had been a preoccupation earlier in his career. His later works were painted with “a sense of wonder” at its (nature’s) color, movement, and forms.

There are a number of Burchfield paintings on view at MoMA, the Whitney, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York—as well as in the Smithsonian and the Phillips Art Collection, in Washington, D.C.

Burchfield’s work is well worth your attention!