Morris Louis: Veils

Morris Louis - Point of Tranquility - 1959-60 - Magna on canvas - 251 x 361 cm - Private Collection (Click on Photo for Larger Size)Morris Louis (1912-1962) was one of the leading figures of Color Field painting. In his short yet prolific career, Louis continually experimented with method and medium, manipulating large canvases in creative ways to control the flow and stain of his acrylic paints

“Point of Tranquility” is an example of Louis' “Floral Veils”, the last series he completed before embarking on his “Unfurled” series. Louis created the “Florals” by turning the canvas as he poured the paint, as opposed to working from a single vantage point. He layered the acrylic in a pattern that suggests a flower, the bleeding pigment creating a muddled, washy surface at the center of the canvas. The "veils" are apparent in the overlap of pigment, where washes both obscure and reveal layers of thinned color.

Louise Nevelson: A Pioneer

Louise Nevelson - Ancient Secrets - 1964 - painted wood - 179.39 × 158.75 × 38.1 cm (70 5/8 × 62 1/2 × 15 in.) - National Gallery of Art - Washington, D.C.Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) emigrated with her family to the USA from the Ukraine in the early 20th century. Nevelson learned English at school, as she spoke only Yiddish at home. By the early 1930s she was attending art classes at the Art Students League of New York, and in 1941 she had her first solo exhibition. 

A student of Hans Hofmann and Chaim Gross, Nevelson experimented with early conceptual art using found objects, and dabbled in painting and printing before dedicating her lifework to sculpture. Usually created out of wood, her sculptures appear puzzle-like, with multiple intricately cut pieces placed into wall sculptures or independently standing pieces, often 3-D. 

One unique feature of her work is that her figures are often painted in monochromatic black or white. A figure in the international art scene, Nevelson was showcased at the 31st Venice Biennale. Her work is seen in major collections in museums and corporations. Nevelson remains one of the most important figures in 20th-century American sculpture, and is a pioneer of Assemblage Art.

“100 Great Artists of the 20th Century”

(click photo for larger image)Just a reminder that “Dr. Jill” will be teaching another online class for the Bethany Arts Community  beginning Saturday, June 20th at 10am. To correct an earlier post, each class session will run for one hour (10am - 11am). There will be no class on July 4th. The final class session will be on July 25th.

This will be a five-week journey through the magnificent art created during the last century. 

Who are YOUR favorite artists? Will they be on the list? Come to class and find out!

Please click HERE  to Learn More and Register.

Helen Frankenthaler: Innovation in the Woodcut

Helen Frankenthaler - Savage Breeze - 1974 - Seven-color woodcut on Nepalese laminiated light brown hand-made paper - sheet: 80 x 68.6 cm (31 1/2 x 27 in.) National Gallery of Art - Washington, D.C. (click photo for larger image)Depicting an open space above a mountain-like divide, Savage Breeze was Frankenthaler's first foray into the medium of woodcut. Her concern in this work with achieving the same vibrant color and amorphous forms as found in her paintings led to a major technical innovation for this art form.

The artist cut a thin sheet of plywood into separately inked shapes and then, in collaboration with ULAE (Universal Limited Art Editions), the Long Island studio that printed the work, devised a special method for eliminating the white lines between them when printing.

The newly designed technique—hailed by one writer as "a departure so profound that virtually all subsequent woodcuts incorporated the thinking it embodied”—had a major impact on subsequent printmaking. (Excerpted from The ArtStory)

Savage Breeze is far removed from the graphic appearance of the traditional woodblock print, giving the appearance of painted, rather than carved, wood.

Adolph Gottlieb: Defending the Art of the Avant-Garde

Adolph Gottlieb - Man Looking at Woman - 1949 - 42 x 54" (106.6 x 137.1 cm) - Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York (click photo for larger image)Growing up during the Depression and maturing throughout the interwar period and the rise of Hitler, American painter Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974) staunchly defended the art of the avant-garde -- Abstract Expressionism in particular -- for its ability to express authentic feeling in the face of the trauma of World War II. The themes of Gottlieb's paintings over the course of more than three decades still help us come to terms with both the difficulties -- such as evil, war, violence, and ignorance -- that we as humans encounter, as well as moments of the sublime aspiration and realization.

“His contact with European Surrealists exiled in New York during World War II led him to experiment with archetypal abstractions of animals, eyes, and spirals (as in the Pictograph series (1941–51)”, one of which is featured here.

The words he spoke still ring true today: "Different times require different images. Today when our aspirations have been reduced to a desperate attempt to escape from evil, and times are out of joint…our images are the expression of the neurosis which is our reality. To my mind certain so-called abstraction is not abstraction at all. On the contrary, it is the realism of our time.”