COLOR FIELD

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:''In quantum mechanics, color field is a whimsical name for some of the properties of quarks.''
'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

Exhibitions

Paintings

Color Field artists

See also

References

Discussion and analysis

Color Field painting initially referred to a particular type of abstract expressionism, especially the work of Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell and Adolph Gottlieb. 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 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 is related to Post-painterly abstraction, Suprematism, Abstract Expressionism, Hard-edge painting and Lyrical Abstraction.
Color Field painting sought to rid art of superflous 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....

Exhibitions

★ ''Colorfield.remix'' (external link) an expanded exhibition, was conceived by The Kreeger Museum but involved several museums and galleries in Washington, DC and surrounding areas collaborating to celebrate the 'Color Field' art movement, and Washington Color School painters.

Paintings

Color Field artists

★ Edward Avedisian

★ Walter Darby Bannard

★ Jack Bush

★ Dan Christensen

★ Gene Davis

★ Ronald Davis

★ Richard Diebenkorn

★ Thomas Downing

★ Friedel Dzubas

★ Paul Feeley

★ Sam Francis

★ Helen Frankenthaler

★ Sam Gilliam

★ Al Held

★ Hans Hofmann

★ Wolfgang Hollegha

★ Thomas Kausel

★ Ellsworth Kelly

★ Ronnie Landfield

★ Morris Louis

★ Howard Mehring

★ Robert Motherwell

★ Barnett Newman

★ Kenneth Noland

★ Jules Olitski

★ Ray Parker

★ William Perehudoff

★ Larry Poons

★ Jamie Primrose

★ Paul Reed

★ Mark Rothko

★ Clyfford Still

★ Frank Stella

★ Alma Woodsey Thomas

★ Larry Zox

See also

★ Modern art

★ Western painting

★ Abstract art

★ concret art

★ Hard-edge painting

★ konkrete kunst

★ Lyrical Abstraction

★ Washington Color School

★ Post-painterly abstraction

References

★ The Columbia Encyclopedia

★ Kleiner, Fred S.; and Mamiya, Christin J. , ''Gardner's Art Through the Ages'' (2004). Volume II. Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0-534-64091-5.

★ Schwabsky, Barry. "Irreplaceable Hue - Color Field Painting." Art Forum 1994. Look Smart 20 April 2007.