1960s Abstraction

Playing by the Rules

Sixties Abstraction

1960s Abstraction• American modernism in the 1960s was still very

much dictated by art critic Clement Greenberg.• Since the mid-1940s, Greenberg had been

defining American art according to a very strict aesthetic standard informed by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).

• In the 1950s, Greenberg’s formalism was best represented in the work of artist Jackson Pollock whom he wrote essays promoting.

• In the wake of Pollock’s death and America’s new role as art capital of the world, Greenberg felt America had become the bastion of advanced art and thus protect it.

Photograph of art critic Clement Greenberg.

Post-Painterly Abstraction• Greenberg believed that Abstract Expressionism had become mannerist or

idiosyncratic.

• His search for a successor to Abstract Expressionism lead him to Post-Painterly Abstraction, a style that reacted to the gestural strokes of some second generation Abstract Expressionists while retaining Greenberg’s points of modernist painting.

• To install Post-Painterly Abstraction as Abstract Expressionism’s successor, Greenberg and his followers (dubbed the Greenberg School) mounted an attack on de Kooning and the gestural style.

– De Kooning’s work was condemned for its denial of pictorial flatness and suggestion of illusionistic space (Greenberg argued translated to representation).

– The Greenberg School argued the more painterly style made reference to the illusion of space and was too reliant on Cubist structure.

Clement GreenbergGreenberg’s formalist rules include:

1. Medium specificity.

2. Truth to materials.

3. Tendency toward abstraction.

4. Emphasis on the flatness of the picture plane.

5. Exclusion of narrative (abandonment of subject matter).

6. Originality and authenticity.

7. Rejection of objects in painting.

8. Relinquishment of connection between artist and audience.

9. Denunciation of clearly discernable brushstrokes (reaction against the painterly style of de Kooning).

Clement Greenberg

• Greenberg’s presence was felt not only through his articles and essays, the critic also began consulting and organizing exhibitions featuring the work he approved.

• For his 1964 “Post-Painterly Abstraction” show hosted by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Greenberg selected 31 artists the captured the direction art was moving. – Artists of interest include: Helen Frankethaler, Morris

Louis, Al Held, Sam Francis, Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Noland, and Frank Stella.

• Greenberg’s influence should not be underestimated; museums consulted him, artists even sought his advice and some changed their painting based on his reaction.

Post-Painterly Abstraction

• Post-Painterly Abstraction as defined by Greenberg displays less evidence of the artist’s ego-the artist is unconcerned with developing a connection with the audience and his/her presence is not emphasized.– That emphasis has traditionally been felt through the artist’s signature or

his/her brush stroke.– Realist painter Courbet was heavily ridiculed for signing his work on the front

of the canvas.

• The artist’s presence had been felt in Abstract Expressionism’s gestural brushwork.

• The Post-Painterly style and artists Greenberg promoted during the 1960s leave no trace of the artist’s hand.

• Stylistically, it is characterized by a openness of design and/or linear clarity.


Sam Francis (1923-1994)•Francis’ work does not fit neatly with Greenberg’s formalism.•Francis had been associated with Abstract Expression and L’Art Informel before coming to a Post-Painterly style.•His Shining Back exhibits the openness of design required by Greenberg.

Sam Francis, Shining Back, 1958. Oil on canvas, 6’7 ⅜” x 4’5 ⅛”. Guggenheim

Museum, NY.

Post-Painterly AbstractionSam Francis (1923-1994)•Francis’ work continued into the 1970s to exemplify Greenbergian formalism.•Untitled displays interest in the edge of the canvas, something other Post-Painterly Abstractionists also explored.

– The physicality of the canvas would become a key feature of painters who succeed Post-Painterly Abstraction to practice Minimalism.

•Untitled also relinquishes narrative/subject matter.

– Lack of title refuses to place a subject on the work, it does not lead the viewer in any one direction to interpret the image.

Sam Francis, Untitled no. 11, 1973. Acrylic on canvas, 8’ x

10’. Jonathan Novak Contemporary Art, LA.

Post-Painterly AbstractionHelen Frankenthaler (b.1928)•It was Frankenthaler’s experimentation with what became known as staining that would help Abstract Expressionist artist’s transition to Color Field painting. •Frankenthaler began to water down her oil paints and allow them to spread unimpeded on umprimed canvas.•Her technique was embraced by Greenberg-so much so that he introduced artists Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland to the artist and her process at her studio.

Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 86” x 117”. Collection of the artist, on loan to National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Post-Painterly AbstractionHelen Frankenthaler (b.1928)•Mountains and Sea is her first stain painting.

•Frankenthaler’s process epitomizes Greenbergian formalism-the artist allows the pigment and the canvas to bond.

– The fact that she interferes very little and allows the paint to flow and soak into the canvas embraces the spontaneity of Abstract Expressionism and stays truthful to her materials.

– She abandons artistic ego: it is the materials that create the image that forms on the canvas with little to no interference from the artist.

Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 86” x 117”. Collection of the artist, on loan to National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.


Helen Frankenthaler (b.1928)•Her works explore the edge of the canvas.•Like Post-Painterly Abstraction artists, Frankenthaler’s paintings show little to no texture of paint.•Her open compositions allow for the center of the painting to reveal itself to the viewer.

Helen Frankenthaler Interior Landscape, 1964. Acrylic on canvas, 8’ 8 ¾” x 7’ 8 ¾”. San Francisco Museum of Modern

Art, CA.


Morris Louis (1912-1962)•After seeing Frankenthaler’s staining technique with Greenberg and Noland, Louis experiments with the process.

– Louis had gotten the attention of Greenberg while exhibiting with the Washington Color School.

•Louis continues to address the problem of space and the figure-ground relationship.

Morris Louis, Kaf, 1959-1960. Acrylic on canvas, 8’4” x 12’.

Collection of Kimiko and John G. Powers.


Morris Louis (1912-1962)•Louis’ staining technique differed slightly from Frankenthaler.•Louis’ paint was runnier and his canvases un-stretched during the staining process.

– The resultant images often earned his works the subtitle “veil” paintings.

•Kaf represents this process.•Louis, like the Post-Painterly Abstractionists rejects the gestural as represented in the painting style of many first generation Abstract Expressionists.

Morris Louis, Kaf, 1959-1960. Acrylic on canvas, 8’4” x 12’.

Collection of Kimiko and John G. Powers.

Abstract Expressionism:West Coast Abstraction

Abstract Expressionism:West Coast Abstraction

• West Coast artists shared a similar aesthetic to their New York contemporaries– They both explored the spiritual, sought codification of

artistic expression, and searched for the universal in art.

• West Coast artists did not share the same need for commercial success, they did not have the same network of art literati as Manhattan, and they never truly abandon the landscape.

• Many artists attended the CA School of Fine Art (now SFAI) and were mentored under Abstract Expressionist artists including Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still.– The influence from the New York School makes its way into

West Coast abstraction.

West Coast Abstraction

Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993)•Amongst West Coast abstract painters Diebenkorn stands apart.•He attended the CA School of Fine Arts.•His style, although it did evolve throughout his career, maintains the basic precept-to abstract from what he saw and translate that into a painterly style.•His works maintain planes of color that pronounce the flatness of the canvas.•His work never abandons interest in the landscape.

Richard Diebenkorn, Berkeley #22, 1954. Oil on

canvas, 59” x 57”. Hirshorn Museum and

sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution,

Washington, D.C.

West Coast AbstractionRichard Diebenkorn (1922-1993)•Diebenkorn’s work explored a sense of the inner and outer dimensions and exhibits a tension between forms.

•His painting, Man and Woman in Large Room, illustrates this tendency most simply by containing large expanses of abstract color juxtaposed next to the figural.

•The influence of Rothko is evident as Diebenkorn takes Rothko’s blocks of color and includes them in his composition.

Richard Diebenkorn, Man and Woman in Large Room, 1957.

Oil on canvas, 71” x 62 ½”. Hirshorn Museum and sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution,

Washington, D.C.

West Coast AbstractionRichard Diebenkorn (1922-1993)•Ocean Park No. 54 represents his third series of paintings-the Ocean Park works.•The color planes present on the floor in his previous work take central stage in this series.•Inspired particularly by Matisse, Mondrian, Monet, and Abstract Expressionism Diebenkorn explores his personal vocabulary of Rothko-esque rectangles of color in attempt to purify their form.

Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park No. 54, 1972. Oil on canvas, 8’4” x 6’9”. San Francisco Museum of

Modern Art, CA.

West Coast AbstractionCy Twombly (b. 1928)•Studies at Black Mountain College, the experimental liberal arts college in North Carolina.•Tyombly is best known for his signature pieces best described as large-scale calligraphic graffitti paintings reminiscent of L’Art Brut.•He works primarily in monochromatic gray.•These works challenge the division between painting and drawing.•Like Johns, Twombly introduces letters and words to his paintings the result of which makes his work look like writing on a chalkboard.

Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1969. Crayon and oil on canvas, 6’6”

x 8’7”. Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.

Hard-Edge Painting

• Term first applied by LA art critic, Jules Langser in 1958 when talking about the abstract canvases of West Coast painters.

– These artists were not interest in the gestural quality of the brushstroke of Ab Ex.

• it was popularized by Alloway in 1959 in reference to American artists whose surfaces were treated as one single flat unit.

– There is no distinction between figure and background.– Allover technique of Pollock dominates style.

• Hard-edge painters embrace the geometric and symmetrical and use a limited palette.

• In contrast to Color Field, Hard-Edge is precise and impersonal.• Hard-edge painting embraces simplicity and clarity, lack of surface

incident, and large scale.• The primary characteristic is the desire to achieve total unity of the

canvas with no division of foreground and background, and no figure.

Hard-Edge Painting (mid 1960s-1960s)

Ellsworth Kelly (b. 1923)•Kelly draws inspiration from nature, the urban and natural landscape.•He is associated with the Color-Field School, Hard-Edge painting, and Minimalism.•His work makes use of unpretentious technique, simple form and bright colors.•Although he lived in postwar NY, he did not paint in the gestural style of Abstract Expressionism.

Ellsworth Kelly, Window, Museum of Modern Art,

Paris, 1949. Oil and wood on canvas, 50 ½” x 19 ½” x

¾”. Private collection.

Hard-Edge Painting

• Kelly had a particular interest in shape and color and focused attention on the figure-ground relationship.

• Kelly’s influences include Dada artist, Hans Arp.

• Unilke Arp, Kelly did not allow chance to totally dominate his compositions preferring to have some preconceived design.

Ellsworth Kelly, Orange and Green, 1966. Liquitex (mat

varnish) on canvas, 7’4” x 5’5”. Collection Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, Phoenix, MD.

• From artist Hans Arp (1896-1966) Kelly takes a particular interest in natural form of shape.

Ellsworth Kelly, Orange and Green, 1966. Liquitex (mat varnish) on

canvas, 7’4” x 5’5”. Collection Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, Phoenix, MD.

Jean Arp, Objects Arranged According to the Laws of Chance, (Navels) 1930.

varnished wood relief. Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Hard-Edge Painting

• Contrary to Greenbergian formalizs, Kelly’s canvases often blur the boundary between painting and sculpture.

• Works like Mandorla, which feature a three-dimensional aspect to design make its status as painting or sculpture open to debate.

Ellsworth Kelly, Mandorla, 1988. Bronze, 8’5” x 4’ 5 ½”. Private

collection.

Washington Color School (late 1950s-mid-1960s)

Kenneth Noland (b.1924)•Unlike Kelly, Noland did not take inspiration from nature.•Credits his own personal style to finding the center of the canvas.•Between the mid-1950s and 1962, Noland’s primary subject was the circle centered within the canvas.•Noland exhibited with a group of abstract artists from the Washington, D.C area who together became known as the Washington Color School.

Kenneth Noland, A Warm Sound in a Gray Field, 1961. Acrylic on canvas, 6’10½” x 6’9”. Private

collection.


• Consists of a group of painters who showed together in the 1965 exhibition, “Washington Color Painters”.– Their work can be described as predominantly

abstract and makes use of stripes, large washes of color, and fields of single color.

• Artists include Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis, Gene Davis, Howard Mehring, Thomas Downing, and Paul Reed.

• Met the approval of Greenberg who saw in their work the purity of painting he prescribed in his formalist modernism.


Kenneth Noland (b.1924)•After his circular series, Noland began to experiment with the shape of the canvas exploring its edges.•The result of this exploration where his most famous works, the chevron stripes.•Noland’s chevrons, with their extension from top to bottom, managed to accentuate an inner harmony on the canvas. Kenneth Noland, Sarah’s Reach,

1964. Acrylic on canvas, 93 ¾” x 91 ⅝. Smithsonian American Art

Museum, Washington, D.C.


Kenneth Noland (b.1924)•Following his chevrons, Noland began painting asymmetrical stripes.•His Graded Exposure explores the nature of the canvas by extending the entire length of the canvas.

•This series allowed Noland to achieve his mature style a formula of vertical and/or horizontal canvases in which a grid allows the painter to explore even the edges. Kenneth Noland, Graded Exposure, 1967.

Acrylic on canvas, 7’43/4” x 19’1”. Collection Mrs. Samuel G. Rautbord, Chicago.

Hard-Edge PaintingAl Held (1928-2005)•Like Kelly, Held maintained some control over his canvas by selecting subject matter. •The 1960s saw the artist focus on a series of paintings that take letters as inspiration.•Held selected letters with strategic openings as seen here in The Big N in effort to make it appear that these spaces hold the edge of the canvas.•The effect is also similar to Kline’s magnification of brushstrokes making the letter appear larger than the canvas itself.

Al Held, The Big N, 1964. Synthetic polymer paint on

canvas, 9’ ⅜” x 9’. Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Toward Minimalism

• The painting of these artists establishes an aesthetic very much on par with what Greenberg defined as American modernism.

• Experimentation with shape seen in the work of Noland and Kelly would lead toward the next phase of abstraction and become known as Minimalism, a style realized in both painting and sculpture.

1960s Abstraction

Education

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