Color Field

paintings by kenneth noland

Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler is an American abstract painter in New York. Along with Kenneth Noland and other artists, she is considered a pioneer of the Color Field movement. She invented the soak stain technique where she poured lupertine-thinned paint onto canvas producing luminous color that appeared to connect with canvas and deny any three dimensiol illusionism. Later in her career, she turned her attention to other artistic media and used her soak-stain technique in other works.

"Shoot"

1964

"Ex-Nihilo"

1958

Color Field

Noland is famous for his circular ripple paintings and in "Ex-Nihilo" (1958) meaning "Out of Nothing" in Latin, he began painting simpler forms and balancing selected colors in order to create this painting. The gray ringed form repersents an egg being fertilized while the inner most area is a kind of zygote. Again, the colors spread across creating the flat, unbroken effect shows Color Field.

As mentioned before, Noland's signature design is chevrons, stripes and targets. In this painting he calls "Shoot" (1964) an arrangement of four chevrons that are painted in alternating cool and warm colors. Rather than horizontal, he painted vertically for symmetry and the abstract affect. This was painted on acrylic on canvas.

By Basma

kenneth noland

PAINTINGS BY HELEN FRANKENTHALER

WHAT IS COLOR FIELD?

Kenneth Noland is an American painter who helped create the Color Field movement in the 1960's. His famous works consist of circular ripples of paint right onto the canvas. Noland also developed his signature style of abstract forms such as targets, chevrons and stripes after he studied other artists for inspiration and ideas such as Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis.

"Desert Pass"

1976

"Canyon"

1965

Color Field is a style of abstract art that began in the 1940's-1950's in New York City. It was inspired by Eurpoean Modernism and Abstract Expressionism. Color Field is described as large amounts of solid colors spread across or stained onto the canvas making areas of unbroken surfaces and flat picture planes. Color Field is also known for it's modern and mythic themes. This form of art was the first style to avoid the form or mass standing out against the background. Instead of form and mass, figures, ground and space are conceived as a field to bring out edges of the canvas while painting with the Color Field Technique

Desert Pass (1976) is an example of the ways Frankenthaler responded to the natural landscapes. Inspired by a trip to the American Southwest, The painting shows the colors and forms of the region she visted. The yellow-gold repersent the evoking sand and the desert humidity. The greenish blue repersent the cacti she saw. She paints a landscape using solid colors and once again using the technique of Color Field.

The topographical features of landscape served as inspiration for Frankenthaler's "Canyon' (1965). "Canyon" was made when she began replacing turpentine-thinned oil with watered down acrylic poured in larger stains and blots. Frankenthaler shows Color Field in "Canyon" because the colors she used are with the bright red filling most of the painting, she reflected the importance of the Canyon. This was painted with Acrylic on Canvas

WHO ILLISTRATED IT BETTER?

PAINTINGS BY MARK ROTHKO

mARK ROTHKO

Color Field is the art of large amounts of color spread or stained onto a canvas to create a flat or unbroken surface. The artist that best illustrates Color Field art would have to be Helen Frankenthaler. I chose her over Mark Rothko and Kenneth Noland because although all of them are creative and add there own little touch to Color Field art, Helen takes it to another level. She takes her life events and based on how they were she takes the color that matches the event and spreads or stains it on her canvas to repersent her adventures without drawing anything, but with color.

Mark Rothko is a abstract expressionist painter who's focus/interest was in mythic landscapes which gave way to mature works featuring large, hovering blocks of color on colored grounds. Rothko also went through many different art styles until he found Color Field and felt like he wanted to stick with it.

"Number 9"

1947

"Four Darks in Red"

1958

Mark Rothko's painting "Four Darks in Red' (1958) was painted on the medium oil on canvas. He restricted his palette in this painting because he only used dark colors. Rothko believed that the rectangles in his work represented the presences or spirits he tried to capture in previous works. The solid colors and horizontal composition demonstrates the color field technique because it adds that flat surface effect with the way the dark colors are laid out.

Number 9 (1947) by Mark Rothko was painted after his "multiforms" stage when he painted landscapes. The blurred shapes created from layered washes of warm reds, oranges and yellow paints are disrupted by the strange black from the left side and the blue swirls in the lower area. The blurred edges seperate the color blocks and beginnings of rectangular shapes that can be seen as well. Size and scale are also experimented in this painting. With solid colors and flat surface, once again this shows the color field effect. This was painted with oil on canvas.

work cited

The Art Story

Color Field Painting Movement, Artists and Major Works

Date Accessed: February 23, 2016

Wikipedia

Wikipedia Foundation

Date Accessed: February 23, 2016