Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and the Sea, 1952Īmerican artist Helen Frankenthaler developed her own breakthrough technique for filling canvases with large fields of color. With its overwhelming scale, Newman attempted to evoke a strong reaction from the viewer and completely envelop them-and their personal space-in the vibrant hue. It features large fields of bright red that are broken up by the occasional, vertical “zip” lines. His painting Vir heroicus sublimis (“Man, heroic and sublime”), measures an epic 95 by 213 inches and was his largest painting at the time. The warm juxtaposition of colors evokes a sense of joy.īarnett Newman, Vir Heroicus Sublimis, 1951Īnother color field pioneer, American artist Barnett Newman believed, “A painter is a choreographer of space.” He invented what he called the “zip,” which is a band of vertical color that set his work apart from his fellow abstract expressionists. Yellow, Pink, Lavender on Rose is one of his earlier pieces from the 1950s. Rothko experimented with an array of color combinations to communicate different human experiences and emotions. The Russian American abstract artist specialized in color field painting, which describes art that uses large flat areas of color. The name Mark Rothko immediately brings to mind canvases of large flat areas of color. Mark Rothko, Yellow, Pink, and Lavender on Rose, 1950 “Tod” can be found again in the “T” shape of the figure's raised arm, the golden orb (O) in its hand, and the D shape of its face. An illustration of mortality, the oil-on-jute piece depicts a central human skull-like motif featuring the word “tod” (the German word for “death”). Klee was influenced by primitive art in the past, but this painting is particularly simplistic and critics even likened it to the style of cave paintings. This explains why his work during this period became increasingly simplistic, and Death and Fire is a key example of this. He was suffering from a condition known as scleroderma, which caused painful joints and rashes on his hands. Klee painted Death and Fire in 1940, just a few months before his death in June of that year. Paul Klee, “Death and Fire,” 1940 (Photo: Zentrum Paul Klee via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain) The central yellow symbol resembles a flower, while spirals and biomorphic forms are symbols of growth and fertility.
BLACK AND WHITE ABSTRACT ART FULL
This huge canvas, measuring 3 meters high and 2 meters wide, was painted on paper, on the floor of the studio, and then pasted onto a canvas.Īf Klint interprets adulthood in full bloom by painting various free-flowing shapes in different sizes and colors set against a lilac background. They combine botanical elements and recognizable organic objects that reference birth and growth. The collection represents the stages of life, including childhood, youth, maturity, and old age. 7, Adulthood is part of Af Klint’s The Ten Largest series. She requested that her large body of work-most of which was never exhibited during her lifetime-remain unseen until 20 years after her death. Hilma af Klint, “No.7, Adulthood,” 1907 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)Īlthough she is not as well known as many of the male artists of her time, Swedish artist Hilma af Klint was a pioneering abstract artist whose radical paintings predate many of her male contemporaries.