Editing Color field (section)

== Color field movement ==
By the late 1950s and early 1960s young artists began to break away stylistically from abstract expressionism; experimenting with new ways of making pictures; and new ways of handling paint and color. In the early 1960s, several and various new movements in abstract painting were closely related to each other, and superficially were categorized together; although they turned out to be profoundly different in the long run. Some of the new styles and movements that appeared in the early 1960s as responses to abstract expressionism were called: [[Washington Color School]], [[hard-edge painting]], [[geometric abstraction]], [[minimalism]], and color field.

[[Gene Davis (painter)|Gene Davis]] also was a painter known especially for paintings of vertical stripes of color, like ''Black Grey Beat'' (1964) and he also was a member of the group of abstract painters in [[Washington, D.C.]] during the 1960s known as the [[Washington Color School]]. The Washington painters were among the most prominent of the mid-century color field painters.
[[File:Bush Oil.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jack Bush]], ''Big A'', 1968. Bush was a Canadian artist closely tied to color field painting and [[lyrical abstraction]] which grew out of [[abstract expressionism]].<ref name="jbush">"[http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/canadian/Jack-Bush.html Jack Bush]". The Art History Archive; Canadian Art. Retrieved December 9, 2008.</ref>]]
The artists associated with the color field movement during the 1960s were moving away from gesture and [[angst]] in favor of clear surfaces and [[wikt:gestalt|gestalt]]. During the early to mid-1960s, color field painting was the term for the work of artists like [[Anne Truitt]], [[John McLaughlin (artist)|John McLaughlin]], [[Sam Francis]], [[Sam Gilliam]], [[Thomas Downing (painter)|Thomas Downing]], [[Ellsworth Kelly]], [[Paul Feeley]], [[Friedel Dzubas]], [[Jack Bush]], [[Howard Mehring]], [[Gene Davis (painter)|Gene Davis]], [[Mary Pinchot Meyer]], [[Jules Olitski]], [[Kenneth Noland]], [[Helen Frankenthaler]], [[Robert Goodnough]], [[Ray Parker (painter)|Ray Parker]], [[Al Held]], [[Emerson Woelffer]], [[David Simpson (artist)|David Simpson]], [[Vasa Velizar Mihich]] and others whose works were formerly related to second generation abstract expressionism; and also to younger artists like [[Larry Poons]], [[Ronald Davis]], [[Larry Zox]], [[John Hoyland]], [[Walter Darby Bannard]] and [[Frank Stella]]. All were moving in a new direction away from the violence and anxiety of [[action painting]] toward a new and seemingly calmer ''language'' of color.

Although color field is associated with Clement Greenberg, Greenberg actually preferred to use the term "[[post-painterly abstraction]]." In 1964, Clement Greenberg curated an influential exhibition that traveled the country called ''Post-Painterly Abstraction''.<ref>"[http://www.sharecom.ca/greenberg/ppaessay.html Clement Greenberg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712233900/http://www.sharecom.ca/greenberg/ppaessay.html |date=2018-07-12 }}". ''Post-Painterly Abstraction''. Retrieved December 8, 2008.</ref> The exhibition expanded the definition of color field painting. Color field painting clearly pointed toward a new direction in American painting, away from abstract expressionism. In 2007, [[Karen Wilkin]] curated an exhibition called ''Color As Field: American Painting 1950–1975'' that traveled to several museums throughout the United States. The exhibition showcased several artists representing two generations of color field painters.<ref>Smith, Roberta. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/arts/design/07colo.html?_r=1 "Weightless Color, Floating Free"]. ''The New York Times''.  March 7, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2008.</ref>

In 1970 painter [[Jules Olitski]] said:

<blockquote>I don't know what Color Field painting means. I think it was probably invented by some critic, which is okay, but I don't think the phrase means anything. Color Field painting? I mean, what is color? Painting has to do with a lot of things. Color is among the things it has to do with. It has to do with surface. It has to do with shape, It has to do with feelings which are more difficult to get at.<ref>De Antonio, Emile. ''Painters Painting, a Candid History of The Modern Art Scene 1940–1970'', P.81, Abbeville Press 1984, {{ISBN|0-89659-418-1}}</ref></blockquote>
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| caption1 = [[Ronnie Landfield]], ''Rite of Spring'', 1985. Landfield's work emerged during the 1960s. His works are reflections of both Chinese landscape painting and the color field idiom. His paintings bridge color field painting with [[lyrical abstraction]].<ref>[[Robert C. Morgan|Morgan, Robert C.]] ''Landfield's Illuminations''. Exhibition Catalogue: ''Ronnie Landfield: Paintings From Five Decades''. The [[Butler Institute of American Art]]. {{ISBN|1-882790-50-2}}</ref>
| alt1 = An abstract landscape painting
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| caption2 = [[John Seery]], 'East', synthetic polymer painting on canvas by [[John Seery]], 1973, [[National Gallery of Australia]]. In the 1970s Seery was described as "probably the strongest and certainly the most exciting abstract painter of the moment." From color field to [[lyrical abstraction]]<ref name="artknowledgenews.com" />
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[[Jack Bush]] was a Canadian [[abstract expressionist]] painter, born in Toronto, Ontario in 1909. He was a member of [[Painters Eleven]], the group founded by [[William Ronald]] in 1954 to promote abstract painting in Canada, and was soon encouraged in his art by the American art critic [[Clement Greenberg]]. With encouragement from Greenberg, Bush became closely tied to two movements that grew out of the efforts of the abstract expressionists: color field painting and [[lyrical abstraction]]. His painting ''Big A'' is an example of his color field paintings of the late 1960s.<ref name="jbush"/><ref name="fenton2">Fenton, Terry. "[http://www.sharecom.ca/fenton/bush.html Jack Bush]". sharecom.ca. Retrieved December 9, 2008.</ref>

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, [[Frank Stella]] was a significant figure in the emergence of [[minimalism]], [[post-painterly abstraction]] and color field painting. His [[shaped canvas]]es of the 1960s like ''Harran II'' (1967) revolutionized abstract painting. One of the most important characteristics of Stella's paintings is his use of repetition. His black pinstripe paintings of 1959 shocked an art world that was unused to seeing monochromatic and repetitive images, painted flat, with almost no inflection. During the early 1960s, Stella made several series of notched ''Aluminum Paintings'' and shaped ''Copper Paintings'' before making multicolored and asymmetrical shaped canvases of the late 1960s. Frank Stella's approach and relationship to color field painting was not permanent or central to his creative output; as his work became more and more three-dimensional after 1980.

In the late 1960s, [[Richard Diebenkorn]] began his ''Ocean Park'' series, created during the final 25 years of his career. They are important examples of color field painting. The ''Ocean Park'' series, exemplified by ''Ocean Park No.129'', connects his earlier abstract expressionist works with color field painting. During the early 1950s, Richard Diebenkorn was known as an abstract expressionist, and his gestural abstractions were close to the [[New York School (art)|New York School]] in sensibility but firmly based in the San Francisco abstract expressionist sensibility; a place where [[Clyfford Still]] has a considerable influence on younger artists by virtue of his teaching at the [[San Francisco Art Institute]].

By the mid-1950s, Richard Diebenkorn along with [[David Park (painter)|David Park]], [[Elmer Bischoff]] and several others formed the [[Bay Area Figurative School]] with a return to Figurative painting. Between the fall of 1964 and the spring of 1965, Diebenkorn traveled throughout Europe; he was granted a cultural visa to visit and view Henri Matisse paintings in important Soviet museums. These works were rarely seen by people outside of the Soviet Union. When he returned to painting in the Bay Area in mid-1965, his resulting works summed up all that he had learned from his more than a decade as a leading figurative painter.<ref name="Jane56">Livingston, Jane. "The Art of [[Richard Diebenkorn]]". 1997–1998 Exhibition catalog. In ''The Art of Richard Diebenkorn'', [[Whitney Museum of American Art]]. 56. {{ISBN|0-520-21257-6}}</ref><ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_bks&q=9780967799421&fq=dt%3Abks ''American Abstract and Figurative Expressionism: Style Is Timely Art Is Timeless''] (New York School Press, 2009.) {{ISBN|978-0-9677994-2-1}}. p.&nbsp;80–83</ref> When he returned to abstraction in 1967, his works were parallel to movements like the color field movement and [[lyrical abstraction]], but he remained independent of both.

During the late 1960s, [[Larry Poons]], whose earlier ''Dot'' paintings were associated with [[Op Art]], began to produce looser and more free formed paintings that were referred to as his ''Lozenge Ellipse'' paintings of 1967–1968. Along with [[John Hoyland]], [[Walter Darby Bannard]], [[Larry Zox]], [[Ronald Davis]], [[Ronnie Landfield]], [[John Seery]], [[Pat Lipsky]], [[Dan Christensen]]<ref>[http://www.sbmuseart.org/exhibitions/colorscope.web] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703034943/http://www.sbmuseart.org/exhibitions/colorscope.web|date=2010-07-03}} retrieved June 2, 2010</ref> and several other young painters a new movement that related to color field painting began to form. It was eventually known as [[lyrical abstraction]].<ref>Ashton, Dore. "Young Abstract Painters: Right On!". Arts vol. 44, no. 4, February, 1970. 31–35</ref><ref>Aldrich, Larry. ''Young Lyrical Painters''. [[Art in America]], vol. 57, no. 6, November–December 1969. 104–113</ref><ref>[http://www.deutsche-guggenheim.de/dg/ex_color_fields_full.php ''Color Fields'', Deutsche Guggenheim] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120211729/http://www.deutsche-guggenheim.de/dg/ex_color_fields_full.php |date=2010-11-20 }} Retrieved November 26, 2010</ref> The late 1960s saw painters turning to surface inflection, deep space depiction, painterly touch and paint handling merging with the ''language'' of color. Among a new generation of abstract painters who emerged combining color field painting with expressionism, the older generation also began infusing new elements of complex space and surface into their works. By the 1970s Poons created thick-skinned, cracked and heavy paintings referred to as ''Elephant Skin'' paintings; Christensen sprayed loops, colored webs of lines and calligraphy across multicolored fields of delicate grounds; Ronnie Landfield's stained band paintings are reflections of both Chinese landscape painting and the color field idiom, and John Seery produced his stained paintings, as exemplified by ''East, 1973'', from the [[National Gallery of Australia]]. Poons, Christensen, Davis, Landfield, Seery, Lipsky, Zox and several others created paintings that bridge color field painting with [[lyrical abstraction]] and underscore a re-emphasis on landscape, gesture and ''touch''.<ref name="artknowledgenews.com">[http://www.artknowledgenews.com/2010-03-29-01-01-12-john-seery-to-debut-his-new-work-at-garboushian-gallery.html Peter Schjeldahl] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120602020917/http://www.artknowledgenews.com/2010-03-29-01-01-12-john-seery-to-debut-his-new-work-at-garboushian-gallery.html |date=June 2, 2012 }}&#93; comment on [[John Seery]]]</ref><ref>Exhibition Catalogue, ''Ronnie Landfield: Paintings From Five Decades''. The [[Butler Institute of American Art]], ''Seeking the Miraculous''. 5–6. {{ISBN|1-882790-50-2}}</ref><ref>Ratcliff, Carter. The New Informalists, Art News, v. 68, n. 8, December 1969, p.72.</ref>

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