Stella working on Black Paintings Series
Artist: Frank Stella
Frank Stella was born on May 12 1936, to first-generation Italian-American parents in Maiden, Massachusetts . In his sophomore year of high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, he began learning to paint from the abstractionist Patrick Morgan. Stella continued taking art courses at Princeton University and here was introduced to the New York art world by professors bringing him to exhibitions in the city. These trips inspired and shaped his earliest artistic aesthetic. This new aesthetic found expression in a series of new paintings, the Black Paintings in which regular bands of black paint were separated by very thin pinstripes of unpainted canvas. Although he never regarded himself as a Minimalist, Stella’s Black Paintings secured their creator’s place in art history by inspiring such artists as Carl Andre. Stella’s color variations, exploration of circular motifs, and shaped canvases influenced artists like Kenneth Noland and served as a catalyst for such developments as Color Field painting and Post-Painterly Abstraction. In 1970, the Museum of Modern Art presented a retrospective of Stella’s work, making him the youngest artist to receive one.
Black Paintings- The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II
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Artist (painter): Robert Mangold
He was born in North Tonawanda, New York and first studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art form 1956-1959 and then at Yale University. He later married a fellow artist and classmate, Sylvia Plimack in 1961. Many of his minimalist paintings provoke scrutiny because of their minimalist qualities and references/elements of architecture. Interestingly enough, he usually works in large series on both paper and as paintings. He also began working in acrylic paint instead of oil with early work consisting of monochromatic based constructions. Mangold also works in prints and from his earlier works moved towards canvases and colored glass panels. In 1965, he had an exhibition in te Jewish museum of New York, as well as earning several endowments and fellowships such as the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1969. He held his first solo exhibition in Gugenheim Musem in 1971 and his work is in many musems including the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and has art in several other places around the world including in (domestically in Los Angeles), Switzerland, Madrid, and Tokyo.
Below are some of his works:
Honorary mention, Artist: Dan Flavin
He was born in 1933, in Jamaica, New York. Interestingly enough, I am also covering this period in one of my history courses this semester so I know by date that he was born into the era of the Great Depression and his work mostly occurs after World War II. Much of his work is scultural and light based installations as shown below. 1st work mention: Blue intensity – much else does not need to be said. it’s in the name.
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Artist: Frederick Spratt
Spratt (1927-2008) was an american painter best known for his color theory work. He was born in Iowa but eventually moved to Los Angeles where his minimalistic work took flight. His work was influenced originally by being the grandson of a house painter and then later as a sign painter. After he joined the LA art scene he also became influenced by other minimalists such as Ellsworth Kelly and Ad Reinhardt. His works tend to be large monochromatic high finish/gloss paintings, usually paired with one other or multiple other colored canvases. The works are said to be so seamless that they change or become illusionary when exposed to different light sources. I initially thought his paintings were just ridiculously simplistic but now I understand that he chose to show how color as an aspect of art can stand alone and be intriguing without any other visual distractions.
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Robert Ryman (May 30, 1930- )
Ryman is an American minimalist painter who is most well known for his abstract white-on-white paintings. Ryman was born in Tennessee and went to school there, but after serving as an army reserve during the Korean War moved to New York. He originally moved to the city to become a professional jazz saxophonists, and worked a day job at the MoMA to make ends meet. His day job in the art world led to meeting countless artists and eventually led to Ryman’s captivation by abstract works such as Pollock’s and Kooning’s. Ryman is noted as a minimalist, but also claims to be a “realist” as he’s only interested in presenting the materials used at their own face value. Ryman is also well known for experimenting with different materials and mediums. What he considers his first professional work is “Untitled” (often referred to as orange painting) painted from 1955-1959.
One of Robert Ryman’s exhibits at the Saatchi Gallery, as you can see it’s all white on white and what he is largely known for.
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Agnes Martin (1912-2004)
Martin is known as a minimalist and was also part of the abstract expressionist movement. Her work is defined by lines, grids, and subtle color. Her work contained influence from Eastern philosophy including Taoism. Martin focused on reductive elements to create a perception of perfection and suggest transcendent reality. Something she said of Mark Rothko is indicative of her spiritual and artistic goals as she thanked him for having “reached zero so that nothing could stand in the way of truth.
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Artist: Sol LeWitt
LeWitt was born to a family of Jewish immigrants from Russia. He received a BFA from Syracuse University in 1949, and traveled to Europe shortly after, where he was exposed to Old Master painting. After serving in the Korean War, LeWitt set up a studio on the Lower East Side, in the old Ashkenazi Jewish settlement. LeWitt studied at the School of Visual Arts, worked for Seventeen magazine, and was a graphic designer for the architect I.M. Pei. 19th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge was one of LeWitt’s major early influences, in addition to working as a night receptionist at the MoMA. LeWitt is referred to as a founder of both Minimal and Conceptual art. He created prolific two dimensional works, including over 1200 wall drawings in graphite, crayon, colored pencil, India ink, and acrylic paint.
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Jo Baer
Jo Baer is known as one of the truest Minimalist painters. Born in Seattle, Washington, Baer she now works and lives in Amsterdam with works displayed all over the world. Her paintings follow a ‘formal code’ of white or gray monochrome with accents of color to create chromatic friction. Even when exploring prehistoric sculptures and cave paintings, Baer’s works were very minimalist, containing only the fundamental.
This piece is titled V. Speculum. I like this because I like the subtlety of the colors and their placements. It follows Baer’s monochromatic code. While simple, the placements of the colors and forms are noticeably intentional and aesthetically pleasing and calming.
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Artist: Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly became fascinated with color and movement as a young child an avidly observed birds in the natural world. His personality type was that of a loner, and many attribute this personality to his artistic style: solitary, bright, and singular shapes. He studied at the Pratt Insitute in Brooklyn but then joined the Army in 1943 as a member of “The Ghost Army.” The Ghost Army set up decoy tanks and inflatables to deceive the Axis powers’ military courses. Camouflage influenced his work significantly as well. His work employs the use of usually one bright color placed on an irregularly shaped canvas, called consequently, “shaped canvas.” His use of lines is often subtle but meticulous and precise. Additionally, his use of Geometric shapes and patterns is inspired by his military career and his fascination with Surrealism and Romanesque and Byzantine architecture.
“Colors for a Large Wall”
http://whitney.org/image_columns/0006/0940/2002.249_kelly_imageprimacy-copy_740.jpg?1369065738
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Artist – Peter Halley
Peter Halley was born in 1953. He began formal art training in Andover, Massachusetts at Phillips Academy. He first developed his reputation with regards using brightly colored fluorescent Day-Glo to create geometric shapes that he named “prisons” and “cells.” He received an art history degree in 1975 from Yale University and his M.F.A in 1978 from the University of New Orleans. Additionally, 1978 was the year he had his first solo exhibition at the Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans. Josef Albers’s book Interaction of Color was one of the biggest influences in Halley’s career. In 1980, Halley moved back to New York and began to work on art that was inspired by the pop themes, social issues and urban environment surrounding New York. Halley wrote eight essays for Arts magazine. Primarily, Halley is known to be associated with the minimalism, neo-geo and neo conceptualist art movements.
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Artist: Kenneth Noland
Kenneth Noland was an American Minimalist painter who was born in 1924 and died recently in 2010. He is most well-known for his color field paintings, and he worked alongside other such painters including Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis. Though there were other artists working in a similar field, Noland created his own unique style, which was characterized by simplified abstract forms and pure saturated colors. Many of his works comprise of concentric circles which, when put together, resemble a target. However, they were not representing an actual target; the circles and the other basic shapes present in his other works are simply a means of exploring pure color. A quote by Noland regarding his regard for painting is: “I think of painting without subject matter as music without words.” Kenneth Noland strove to eliminate any subject matter, depth of field, texture, or emotional content, and instead made the painting as though it were a complete object of its own in the same space as that of the viewer.
“Ex-Nihilo” (1958)
“Beginnings” (1958)
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Artist: Brice Marden
Brice Marden is an American Minimalist painter who was born in Bronxville, New York in 1938. He earned his BFA in 1961 from the Boston University School of Fine and Applied Arts and his MFA in 1962 from the Yale School of Art and Architecture. At Yale, he studied alongside other future Minimalist artists, such as Richard Serra and Robert Mangold, and developed a style of painting that reflected the emerging Minimalist trend. His earlier works from the 1960s and 1970s are characterized by a preoccupation with rectangular forms, often arranged in triptychs or diptychs, and a muted, often monochromatic, color palette. In 1975, Marden began traveling throughout Greece, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand, which influenced his later painting style. As Marden traveled, his work began to transform into a more Abstract Expressionist style to reflect his travel experiences. His piece For Pearl (1970), which is pictured below, demonstrates his Minimalist style from the 1960s and 1970s.
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Bob Law
Bob Law was a British-born painter/sculptor who is considered a founding father of British minimalism. His work was mainly influenced by painters Ben Nicholson and Peter Lanyon. His move to St. Ives also helped to influence his work. He was inspired by the landscape, which led to the exploration of lines, forms and shapes. After discovering the works of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, Law began a series of black paintings made from a combination of dark colors.
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Anne Truitt (1921-2004)
Anne Truitt was an American artist known forr her minimalist sculptures in the mid 20th century. After studying to become a clinical psychologist and declining an offer to attend Yale’s psychology department for a PhD, Truitt devoted her life to art. She first started making her sculptures in the 1940s after being inspired by a trip to the Guggenheim where she saw pieces by the likes of HH Arnason, Ad Reinhardt and Barnett Newman. She is quoted as saying “I looked at them, and I was home free. I had never realized you could do it in art. Have enough space. Enough color.” Truitt is known for her minimalist painted sculptures, which some would see as very plain. She used wood and monochramatic colors that most resembled structural columns. When painting, she made sure to cover up any brush strokes left on the wood, sanding each layer and then building it up more. In her exhibits, she would show the pillars slightly raised off the ground to give the illusion that they were slightly floating, showing the relationship between sculpture and ground.
A Wall for Apricots(1968)
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He began as an expressionist painter in 1957 and turned to constructions and sculptures that involved craftsmanship and geometric angles in 1960. Donald Judd is most famous for “Specific Objects” created in 1964. He began large installments outdoors that embraced viewers physical interaction with the pieces. He mostly used unpainted plywood in the 70’s. He worked on architecture furniture and design as he got older and started the Chinati Foundation on 40,000 acres of land for a non profit art organization.
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