Washington Color School

Overview

The Washington Color School, a visual art movement, describes a form of image making concerned primarily with color field painting, a form of non-objective or non-representational art that explored ways to use large solid areas of paint.

The Washington Color School artists painted largely non-representational works, and were central to the larger color field movement. Though not generally considered abstract expressionists due to the orderliness of their works and differing motivating philosophies, many parallels can be drawn between the Washington Color School and the abstract expressionists. Minimally, the use of stripes, washes, and fields of single colors of paint on canvas were common to most artists in both groups. A common technique used in the Washington Color School was "soak staining" or just "staining", in which the artist would pour a thinned painting medium onto canvas and let it sit over time. The result would be a stain in the canvas with no visible traces of conventional application, such as brush strokes.

History

Greenberg, Louis and Noland

In 1954, art critic Clement Greenberg introduced Morris Louis to painter Helen Frankenthaler, who was working in as a, "proto–color field painter". Her painting, Mountains and Sea (1952) had an impact on Louis and many other painters in Washington, D.C., and they borrowed Frankenthaler's process of staining raw canvas with color.

In 1960, Clement Greenberg wrote in Art International magazine about the two local Washington, D.C., artists, Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland. In his writing he labeled them as "color painters".

Washington Workshop Center for the Arts

Around 1945, painter Leon Berkowitz, poet Ida Fox Berkowitz, and artist founded the Washington Workshop Center (also known as the Workshop Art Center or Washington Workshop Center for the Arts). The center became a key gathering place and gallery for the Washington Color School artists, including Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Howard Mehring, Thomas Downing, and Gene Davis. Berkowitz did not like the label "Washington Color School" and often rejected it for his own work.

Jefferson Place Gallery

Main article: Jefferson Place Gallery

Many of the Washington Color School artists exhibited at the Jefferson Place Gallery in Washington, D.C., originally directed by Alice Denney starting in 1957 (later owned and directed by Nesta Dorrance). Along with the original Washington Color School painters, a second generation also exhibited at Jefferson Place Gallery. (6/69, “Four Minds With It” Wash Star; Benjamin)

''Washington Color Painters'' (1965)

The Washington Color School originally consisted of a group of painters who showed works in an exhibit called the Washington Color Painters at the now-defunct Washington Gallery of Modern Art in Washington, from June 25 to September 5, 1965. The exhibition's organizer was Gerald "Gerry" Nordland and the painters who exhibited were Gene Davis, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Howard Mehring, Thomas Downing, and Paul Reed. This exhibition, which subsequently traveled to several other venues in the United States, including the Walker Art Center, solidified Washington's place in the national movement and defined what is considered the city's signature art movement, according to art historians and journalists alike.

''Eighteenth Area Exhibition'' (1965, 1967)

After their initial benchmark exhibition, Davis, Mehring, and Reed were joined by Timothy Corkery, Willem de Looper, Sam Gilliam, and Jacob Kainen at The Seventeenth Area Exhibition of Artists of Washington and the Adjacent Area at The Corcoran Gallery of Art from November 12 to December 19, 1965. The Eighteenth Area Exhibition at The Corcoran from November 18 to December 31, 1967 again featured artists including de Looper, Corkery, Downing, Gilliam and Kainen.

Artists

First generation

The six artists participating in the exhibition, Washington Color Painters (1965) were called the first generation.

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

Second generation

The group is thought to have expanded as it achieved a dominant presence in the Washington, D.C., visual art community through the 1960s into the 1970s.

• Leon Berkowitz,
• Chun Chen,
• Edward Corbett,
• Timothy Corkery,
• Willem de Looper,
• William Dutterer,
• Robert Franklin Gates,
• Sam Gilliam,
• Tom Green,
• James Hilleary,
• Valerie Hollister,
• Jacob Kainen,
• Rockne Krebs,
• Blaine Gledhill Larson,
• Alice Mavrogordato,
• Ed McGowin,
• Mary Pinchot Meyer,
• Robert W. Newmann,
• Carroll Sockwell,
• Robert Stackhouse,
• Alma Thomas,
• Hilda Thorpe,
• Anne Truitt,
• Kenneth Victor Young.
• James W. Twittey

James W. Twittey

Present-day

During spring and summer 2007, arts institutions in Washington, D.C., staged a citywide celebration of color field painting, including exhibitions at galleries and museums of works by members of the Washington Color School.

In 2011, a group of Washington art collectors began the Washington Color School Project, to gather and publish information about the history of the color painters and abstract art in Washington. Though some of them were not born in Washington, D.C., the artists exhibited together and represent Washington as a new hub for the visual arts.

References

Sources

• J. D. Serwer. 1987. Gene Davis, A Memorial Exhibition. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Introduction & Text by Roy Slade, "The Corcoran & Washington Art" Copyright 1976 The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.: 2000 copies printed by Garamond Press, Baltimore, MD LCCC# 76-42098
• Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Interview with Gerald Nordland Conducted by Susan Larsen, Chicago, Illinois May 25–26, 2004 http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/nordla04.htm
• Washington Art, catalog of exhibitions at State University College at Potsdam, NY & State University of New York at Albany, 1971 [no copyright or LCCC # listed], Introduction by Renato G. Danese, printed by Regal Art Press, Troy NY.
• The Vincent Melzac Collection, Foreword by Walter Hopps, Introduction by Ellen Gross Landau, Retrospective Notes on the Washington Color School by Barbara Rose, Copyright 1971 The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.: printed by Garamond/Pridemark Press, Baltimore, MD LCCC#75-153646

References

1. (September 25, 2018). "The Washington D.C. Color School".
2. "Washington Color School – Art Term".
3. Capps, Kriston. (2017-06-02). "Color, Full: A Timeline of the Washington Color School".
4. "The Most Typical Abstract Art Techniques".
5. Fensom, Sarah E.. (2020-02-25). "Latter-Day Luminist".
6. Godfrey, Mark. (2007-01-01). "Abstraction and the Holocaust". Yale University Press.
7. "Archives Directory for the History of Collecting, Jefferson Place Gallery".
8. (26 June 2015). "When the Washington Color School earned its stripes on the national stage". [[The Washington Post]].
9. Rodney, Seph. (2016-10-11). "A Black Woman Stands Out Among the Washington Color School Artists".
10. Forgey, Benjamin. (April 24, 1988). "Washington's Bad Case of Cultural Amnesia". Washington Post.
11. "About the Washington Color School".
12. (March 1968). "Andrew Hudson on Gene Davis, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Thomas Downing, Paul Reed, Rockne Krebs, Howard Mehring and more, Corcoran Gallery of Art".
13. Ruane, Michael E.. (2012-09-04). "Acclaimed Washington artist Tom Green dies of Lou Gehrig's disease at 70". Washington Post.
14. Barrett, Maggie. (2010). "Legendary D.C. Artist Tom Green's Work at the Katzen {{!}} American University Washington DC".
15. (22 April 2014). "James Hilleary, noted Washington artist, dies at 90". [[The Washington Post]].
16. (23 March 2001). "Obituary: Jacob Kainen, 91, Painter and Print Curator". The New York Times.
17. (April 12, 1997). "Christenberry's Southern Cause". Washington Post.
18. (October 28, 2000). "Alice Mavrogordato, Abstract Oil Painter, WWII Detainee, Dies". Washington Post.
19. "Hard-edged, Bright Color: Generations of Color".
20. Burleigh, Nina. (1998). "Books: A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer".
21. (2015-11-04). "The Biggs Museum Presents 'Michael Robear: New Discoveries'".
22. (17 January 2007). "The Washington Color School Is Ready to Bloom". [[The Washington Post]].
23. "Washington Color School Project".