15 Questions
What was Barnett Newman known for in his art?
Using solid, hard-edged areas of color
What influenced Frank Stella's early work?
Abstract Expressionist paintings
What did Barnett Newman add to his color field paintings?
Thin vertical lines called 'zips'
What concept did Frank Stella bring to the world of art?
Minimalism
How did Barnett Newman describe his approach to painting?
'To start from scratch, to paint as if painting never existed before.'
Who are credited for the beginnings of color field painting?
Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Barnett Newman
What was the objective of color field painting?
To focus on large spaces of a solid color
According to Mark Rothko, what did he aim to express through his paintings?
Basic human emotions like tragedy and ecstasy
What did Rothko believe his large blocks of color created?
Patterns to appeal and communicate with a person's emotions
How did artists in color field painting view the dominance of color over space?
"The background and foreground becoming one"
Who is known as the first color field painter?
Clyfford Still
What technique did many color field artists use with diluted paint poured onto raw canvas?
Staining
Which artist aimed to envelop the viewer in a spiritual experience through his paintings?
Mark Rothko
What did Barnett Newman call the thin lines in his paintings that represented streaks of cosmic light?
"Zips"
Which artist was born in Latvia and became known for his large blocks of contrasting and complementary colors on large-scale canvases?
Mark Rothko
Study Notes
The Emergence of Color Field Painting
- Clyfford Still is known as the first color field painter, using strong colors and a textural style characterized by bright, jagged juxtapositions of colors.
- Barnett Newman sought absolute beauty and painted broad areas of flat color punctuated by thin lines, which he called "zips," to represent streaks of cosmic light.
- Color field artists focused on the consistency of colors, eliminating brushstrokes and creating smooth paint without texture.
- Many artists used a staining technique with diluted paint poured onto raw canvas, and the introduction of acrylic paint made this process easier.
- Mark Rothko, a prominent color field artist, was born in Latvia and became known for his large blocks of contrasting and complementary colors on large-scale canvases.
- Rothko's paintings aimed to envelop the viewer in a spiritual experience, and he achieved commercial success despite struggling with depression and alcoholism.
- Rothko used synthetic substances alongside traditional materials, creating a compositional organization for his paintings based on two or three colors arranged in horizontal bars.
- Rothko's color field paintings, such as "Black, Red over Black on Red" and "Green, Blue, Green on Blue," demonstrate his use of intense, juxtaposed colors to create a translucency effect.
- Rothko's "No. 5/No. 22" painting is an anomaly in his portfolio, featuring a solid red band broken by undulating light lines, showcasing his attention to the placement of lines.
- Rothko aimed to evoke big emotions in his artwork, emphasizing that color relationships alone should not define the viewer's experience.
- Barnett Newman, another influential color field painter, was born in New York City to Polish Jewish immigrants and pursued a career as an intellectual, teacher, and writer.
- Newman's art focused on large areas of flat color punctuated by thin lines, and he was an intellectual who engaged in various activities beyond his art career.
Explore the style and characteristics of color field painting, a movement closely associated with Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s and 1960s in New York City. Understand the emphasis on large spaces of solid color divorced from specific context, and the subjective concept of color as the dominant element.
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