The structure of Cubism, based on light and dark rather than color relationships, was essentially graphic. Kenneth Noland, one of the most prominent American color field painters, desired to transform this graphic structure into a structure based on color. To this end, Noland chose to use simplified geometric forms which would serve merely as racks for color.
Kenneth Noland’s distinctive methods of painting completed the flattening of space begun by the Cubists. Noland’s early experiments included thickly applying paint unlimited conference calls his fingers as well as pouring and staining in thin washes. Once he had begun exclusively employing geometric shapes, he defined his shapes through using tape on the canvas temporarily or by lightly outlining objects such as dinner plates or hoops.
Noland utilized free hand painting with brushes within the hard-edged shapes. His tints are strong and consistently flat in texture and appearance. In this way, his surfaces lacked the disconcerting restlessness that typified shallow Cubist space.
This approach, in direct contrast with the complicated Cubist compositions, also reveals Noland’s indebtedness to Piet Mondrian, an exceptional Dutch painter who had himself arrived at abstraction via Cubism. Mondrian’s work was based on a grid structure and the simplified color scheme of blue, yellow, red, black and white. In spite of these similarities, however, Noland’s methods differed from Mondrian’s system in his solutions to several fundamental artistic issues.
Mondrian’s concern was with creating balanced asymmetry, whereas Noland focused on the utilization of balanced symmetry. This was especially true in his Circle paintings, which employ the center as a fulcrum, and in the majority of his mature work. When Noland did employ asymmetry, he did not necessarily strive for the more conventional balance that Mondrian achieved.
In Noland’s chevron painting entitled 17th Stage (1964), for example, the tip of the chevron is significantly angled to the left rather than ending in the center of the bottom edge of the painting. The viewer’s sense of imbalance seems to be part of Noland’s optical play.
Noland also availed himself of a wide range of expressive color in contrast with Mondrian’s strict limitation. Mondrian further constrained himself to horizontals and verticals while Noland experimented with curves, spheres, and diagonals. Although Noland’s paintings are categorized as “hard-edged”, their edges actually possess numerous irregularities on both a large and small scale.
For example, the splashing effect in the outermost ring of Noland’s painting Whirl is a departure from a true hard edge. More subtle but clearly evident irregularities are present in all of the edges of the chevron bands in 17th Stage. Even the more perfected edges of the circular bands in Noland’s highly controlled works such as Sunshine (1961) still contain perceptible irregularities. Noland’s search is apparently not for the stability and classical balance of Mondrian’s abstract works, or for the disturbing images of the Cubists, but for energetic and lively effects which are masterful in their own right.
Kathleen Karlsen, MA is a professional artist, a freelance writer and marketing consultant residing in Bozeman, Montana. Karlsen offers classes and workshops on symbolism, sacred art, healing art and the psychology of design. To learn more about color symbolism, visit www.livingartsoriginals.com/infocolorsymbolism.htmhttp://www.livingartsoriginals.com/infocolorsymbolism.htm
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