Morris Louis
1912–1962
Influenced by the drip painting technique of Jackson Pollock, a group of American artists in the 1950s began to experiment with the effects of diluting and pouring synthetic paints onto unprimed canvas, allowing the paint to spread and bleed, and creating flat areas of color. Chief among them were Helen Frankenthaler in New York and Morris Louis in Washington, DC. Louis visited Frankenthaler’s studio in 1953, and after seeing her recent “stain” paintings he devoted himself to exploring the technique and expanding the style for the next nine years. Louis’s mature paintings are often divided into three series, each numbering over one hundred works, in which he experimented with different compositions: the broad, irregular swaths of often overlapping color of the Veils (1954, 1958– 59); the brightly colored, poured ribbons that uncoil over the bottom edges of the Unfurleds (1960–61); and the multicolor bands that overlap and extend horizontally or vertically across the Stripes (1961–62).
Addition II, one of the Veils, differs from earlier paintings in the series with its distinct separation of the broad plumes of color. Louis, like many of the Color Field painters, often left large areas of canvas blank, and the open space in the center of Addition II directs attention outward to the irregular clouds of blue, red, green, and black paint that emanate from the four edges. Critic and friend Clement Greenberg observed that Louis’s staining technique “conveys a sense not only of color as somehow disembodied, and therefore more purely optical, but also of color as a thing that opens and expands the picture plane.”
Introduction
Morris Louis Bernstein (November 28, 1912 – September 7, 1962), known professionally as Morris Louis, was an American painter. During the 1950s he became one of the earliest exponents of Color Field painting. While living in Washington, D.C., Louis, along with Kenneth Noland and other Washington painters, formed an art movement that is known today as the Washington Color School.
Wikidata identifier
Q685186
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed May 11, 2025.
Introduction
Morris Louis received his degree from the Maryland Institute of Fine and Applied Arts in Baltimore in 1933. He began by painting in a cubist style that he later abandoned in favor of post-painterly abstraction. In 1936, Louis moved to New York and befriended Leonard Bocour, who developed a special acrylic-resin Magna paint for him. Active in New York and Washington D.C., Louis is also considered one of the Washington color painters.
Country of birth
United States
Roles
Artist, painter
ULAN identifier
500012330
Names
Morris Louis, Maurice Bernstein, Morris Louis Bernstein, Morris Louis Bernstein (legally changed name in 1938)
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed May 11, 2025.
