Key decade: 1950s into '60s
terms: Color Field, "Post-Painterly" abst.

1. Greenberg's search for AbEx's successor:
   1. Helen Frankenthaler (b. US 1928), "a bridge between Pollock and what was possible"
   2. Morris Louis (US, 1912-1962)
   3. Kenneth Noland (US, b. 1924)
   4. Jules Olitski (b. Russia 1922)
2. Formalism and sculpture: Anthony Caro (UK, b. 1924)
3. Formalism's occlusions: Ellsworth Kelly (US, b. 1923)

Slide List

Frankenthaler Mountains and Sea October 1952
Frankenthaler Scene w/ Nude October 1952 (a.k.a. Personal Landscape)
Frankenthaler Landscape Nude 1952
Frankenthaler Arcadia 1962
Frankenthaler Orange Proscenium 1968
Louis Charred Journal: Firewritten 1951
Louis Tet 1958 (compares with Blue Veil on the website)
Louis Sigma 1960
Noland Song 1958
Noland Blue Veil 1963
Noland New Day 1967
Olitski Tin Lizzie Green 1964
Olitski Pink Alert 1966
Caro Sculpture 1961
Caro Red Splash 1966
Caro Prairie 1967
Kelly Sixty-Four Panels: colors for a large wall 1951
Kelly Green, Blue, Red 1964

Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952
Helen Frankenthaler, Landscape Nude, 1952

Frankenthaler painted both of these when she was closely involved with Clement Greenberg. One became her most famous painting, constructed by Morris Louis as "the bridge between Pollock and the possible." Which one was it, and why?

Morris Louis, Blue Veil, 1958
Kenneth Noland, Song, 1958
Jules Olitski, Pink Alert, 1966

"Post-Painterly Abstraction" was Greenberg's name for the movement stimulated by Frankenthaler's painting. Greenberg wanted precisely a "bland, Apollonian art" to reign in place of Abstract Expressionism's turbulent emotionalism. Clearly there are continuities with AbEx "Field" painting; indeed, one of the names for this kind of painting was "Color Field."

Anthony Caro, Sculpture, 1961

Certain sculptors became associated with Color Field painting, most notably the British direct-welded sculptor Anthony Caro.

Ellsworth Kelly, Sixty-Four panels: colors for a large wall, 1951

Kelly's painting would certainly seem to fit the "Post-Painterly Abstraction" mold, but he was viewed by Greenberg as ancillary to that development. In part it was his orientation to the chance methods and "silence" of John Cage.