Washington Color School facts for kids

The Washington Color School, also known as the Washington, D.C., Color School, was an art movement that began in the 1950s in Washington, D.C., United States. It was made up of artists who created a type of abstract art. This art movement started when society, art, and people were changing very fast. The main artists who started this movement were Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland. Four other artists also joined their first art show in 1965.

What is the Washington Color School?

The Washington Color School is a style of visual art. It focuses on something called color field painting. This type of art does not show real objects or people. Instead, artists used large, flat areas of color. They wanted to explore new ways to use paint.

These artists painted works that were mostly abstract. They were a big part of the larger color field art movement. The Washington Color School artists used colors in a very neat and planned way. They often used stripes, washes, or large areas of single colors on their canvases.

A special method they used was "soak staining." The artist would pour thin paint onto the canvas. They let the paint soak into the fabric over time. This created a stain on the canvas. You could not see any brush strokes or signs of how the paint was put on.

History of the Washington Color School

How did the movement start?

In 1954, an art critic named Clement Greenberg introduced Morris Louis to a painter named Helen Frankenthaler. She was already creating art that was like "color field painting." Her painting, Mountains and Sea (1952), greatly influenced Louis. It also inspired many other painters in Washington, D.C. They started to use Frankenthaler's method of staining raw canvas with color.

In 1960, Clement Greenberg wrote about Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland. He called them "color painters" in a magazine called Art International.

Important Art Places

Washington Workshop Center for the Arts

Around 1945, painter Leon Berkowitz, poet Ida Fox Berkowitz, and artist Helmut Kern [Wikidata] started the Washington Workshop Center. This center became a very important meeting place. It was also a gallery for the Washington Color School artists. These artists included Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Howard Mehring, Thomas Downing, and Gene Davis. Leon Berkowitz himself did not like the name "Washington Color School" for his own art.

Jefferson Place Gallery

Many Washington Color School artists showed their work at the Jefferson Place Gallery. This gallery was in Washington, D.C. Alice Denney first ran it in 1957. Later, Nesta Dorrance owned and directed it. Both the first group of Washington Color School painters and a second group showed their art here.

Key Exhibitions

Washington Color Painters (1965)

The Washington Color School began with a group of painters. They showed their art in an exhibit called Washington Color Painters. This show was at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art. It ran from June 25 to September 5, 1965. Gerald "Gerry" Nordland organized the exhibition.

The artists in this show were Gene Davis, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Howard Mehring, Thomas Downing, and Paul Reed. This exhibition later traveled to other places in the United States. It went to the Walker Art Center, for example. This show made Washington's art scene famous. It helped define the city's special art movement.

Eighteenth Area Exhibition (1965, 1967)

After their first big show, some artists joined new exhibitions. Davis, Mehring, and Reed were joined by Timothy Corkery, Willem de Looper, Sam Gilliam, and Jacob Kainen. They showed their art at The Corcoran Gallery of Art. This was for The Seventeenth Area Exhibition of Artists of Washington. It ran from November 12 to December 19, 1965.

The Eighteenth Area Exhibition also took place at The Corcoran. It was from November 18 to December 31, 1967. This show again featured artists like de Looper, Corkery, Downing, Gilliam, and Kainen.

Artists of the Washington Color School

First Generation Artists

The six artists who were part of the Washington Color Painters exhibition in 1965 are called the first generation.

Second Generation Artists

The group of artists grew larger. It became very important in the Washington, D.C., art world. This happened through the 1960s and into the 1970s.

The Washington Color School Today

In the spring and summer of 2007, art places in Washington, D.C., celebrated color field painting. They held exhibitions at galleries and museums. These shows featured works by artists from the Washington Color School.

In 2011, some art collectors in Washington started the Washington Color School Project. Their goal was to collect and share information. They wanted to tell the history of the color painters and abstract art in Washington. Even if some artists were not born in Washington, D.C., they showed their art together. They helped make Washington a new center for visual arts.