Outline

Color Field painting is a style of abstract painting which developed mainly in the US from the latter half of the 1950s to the 1960s. By creating fields of color across the canvas, extensive and profuse pictures emerged.

 Featuring works from the Mirvish Collection, which is internationally renowned for its Color Field paintings, this is the first exhibition to be held in Japan with focus on nine artists involved in Color Field and introducing distinguished works dating from the 1960s onwards. These artists each explored the relationship between color and painting in their own way, and in that process, many of them attained painting techniques of their own. Using shaped canvases with irregular forms, staining the canvas with paint, spraying color on with a spray gun, etc.—these unfamiliar techniques opened up new horizons in painting.

The large canvases and the diverse ideas on color unfolded there continue to stimulate the viewer’s sensibility and imagination to the present day. As you walk through the gallery filled with the artists’ individual approaches toward colors embodied in these works, you will encounter the infinite potential of color and thus painting.

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Artists Featured in This Exhibition

Frank Stella ^{_{(b. 1936, USA)}}

After graduating from Princeton University in 1958, Stella undertook his Black Series, in which the entire canvas was covered in black stripes. These paintings were submitted to 16 Americans, an exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, where Stella was to attract considerable attention. From then on, he unfolded one after another new style such as his Dartmouth Paintings employing shaped canvases and the Irregular Polygons incorporating vivid colors in pursuit of potentials of painting. From the 1970s onwards, he has also been producing three-dimensional works and continues to work energetically to this day.

Kenneth Noland _{^{(1924–2010, USA)}}

Anthony Caro ^{_{(1924–2013, UK)}}

While studying traditional sculpture techniques at the Royal Academy Schools, Caro worked as Henry Moore’s assistant. During the 1950s, he produced figurative sculpture, but after a stay in the US in 1959, he switched styles significantly. He began to create sculptures to be placed on the floor, which were made by jointing steel and coloring it in vivid colors such as red, blue, or yellow. From 1966, he made Table Pieces to be placed on a table, and in the 1970s, he produced sculptures employing rusted steel sheets. His airy forms unidentifiable in conventional sculpture were highly acclaimed. In 1992, Caro won the Praemium Imperiale Award.

Jack Bush ^{_{(1909–1977, Canada)}}

Morris Louis ^{_{(1912–1962, USA)}}

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Louis studied at a local art school, after which, while doing his own paintings, he experienced many jobs such as participating in painting murals as part of the Public Works of Art Project. In the initial years, the subjects of his paintings were people and landscapes, and he also painted pictures suggestive of Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. From 1948, he used Magna, a soluble acrylic paint which was quick-drying and came out well even when thinned. Influenced by Helen Frankenthaler’s Mountains and Sea in 1953, from 1954, he created works employing the staining technique. Among them, the three series Veil, Unfurled, and Stripes are well-known.

Helen Frankenthaler ^{_{(1928–2011, USA)}}

Larry Poons ^{_{(b. 1937, USA)}}

Born in Tokyo, Poons originally studied musical composition. After seeing a solo exhibition of works by Barnett Newman, he decided to become not a musician but a painter and studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. During the 1960s, he was known for canvases painted in a single color, onto which small circles and ovals were painted. In 1965, his work was included in The Responsive Eye exhibition. In 1969, he became the youngest artist to take part in New York Painting and Sculpture, 1940–1970, which was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. From 1969 onwards, he changed his style significantly from the early years and worked on elephant skin paintings, which were created by applying one layer of acrylic paint on top of another with a bucket onto a canvas spread out on the floor, and throw paintings, in which the paint was thrown onto the canvas. He continues to work to this day.

Friedel Dzubas ^{_{(1915–1994, USA)}}

Jules Olitski ^{_{(1922–2007, USA)}}

Born in Russia, Olitski began employing the staining technique from 1960 and attracted attention as a Color Field painter. In 1964, he presented a color field painting covering the entire canvas in gentle gradation. The following year, in 1965, he devised a delicate mist-like expression using an industrial spray gun, which was sublimated into a style of his own. In 1969, he became the first living artist to have a solo exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. From 1970 onwards, he returned to using a paintbrush and created thickly painted abstract paintings with violent expressions. He pursued the effects of color and light in painting throughout his lifetime. In addition to paintings, he also presented large aluminum spray sculptures.

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Events

Guided Tours

Daily, 14:00－15:00
- Booking required on the day of your visit at the Museum’s reception desk.
 

Gallery Talks by the Curator

Saturday, April 9, 11:30-
Saturday, May 14, 11:30-
Saturday, June 11, 11:30-
Saturday, July 9, 11:30-
Saturday, August 13, 11:30-
- Prebooking required

Lecture

Kajiya Kenji
_{(Contemporary art history; Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)} 

Sunday, June 12, 13:30－15:00
- Prebooking required

Tea Room

Original Japanese sweets designed especially for the exhibition under the supervision of wagashi artist Sakamoto Shiho can be savored.

Annex Gallery

March-May: Display and pop-up store organized by the Museum Shop
July-August: Display of PIGMENT TOKYO pigments and summer vacation workshops