Color Field Painting

My trip to Massachusetts was a lot of fun but tiring. I got a sore throat on the way home and by this morning it was killer. I'm feeling much better tonight, though! I hope you all had a good weekend, too.

Today, I thought I’d say something about color field painting. I plan to post about some color field painters this week.

Color field painting is a type of abstract expressionism that began in the U.S. in the 1950s. Color field artists did not paint recognizable objects. Like some other abstract artists you've read about, they were trying to paint emotion onto canvas. Color field painters also aimed to create more organized, rational, and ordered art. They did this by painting large canvases with solid, geometrical shapes of bright color.

There were, of course, color field painters who didn’t use geometrical shapes. There were also those who painted vibrant shapes but who, instead of filling them in with solid colors, used many colors to outline them. There are always exceptions to rules, especially in the art world. Once you’ve learned about some of these artists it will be clear to you what links them together under the style of color field painting.

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