Hard-edge Painting
Started: 1959
Ended: Early 1970s
KEY ARTISTS
 | Karl Benjamin Quick View Further External Info  |
| Karl Benjamin |  |
| Karl Benjamin is an American abstract painter and was one of the four founders of the Los Angeles Abstract Classicists. Perhaps more so than any of his three 'California Hard-Edge' contemporaries, Benjamin's paintings exemplified the aura of "cool" in mid-century California. Further External Info | ||
 | Lorser Feitelson Quick View Further External Info |
| Lorser Feitelson | |
| Lorser Feitelson was an American artist based in California during the mid-twentieth century. He was a member of a small group of abstract painters who critic Jules Langsner dubbed "California hard-edge." With that, Feitelson became one of the first artists associated with hard-edge painting. Further External Info | ||
 | Frederick Hammersley Quick View Further External Info |
| Frederick Hammersley | |
| Frederick Hammersley was an American abstract painter and one of the four founders of the Los Angeles Abstract Classicists, a group of artists who in 1959 unveiled their "California Hard-Edge" paintings. Hammersley's work was noted for its sleek color and spatial relations of hard-edged, geometric shapes. Further External Info | ||
 | Ellsworth Kelly Quick View  Artist Page |
| Ellsworth Kelly | |
| Ellsworth Kelly is an American Color Field and Hard edge painter. Kelly got his start in the late 1950s with showings at the Betty Parsons Gallery and the Whitney Museum. His work often consists of shaped canvases, simple geometric shapes, and large panels of uniform color. Art Story: Ellsworth Kelly Artist Page | ||
 | Frank Stella Quick View Artist Page |
| Frank Stella | |
| Frank Stella is an American artist whose geometric paintings and shaped canvases underscore the idea of the painting as object. A major influence on Minimalism, his iconic works include nested black and white stripes and concentric, angular half-circles in bright colors. Art Story: Frank Stella Artist Page | ||
 | Kenneth Noland Quick View Artist Page |
| Kenneth Noland | |
| Kenneth Noland was an American painter who helped pioneer the Color-field painting movement in the 1960s. His most famous works consist of circular ripples of paint poured directly onto the canvas. Art Story: Kenneth Noland Artist Page | ||
"Abstract Classicist painting is hard-edged painting. Forms are finite, flat, rimmed by a hard, clean edge. These forms are not intended to evoke in the spectator any recollections of specific shapes he may have encountered in some other connection. They are autonomous shapes, sufficient unto themselves as shapes."
Summary of Hard-edge Painting
Hard-edge painting is a tendency in late 1950s and 1960s art that is closely related to Post-painterly abstraction and Color Field Painting. It describes an abstract style that combines the clear composition of geometric abstraction with the intense color and bold, unitary forms of Color Field Painting. Although it was first identified with Californian artists, today the phrase is used to describe one of the most distinctive tendencies in abstract painting throughout the United States in the 1960s.
Key Ideas
Beginnings:
In the late 1950s, the Californian art critic, poet and psychiatrist Jules Langsner began to observe an emerging trend in abstract art that stemmed from Color Field Painting, yet tended to employ clean lines and contrasting hues. He chose to highlight this by staging an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in 1959, which included artists Frederick Hammersley, Karl Benjamin, John McLaughlin and Lorser Feitelson. It was titled Four Abstract Classicists.
Important Art and Artists of Hard-edge Painting | |
 Artwork Images | Black Pillars (1957)Artist: Karl Benjamin Artwork description & Analysis: Considered one of Benjamin's signature paintings, Black Pillars has won new renown after becoming a centerpiece of the recent traveling exhibition Birth of the Cool, organized by the Orange County Museum of Art. Benjamin's use of somber blues, his sleek forms and shadow play are now considered emblematic of post-war American style. Although some of Benjamin's color forms in Black Pillars recall the form of old television screens, the artist was doing nothing more than playing with opposing colors and forms to create a visually engaging picture. Oil on canvas - Private collection |
 Artwork Images | Opposing #15 (1959)Artist: Frederick Hammersley Artwork description & Analysis: Hammersley's Opposing #15 contains the visual symmetry often associated with post-painterly abstraction and Color Field Painting, but it lacks any sort of color interaction or balance. Hammersley pitted contrasting colors (mainly primaries) against each other, along with basic geometric forms that seem to have no business interacting. The end result displays one of the defining characteristics of many hard-edge paintings, which was the presence of rich and saturated color, clean lines, and flat surface, and a disregard for relationships between the colors that comprise the painting. All this suggests the shift in interests that took place as Color Field Painting ceded to Post-painterly abstraction; preoccupation with the expressive power of color gave way to interest in optical phenomena. Oil on linen - Collection of Jayne and Mark Murrel, Newport Beach, CA |
 Artwork Images | Dichotomic Organization (1959)Artist: Lorser Feitelson Artwork description & Analysis: Feitelson's Dichotomic Organization could be called a hard-edged interpretation of a Clyfford Still painting. The sharp color forms and hot-vs.-cold themes recall Still's own brand of Color Field Painting, while Feitelson's sense of dimension all make this a very unique work in the catalog of hard-edge paintings of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Jules Langsner once referred to Feitelson's work as containing "nothing ambiguous or fuzzily subjective." In other words, Langsner perceived Feitelson to be an artist with a stunningly clear vision, which was to create captivating art without any indication of the artist's perspective. Oil on canvas - Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, Utah |
More Hard-edge Painting Artwork and Analysis:
Content compiled and written by Justin Wolf
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
" Movement Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Justin Wolf
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
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First published on 21 Jan 2012. Updated and modified regularly. 
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