From a press release:
Asheville Art Museum presents American Abstraction After 1950, Nov. 28–March 15
The Asheville Art Museum is pleased to present What You See Is What You See: American Abstraction After 1950, on view November 28, 2014 – March 15, 2015. This vivid and dynamic exhibition considers the phases of Color Field painting from the 1950s through the 1980s.
Beginning in the late 1950s, art critic Clement Greenberg noted a tendency toward all-over color — or Color Field — in the works of several of the First Generation Abstract Expressionists such as Rothko and Clyfford Still. Greenberg included Color Field painting as part of post-painterly abstraction, a movement away from the bold gestural brushstrokes of early Abstract Expressionism. Hans Hofmann was an Abstract Expressionist and noted teacher and is regarded as one of the first theorists of Color Field painting.
Two other artists who were influential in color theory and practice are Josef Albers and Ilya Bolotowsky. Both artists taught at Black Mountain College and studied there with artists such as Kenneth Noland. Helen Frankenthaler looked at Color Field painting of the 1940s and early 1950s and developed Stained Color Field painting. Where Stained Color Field painting reflects an evolution of Abstract Expressionism, there are at least two additional color field schools that can be viewed as a rebellion against the Abstract Expressionists — Hard Edged Abstraction and Optical Art.
The Museum is excited to tell a unique story of American Abstraction through these works from its Permanent Collection.
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