“Color: Stained, Brushed and Poured” brings together several artists whose enquiries into color theory and paint application revolutionized the course of abstraction in America.
In the 1940s and 50s there emerged a type of abstraction that differed from the gestural and aggressive style of Abstract Expressionism, one where color would become the subject. Inspired by European modernism, the early proponents were Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and Clifford Still, followed by Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland. Termed Color Field painting by the art critic and champion of American abstract painting, Clement Greenberg, it was defined and differentiated from Abstract Expressionism by an intense approach to color theory and a revolutionary application of paint.