Top 30 Color Field painters: Rothko, Newman and Frankenthaler

Before the grid

Why Color Field is a calm revolution

Color Field was born as an extension of abstract expressionism, but it shifts its center of gravity. The trace of the gesture recedes in favor of vast chromatic zones, absorbent surfaces, bands, sails, zips or light fields.

This Top 30 starts from the artists most directly associated with the movement, then includes similar figures: Washington Color School, post-painterly abstraction, hard-edge, lyrical abstraction and international legacies where color becomes space.

Method

How the 30 artists were selected

The selection favors painters associated with Color Field and chromatic fields, then direct extensions: soak-stain, Washington Color School, hard-edge, post-painterly abstraction and lyrical abstraction centered on color.

The link rule remains the same: artists who died in 1956 or before refer to an internal collection; artists who died after 1956, or who are still alive, refer to Wikipedia.

Choose an entry

Where to start?

For the historical core, start with Rothko, Newman, Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Noland and Still. For color released into space, look at Gilliam, Kelly, Stella, Thomas, Bush, Landfield and Poons.

To broaden the perspective, Pousette-Dart, Vicente, Fine, Gechtoff, Drexler, Brooks, Borduas, Soulages, Zao Wou-Ki and Nicolas de Staël show how the color field dialogues with gesture, light and matter.

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