Morris Louis 'Veils' Paintings And The Color Field Movement

While not as famous as Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, or Mark Rothko, artist and painter Morris Louis was kndown to be instrumental in developing the Color Field movement, which is an abstract painting style that was commonplace during the 1940s and 1950s. The movement is largely described as large fields of solid and flat color stained into or spread across a canvas; thus, creating unbroken surface areas and picture planes that are flat. Such examples of Louis’ paintings in the Color Field style are in the ‘Veils’ series, which the artist painted during 1954 and continued from 1958 to 1959. This paper emphasizes on the techniques and materials used in the production of the ‘Veils’ paintings. Moreover, this paper also centers on how the techniques and materials in producing the Veils series are important in gaining the approval of well-known art critics Michael Fried and Clement Greenberg.

Analysis of Morris Louis’ ‘Veils’ Paintings …show more content…
‘Veils’ describe luminescent color layers that cascade down the canvases in veil-like compositions (Mnuchin, 2014). Along each composition’s edges, glimpses of solitary pigments show the individual elements that create the mysterious shadows and soft glows at play in the ‘Veils.’ Though subtle currents and billowing clouds may remind people of the natural phenomena present in the sky or sea, the ‘Veils’ imagery is clearly abstract and lacks external referents and tactility. Thus, viewing the ‘Veils’ paintings can be considered an entirely visual