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Abstract Expressionism in the Collection

Two black bands span the height of this vertical canvas against a field of white mottled with shades of ivory, bone, and parchment in this abstract painting. A narrow, solid black stripe lines the left edge of the canvas, like the spine of a book. About a quarter of the way in from the right edge, black paint swirls and wafts like smoke on either side of a narrow white stripe the same color as the background. The artist signed and dated the painting in black paint in the lower right corner of the canvas: “Barnett Newman 1958.”
Barnett Newman, First Station, 1958, Magna on canvas, Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection, 1986.65.1
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Mark Rothko, Untitled (Seagram Mural), 1959, oil and mixed media on canvas, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1985.38.5
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Mark Rothko, Untitled (Seagram Mural), 1959, oil on canvas, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.43.167
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Thick black lines cut down and across a white background in this abstract, vertical painting. Long lines plunge down the composition along the right edge and near the left. A horizontal line connects the two, a little above the center of the canvas, creating an offset H-like form, shifted to our right. A shorter, diagonal line runs from the top edge, near the left leg of the H. It comes down just past the crossbeam of the H and crosses the width to make a second horizontal line. A few pointed, jagged strokes fill in the area between and around the horizontal lines of the H form. The leg near the lower right of the canvas is thicker and serrated along the inside edge. A wide, horizontal band nearly connects the bottom legs at the bottom of the canvas. Black flecks and drips splatter around the white background.
Franz Kline, Four Square, 1956, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Burton Tremaine, 1971.87.12
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Bold lines in saturated earthy brown, moss green, harvest yellow, raspberry red, topaz and royal blue slice across an eggshell-white background in this horizontal, abstract painting. Most of the brustrokes are horizontal but there are some diagonal and vertical lines. All are evenly spaced across much of the composition but are more sparce at the edges. Some of the paint drips like rain pouring down a windowpane, especially across the bottom. The artist signed the canvas near the lower right corner, “j. mitchell.”
Joan Mitchell, Piano mécanique, 1957, oil on canvas, Gift of Addie and Sidney Yates, 1996.142.1
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Scrawled and energetic lines and color are spaced across a scarlet-red background in this horizontal, abstract painting. Textured brushstrokes are visible throughout. From left to right across the top half of the composition are patches of smoke gray, traffic-cone orange, emerald green, and violet purple. An ultramarine and cobalt-blue patch is near the bottom left corner, and smudges of orange and vivid yellow are along the edge at the center and near the bottom right corner of the painting. Curving black lines slice and backtrack around the bottom right quadrant of the composition, and more black encloses or crosses some of the patches of color. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right corner, “Hartigan 58.”
Grace Hartigan, Essex and Hester (Red), 1958, oil on canvas, Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection, 1996.81.3
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Thickly painted, rectangular vertical and horizontal slabs in intense buttercup and mango yellow, shamrock and lime green, burnt orange, raspberry pink, and charcoal gray are layered in this nearly square, abstract composition. In the top half, shapes are smaller, closer together, and separated by strokes of moss green. In the bottom half, the shapes are larger and seem to float against a vivid orange background. Smaller swipes and dabs of cotton candy pink, plum purple, indigo blue, sea glass green, scarlet red, rust brown, and bright white are interspersed around the slabs. The artist signed and dated the painting in green paint in the lower right corner, “hans hofmann 57.”
Hans Hofmann, Autumn Gold, 1957, oil on canvas, Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection, 1996.81.4
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