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Digitized

by

the

Internet

Archive

in

2012

with

funding

from

Solomon

R.

Guggenheim

Museum

Library

and

Archives

.

t

Ad

Reinhardt

and

_Color

by

Margit Rowell

This projectissupported

by

a

grant

from

the National

Endowment

fortheArts in

Washington,

D.C.,

aFederal

Agency

Published byTheSolomonR.

Guggenheim

Foundation,

New

York,1980

ISBN: 0-89207-022-6

Library ofCongress Card CatalogueNumber:79-55693

The SolomonR.

Guggenheim

Foundation President PeterO.Lawson-Johnston

Trustees TheRightHonorableEarlCastleStewart,Joseph

W.

Donner,JohnHilson, Eugene

W.

Leake,

Wendy

McNeil, FrankR.Milliken, A.ChaunceyNewlin, LewisT.Preston,Mrs.Henry

Obre,SeymourSlive,AlbertE.Thiele,Michael F.Wettach, WilliamT.Ylvisaker TheodoreG.Dunker,Secretary,Treasurer

SolomonR.Guggenheim,Justin K.Thannhauser,Peggy

Guggenheim

Mr.andMrs.Stephen Simon HonoraryTrustees

inPerpetuity AdvisoryBoard

TheSolomonR.

Guggenheim

Museum

Director

Thomas

M. Messer

Staff HenryBerg, DeputyDirector

SusanL.Halper,ExecutiveAssistant;VanessaJalet, Director'sCoordinator

LouiseAverillSvendsen, SeniorCurator; Diane

Waldman,

CuratorofExhibitions;Margit

Rowell, Curator;AngelicaZanderRudenstine,Research Curator;LindaShearer, Assistant Curator; CarolFuerstein, Editor; VivianEndicottBarnett,CuratorialAssociate;

Mary

Joan

Hall, Librarian;

Ward

Jackson, Archivist; PhilipVerre,CuratorialCoordinator;Susan B.

Hirschfeld,Curatorial Assistant;LisaDennisonTabak,ExhibitionAssistant

JoanM.Lukach,ResearchFellow,TheHillaRebayFoundation

Mimi

Poser,Public Affairs Officer;MiriamEmden,

Membership

DepartmentHead Nancy McDermott, DevelopmentOfficer;Carolyn Porcelli,DevelopmentAssociate

AgnesR.Connolly,Auditor; MarionKahan, BusinessAssistant; RosemaryFaella, Restaurant

Manager;CharlesHovland,Sales Supervisor; Darrie

Hammer,

Katherine

W.

Briggs,

Information

OrrinH.Riley,Conservator;

Dana

L.Cranmer, ConservationAssistant; ElizabethM. Funghini,AssociateRegistrar; Jack Coyle, Assistant Registrar; Saul Fuerstein, Preparator; Scott A.Wixon,OperationsSupervisor;RobertE.Mates,Photographer;

Mary

Donlon, AssociatePhotographer; ElizabethS.Celotto,PhotographyCoordinator

DavidA. Sutter, BuildingSuperintendent;

Guy

Fletcher,Jr.,AssistantBuilding

Superintendent; CharlesF.Banach,Head Guard

Life

Members

Eleanor,CountessCastleStewart,Mr.andMrs.WernerDannheisser,Mr.and Mrs.William

C.Edwards,Jr.,Mr.andMrs.

Andrew

P.Fuller,Mrs. BernardF.Gimbel, Mr.and Mrs.Peter

O. Lawson-Johnston, Mrs.Samuel I. Rosenman,Mrs.S.H.Scheuer,Mrs.HildeThannhauser

Corporate Patrons Alcoa Foundation,Atlantic RichfieldFoundation,Exxon Corporation,MobilCorporation

Lenders

to

the

Exhibition

Abrams

FamilyCollection

RichardBrownBaker

Mr.andMrs. CharlesH.Carpenter,Jr.

Mr.andMrs. LeeV.Eastman

LillianH.Florsheim

GilmanPaper Co.

MillyandArnoldGlimcher

Dr.William Greenspon,

New

York

Mr.andMrs.BenHeller

Mr.andMrs.Gilbert H. Kinney,Washington, D.C.

Sydney andFrances Lewis

OldNational Bancorporation, Spokane,Washington

BettyParsons

JessePhilips,Dayton,Ohio Estate of

Ad

Reinhardt

Frederick

Weisman Company,

CenturyCity, California

Albright-KnoxArt Gallery, Buffalo

The DaytonArtInstitute

TheMetropolitan

Museum

ofArt,

New

York MilwaukeeArtCenter

The

Museum

of

Modern

Art,

New

York

YaleUniversityArt Gallery,

New

Haven

MarlboroughGallery,Inc.,

New

York ThePaceGallery,

New

York

Preface

and

acknowledgements

If there is

one

instance in

which

art defies discussion, it is

Ad

Reinhardt's art. If

there is

one

instance in

which

color defies analysis, it is in

Ad

Reinhardt's color

(or non-color) paintings. Reinhardt's late paintings are an art-as-art experience.

They do

notlend themselvesto verbalization,onlytotheact of seeing. Thisis

what

Reinhardt

wanted.

For these reasons, the present exhibition

Ad

Reinhardt

and

Color, is not

ac-companied

by a text defining

what

the viewer will experience or see.

Not

only

would

such an essay be antithetical to theartist's intentions, but it

might

subvert our true understanding of the art. For

once

the range oftones, values, hues

and

"non-colors" inthesepaintingshas

been

named,

we

are

no

closertounderstanding the specific experience they provide.

The

essence of that experience lies in the contradictions

and

ambiguities of Reinhardt's color,

which cannot

be explained.

Many

critics have seen

and

written

about

the experienceof Reinhardt's paintings.

Sincethe possibilitiesofinterpretation are limited(with this Reinhardt

would

have concurred),it

does

not

seem

useful torepeatthisprocesshere.

Therefore, the following essay presents a perspective

on

Reinhardt's art,

in-spired by the study

and

preparation of this exhibition, butis not solely

concerned

with the

problem

of color. This study has helped the author clarify Reinhardt's

equivocal position inthe contextofrecent

American

painting,

and

it is

hoped

that

it

may

in this respect be useful to the viewer, independently of the pure art

ex-perience of the paintings themselves.

The

central thesis is that Reinhardt

was

a classical painter repeating a cycle of a classical tradition

comparable

in its

de-velopment

tothatof

Mondrian,

althoughsituated inadifferenttime. In Reinhardt's

final phase, he

went

"beyond

Mondrian"

(his

own

words),

and

painted "the last

paintings

anyone

can paint." But true to the structure ofcircular time,

which

was

one

of Reinhardt's

most fundamental

principles, the

end

of

one

cycle

marks

the beginningof the next.

So

that paradoxically, Reinhardt, an artist nourished by the art

and

ideals of the 1940s,

would

inspire the art ofthe 1970s, and, in this sense,

never

belonged

tohis

own

time.

I

am

grateful to the

many

collectors

and

institutions for generously parting with

these fragile, timeless paintings; to the artist's friends

who

were

interviewed: Priscilla Colt, Sidney Geist, Harry Holtzman, Martin James, Ibram

Lassaw and

UlfertWilke; to Pierre Levai

and

Arnold

Glimcher

ofthe

Marlborough

Gallery

and

The

PaceGallery respectively, forhelping

me

see, study

and

obtainworks.

I

am,

furthermore, deeply indebted to Lucy Lippard

and

Barbara Rose.

To

Lucy

Lippard for graciously allowing

me

to read the manuscript for her

forthcoming

monograph,

thus providing

me

witha clearperspective

and

acoherent

background

forthe

development

of

my own

ideas.

To

Barbara

Rose

forgiving

me

all the notes

and

documents

(including unpublished Reinhardt manuscripts) she used in

prepar-ing Reinhardt's selected writings, Art-as-Art; these proved an extraordinary

and

invaluable

working

tool.

I

would

liketothank the

members

ofthe

Museum

staff

who

have

worked

on

this

exhibition,

and

in particular

my

assistant Philip Verre forhis collaboration

on

this

project.

Finally, I

would

liketoexpress

my

thanks to Rita Reinhardt,

whose

unfailing

and

enthusiasticsupportofthis project

on

all levels helped bring ittofruition. M.R.

Ad

Reinhardt:

Style as

Recurrence

Margit Rowell

1.GeorgeKubler,TheSpaceofTime,3rd

ed.,

New

Haven and London,1965,p.87.

ReinhardtreviewedKubler'sbookinArt News,vol.64,January1966, pp.19,61-62

I

Ad

Reinhardt's

tongue

in

cheek

statement that he

went

"beyond Mondrian"

is

rarely taken at face value. In fact, unlike a

number

of abstract

American

artists

whose

debt

to

Mondrian

is clear, Reinhardt's oeuvreis not usuallyconsidered in a

Neo-Plastic or post Neo-Plastic context. Quite to the contrary, he is generally

grouped

with his

more

expressionist contemporaries (Pollock

and

de

Kooning, Motherwell, Rothko,

Newman

and

Still), within

whose

ranks, during his lifetime

and

after, hehas occupied an uneasy

and

ambivalent position.

Despite Reinhardt's

extreme

lucidity, it is doubtful that he could have

had

the necessary perspective to understand the

profound

truth of his assertion. At a superficial level,

Mondrian and

Reinhardt held

comparable

positions in relation to theirrespectiveartistic milieux; thefirstreaching maturityintheageof Surrealism,

the

second

during the reign ofAbstract Expressionism. But

more

importantly,

one

might

venturethat these

two

men

were

cast in the

same

mold.

From

their

back-grounds

(Protestant) to their spiritual

and

philosophical affinities (in both Eastern

and

Western

thought); intheiridealism

which

became

increasingly dogmatic; even

in their pictorial evolutions,these

two

artiststraveled parallel paths.

Reinhardt

would

probably have

been

sympatheticto the hypothesisof a parallel artistic destiny. Because he

understood

history not as progress in lineartime, but

as a process of recurring cycles. Art history for Reinhardt

was

not a

sequence

of

breaks with tradition but an ever-evolving continuity. Thus, he believed that in

different places

and

times

problems

may

recur; but, since previous conditions are

never duplicated exactly, solutions will differ.

On

the basis of this

fundamental

principle, Reinhardt aspired

toward

an ahistorical art, an art outside the course

of

Western

chronological time,

immune

to considerations of past-present-future.

He

disavowed

the biographical

and

historical dating

methods advocated

in

art-history classrooms. Closer to Henri Focillon

and

his

American

disciple

George

Kubler

(whom

Reinhardt admired), he preferred "form-classes," morphological classifications,

independent

of time or place. Kubler, for example, in The

Space

of Time,

which

Reinhardt reviewed for Art

News,

related

"The

anonymous

mural

painters of

Herculaneum and

Boscoreale. . . with thoseof theseventeenth century

and

with

Cezanne

assuccessivestagesseparated byirregularintervalsina millenary

studyofthe luminous structure of landscape.. . .

'"

_According

to Kubler, in regard

to the formal

and

structural issues they

sought

to clarify, these historically un-related groups or individuals have

more

in

common

with

one

another than with

their contemporaries. Similarly,

one might

say that, despite the interval of time

which

separated Reinhardt

and

Mondrian and imposed

disparate conditions

and

circumstances

on

their productive lives, the pictorial issues

which

preoccupied bothartists

were

analogous.

Of

course, for Reinhardt, painting in

New

York

between 1940 and

1967, the

technical possibilities, the theoretical

framework and

theformal alternatives

were

broader than thoseavailable to his

Dutch

counterpart. Yet Reinhardt's work, even

after close examination, proves difficult to situate within an historical

moment.

In

terms of image, format

and

conception, the

mature

canvases are virtually un-datable.

They

are as pure

and

classical as any early twentieth-century

European

avant-garde painting.

They

show

few

stylistic parallels with simultaneous

pro-duction ofthe fifties

and

sixties in America.

They

are as "post-modernist" as

any

art of the seventies. Even should

we

insist—for reasons of scale or

on

technical

grounds—

that they

must be

situated after Malevich

and

Mondrian,

this merely

attributes to

them

a position in a sequence, not a specific place in an absolute chronology. For

Mondrian's

and

Malevich's art is as ahistorical as Reinhardt's.

1

Mondrian

Composition2.1922

Oiloncanvas,

21%

x21 Va" (55.7x53.4cm.)

CollectionTheSolomonR.

Guggenheim

Museum,

New

York

Reinhardt

AbstractPainting, Blue.1953

Oiloncanvas,20x16" (50.8x40.7cm.)

CollectionMr.andMrs.Paul M.Hirschland,

New

York

It

seems

clear that cycles recur in the history ofculture just as they

do

in the

history of events.

And

many

ofour greatest artists defy categorizing into precise periods. Intruth,the

number

of alternatives inartor history arefew. Yet, as

George

Kubler suggested, this "finite

world

of limited possibilities [is] still largely

un-explored."2

This

was

Reinhardt'ssenseof things: that thepossibilitiesofthe

paint-ing

medium

were

restricted, but

much

remained

to be explored.

When

he

spoke

of

going

"beyond" Mondrian,

he

meant

that he

would

address himself to the

same

aesthetic

problems

hispredecessor

had

confronted,

problems

which

were

still

open

and

active. In

doing

so, heat

once

accepted

and

challenged thelimits of the paint-ingtradition.

2. Ibid., p.126

II.

Mondrian's

name

appears intermittently

throughout

Reinhardt's notes

and

writ-ings, the only clue to his interest

we

have today. Friends

and

relatives tend to

be

inconsistent in their recollections.

Some

assert that they

do

not

remember

ever hearing Reinhardt speakof

Mondrian. Others

recall onlya

vague

reference in

pass-ing. Even

when

Mondrian

was

mentioned, the connotations

were

often

ambiguous:

3.Lectureat

Skowhegan

Schoolof Painting andSculpture,1967

4. Inparticular, PriscillaColt has recently

confirmed Mondrian's importanceto

Reinhardtinthe1940s, recalling that

ononeoccasionhe hadakeyto

Mondrian'sstudioand tookher there "asthoughitwereasanctuary."

5. Roughdraft forarticleforwhichthefinal

draftispublishedinBarbaraRose,ed.,Art

as Art:TheSelected Writingsof

Ad

Reinhardt,

New

York, 1975, pp.173-177.

Thefirstdraftwas communicatedto the

authorby Rose

6.Rose, pp.173-177

7.Ibid.,pp.176-177

John

Berger's book, Success

and

Failure of Picasso, he stated in a lecture, "There could neverbea

book

titled 'Success

and

FailureofMondrian.'"3

This lack of proselytizing

would seem

toconfirm theprivate natureof Reinhardt's

esteem

for

Mondrian.

In the 1940s in

New

York Mondrian's importance

to artists

was

profound,

and

sources close to Reinhardtconfirm that hefelt

Mondrian

to be

one

ofthe

few

artistswith

whom

hehad todeal.

Although

he

admired

Matisse

and

Picasso,

Mondrian

was

the challenge.

And

Reinhardt

wanted

to get rid of a lot

that

Mondrian

did not getrid of.4

Mondrian's

presence

was

felt in

New

York

long before heactually arrived in the

United States in

October

of1940. His paintings

were

known

in

magazine

illustra-tions,

and

from

the early 1930s could

be

seen atthe

Museum

of LivingArt.

Some

were

shown

inthe

1926

exhibition ofthe Societe

Anonyme

in Brooklyn; others in

Alfred Barr's

Cubism

and

Abstract Artat

The

Museum

of

Modern

Art in 1936. Carl

Holty

and

Harry

Holtzman

knew

Mondrian

in Paris in the early 1930s.

Upon

their

return to

New

York

they

worked

to

found

the

American

AbstractArtists, a

group

of painters

and

sculptors

who

banded

togetherto

defend

the cause of abstraction

in a milieu

which

was

a priori unreceptive to it. Their guiding principle

was

ra-tionalism in art;

and Mondrian,

both as theorist

and

artist,

was

their

major

source

of inspiration.

Reinhardt studied with Holty at the

American

Artists' School in 1936, the year the

AAA

was

founded. In

1937

he

became

one

of the group's

youngest

members

and began

exhibitingwith

them.

His early

works

are representative of the peculiar

brand of

American

abstraction then evolving in

New

York,

and

show

the disparate influences of

Mondrian,

Miro, Helion, Stuart Davis

and

Holty. Reinhardt's sparse

writings of this time are

more

monolithic, revealing overtonesof Neoplatonic

and

Neo-Plasticthought.

In

1942

or

1943

Reinhardt

wrote

a text for

The

New

Masses

in

which

he referred to

Mondrian's

exhibition at the ValentineGalleries

and

asked

whether

art should have social valueor be considered merely a "divertissement intended for

pleasur-able entertainment." Reinhardt's initial draft of this article5 reflects

some

un-certainty

about

how

moral, social or political concerns are expressed through

abstraction,

how

exactlyart

and

lifecan beintegrated

without

recourseto illustra-tivefiguration.Yetinthe

second

and

final draft, titled

"The

FineArtist

and

the

War

Effort,"6

Reinhardtis certainthat

Mondrian's

art isthe

exemplary

solution:

Considertherecent

Mondrian

exhibition. Thesepaintings,

sensuous

and

concrete manifestationsofacertainkindofthinking

and

understanding

which pretended

to

be

architecture

and

sculpturetoo,

and

conceivably biology

and

engineering

(biotechnics,psycho-physics),etc.,

demanded

intheirlimited

and

concentrated areadirect, first-handexperienceforitsappreciation forifanything

"looked"

what

it"did",hereitwas.

The

intellectual

and

emotional

content

was

in

precisely

what

thelines,colors,

and

spacestold,

and

notinanythingelse,(the

form

and

content

being

one).

.. .ina socialstructure

which

permittedtheartistonlyan

independent

and

selfishrelationtoart,this

work

claimsto

have

been

the

most

objective

approach

possible—therecognitionofthelimitationsofthe

medium

and

the

development

ofindividual sensibilityto lines, colors,spaces,inthisinstance, apreferencefor thehorizontal

and

verticallinesasthestronger,

and

forthe

primary

colors,asthe

most

dynamic

Buttheconcreteresult,notthephilosophicalpretension,

does

thetrick.

What

greater challengetoday,(insubjective

and two

dimensions)to

disorder

and

insensitivity;

what

greater

propaganda

forintegration,thanthis emotionallyintense,dramaticdivision ofspace?7

Mondrian

Evolution(detail), ca.1911

Oiloncanvas, three panels:70Vs x33Va"

(178x84.1 cm.);72'/2 x3AVi"(184.1

x87cm);

70'/a x33Va" (178x84.1cm.)

BequestofMr.S.B.SlijpertoHaags

Gemeentemuseum,

TheHague

Reinhardt No.30. 1938

Oiloncanvas,40Vj xA2Vi"(102.3x108 cm.)

CollectionWhitney

Museum

ofAmericanArt,

New

York,

PromisedGift ofMrs.

Ad

Reinhardt

In the Marxist-oriented intellectual circles ofthe 1930s in America, politics

and

art

were

inseparably linked. Yet by the 1940s, artists divorced all political content

from

their work. Reinhardt identified

more

closely with the idealism of the

AAA

than with his

contemporaries

in the

New

York

School.

When

he

abandoned

the Platonic principle ofart as a reflection of universal laws, even as a reflection of a

social order (onebasis of

Mondrian's

and

the

AAA's

aesthetic), he did notseek to rationalize his decision through aesthetic metaphysics of transcendence, or the "sublime,"orevenjustifyitasan individual existential act. His ideologyof "art-as-art"

would

be

more

absolute

and

unequivocal.

And

in taking this position he not only

went

beyond Mondrian,

but

beyond

theartists ofhis

own

generationto

fore-shadow

theartofthe 1970s.

8.Kubler,p.64

Inourterms,each inventionisa

new

serialposition. . . . The productsof prior

positions

become

obsolete or unfashionable. Yetprior positions arepartofthe invention,

because

toattainthe

new

positiontheinventor

must

reassembleits

components

by an

intuitiveinsighttranscendingtheprecedingpositionsinthe

sequence.

Of

itsusersorbeneficiariesthe

new

position also

demands some

familiaritywithpriorpositionsinorderthatthey

may

discover the

working

Mondrian

Nude.Winter1911-12

Oiloncanvas,551

A

x385_/8"_{(140x98 cm.)}

BequestofMr.S. B.Slijperto Haags

Gemeentemuseum,

The Hague

Reinhardt

DarkSymbol. 1941

Oilon masonite, 16x20" (40.7x50.8 cm.; PrivateCollection

If

we

refer

once

again to Kubler's central theoryin

The

Shape

ofTime,

we

see that

inorderto

go

beyond

a certain evolutionary point, theartist

must

first understand

the

mechanisms

of the

phenomenon

he seeks to surpass,

which

presupposes in

many

cases a conscious or unconscious retracing of earlier stages. Reinhardt's

pictorial evolution is striking in its retracing of the

sequence

of solutions

which

led

Mondrian

to his

mature

Neo-Plastic idiom. It is

worth

reiterating that

ap-proximately twenty-fiveyearsseparated the careers ofthese

two

artists

and

there

is

no

evidence ofadirect influence ofthe older

man

upon

the younger. Yet in

ad-dressing himself to the

same

aesthetic issues, Reinhardt

would

pass through the

same

phases

toward

the

development

of his

own

mature

style.

Forour purposes,

Mondrian's

evolution

between 1910 and 1944

may

be described

in the following

manner.

The

paintings of

1910-11

show

flat planes of saturated

and

contrasting colors, closed contours

and

definite although minimal

figure-ground

illusionism. In 1911-12, with the artist's

growing awareness

of French

Cubism,

the figures' contours break

open and

fuse with the

ground

in a con-tinuous

heavy

linear grid, suppressing the duality ofclosed

form

and

open

space.

Colorsare

darkened and

unified

toward

the

same

end. In

1912-13

the grid lines are

abbreviated to short strokes linked ina rhythmic,organic filigree pattern

on

aflat,

muted

and

almost

monochrome

field.

Thus

Mondrian

dissolves his discrete

forms

into a dematerialized field of energy. In 1913, the artist's attention shifts

from

Mondrian

CompositionVII. 1913

Oiloncanvas, 41Va x443

A"(104.4x113.6 cm.)

CollectionThe SolomonR.

Guggenheim Museum,

New

York

Reinhardt No.22.1948

Oiloncanvas,50x20" (127x50.8 cm.) CollectionThe

Museum

of

Modern

Art,

New

Mondrian

CompositionNo.8.1914

Oiloncanvas,37Va x

21%"

(94.4x55.6cm.)

CollectionTheSolomonR.

Guggenheim Museum,

New

York Reinhardt

Untitled. 1948-49

Oiloncanvas, 51x21"(130x53.5cm.)

form): the short strokes are joined at right angles,

and

the surface is

once

more

articulatedbya rigorous grid structure.Color

reappears—

transparenttonesof light

blues

and pinks— and

is placed tosuggestafilling inof planes.

Most

ofthe formats

ofthe

1914

paintings aredeterminedlyvertical, inspired bythe

model

ofthe build-ingfacades.

In

Composition 1916

the grid breaks up,

and

the colored planes

seem

released

and appear

to float,

announcing

not onlythe "plus-and-minus" series but the

now

contourless free-floating planes of a

contemporaneous group

of

1916-17

works. Color(pink-reds,

mustard

yellows, off-blues) assertsitself

more

powerfully. Aftera

transitional

phase

in

which

black

and

graygrid patterns

were

explored, in

1920-21

Mondrian

arrived at his

mature

Neo-Plastic style, characterized

by

rhythmically

articulated linear structure

and

subtly balanced color planes.

The

reduced

and

ordered chromatic

and

spatial equivalences create a unified two-dimensional sur-face.

The

visible

brushwork

produces

a vibrating luminosity.

The

formats are

square orallude to the square.

Reinhardt's

development between 1938 and 1966

reveals so

many

similarities

to

Mondrian's

evolution that it is useful to

examine

it in the present context. Reinhardt's early paintings of

1938

to

1940

consist of closed

shapes—

either or-ganic or

geometric—

of saturated

and

contrasting hues which, even

though

flat-tened, exist

on

a clearly defined ground. By

1943

these

forms have been

loosened

and fragmented

intoa gestural calligraphy

combined

with spots of

darkened

color that integrate figure

and

ground.

The

"Persian rug" series of

1947

to

1949

shows

more

uniform patterns of smaller, lightergestural strokes

on muted, almost

mono-chrome

but

luminous

fields.

And

significantly, asthe artist pulverizes hisforms, he

adopts a

narrow

vertical format.

A

further analogy to

Mondrian's

practices in

1912-13

is seen in Reinhardt's dissolution of the

image around

the edges,

em-phasizing the

dynamism

and

weightlessness of the

disembodied

surface activity.

These

paintingspartakeof

what

Philip Pavia

would

call "Chinese

Cubism,"

describ-ing

them

as follows:

"The

non-monolithic overall plane of a Chinese painting has

pocketsof space,contradictory tothe overall light; a sort ofChinese

Cubism,

be-causeofthe

broken

duality oflight

and

space."'

In Reinhardt'spaintings of

1948

to

1950

thecalligraphy

becomes

more

imposing, regular, architectonic,

and

the formats

more

consistently vertical, a progression

comparable

to

Mondrian's

evolution

towards

the Parisfacades.

Some

canvases are

reduced to black

and

white

or bichromatic calligraphies, evoking

Mondrian's

smaller scale paintings.

And

simultaneously, again like

Mondrian,

Reinhardt

began

experimenting with

autonomous

color planes freed

from

contour,

some

floating,

some

overlapping,

some

adjusted inatightlyinterlocked pattern.

It

was

duringthis periodthat Reinhardt's

drawing and

painting fused.

The

broad gestures or

disembodied

floating squares

and

rectangles in the

works

of

1948

to

1950,

sometimes

closely knit,

sometimes

open

or apart,

were

at

once

stroke

and

plane.

They

were

also value, as the artist

compressed

his palette

toward

a single key.

Here

Reinhardt

began

to intuit

what

would

be his personal solution. Yet even

the unfoldingof his next

phase

runs parallel to

Mondrian's

development.

In

1950

Reinhardt executed a series of "dark paintings," using black as the diapason to

which

he tuned a low-pitched chromatic scale.

For Reinhardt, as for

Mondrian,

the penultimate

experiment

with non-color

in-cited a return to vibrant primary hues. But

Mondrian

combined

the primaries

withina singlecomposition, while Reinhardtrestricted himself in each painting to

chromatic variations

on

a single hue.

The

return to limited color

brought

with it

9. PhilipPavia,"The ProblemastheSubject- an increased

and

explicit attention to light.

Mondrian

trapped light

on

his sur-matter," His, no.1,Spring1958,p.4 face through the textural fabric of his brushwork.

However,

texture

and

brush-nw

Mondrian

Composition1916.1916

Oilon canvas with

wood

stripnailed to bottomedge, 467sx295

/8"(119x75.1 cm.)

CollectionTheSolomonR.

Guggenheim Museum,

New

York

;'i "zir i

|J-•'ht-.l+t+l-f-i.

!.

4-ll'

J

_i-'

.'•i

!

7

l

i|<

,

.L

l

7-'

, . ,

i<-'

Mondrian

CompositioninLines(BlackandWhite).1916-17

Oiloncanvas,42'/2x42'/2"(108x108 cm.)

CollectionRijksmuseum Kroller-Muller,Otterlo, The Netherlands

Reinhardt

Untitled.1950

Oiloncanvas,

40x36"

(101.6x91.5 cm.)

Mondrian

CompositionwithColor Planes No.3.ca.1917

Oiloncanvas,

18%

x24" (48x61cm.)

CollectionHaags

Gemeentemuseum,

TheHague

Reinhardt

AbstractPainting—Grey. 1950

Oiloncanvas,30x40"(76.2x101.6cm.)

CollectionTheMetropolitan

Museum

ofArt,

New

York, Gift ofHenryGeldzahler,1976

-L>

F

Mondrian

Compositionin

Diamond

Shape. 1918-19

Oiloncanvas,23Vj x231_/2°

(59.7x59.7cm.)

CollectionRijksmuseum Kroller-Muller, Otterlo,TheNetherlands

10.Letter to

Sam

Hunter,

Summer

1966. RoughdraftcommunicatedbyRose

11.Lecture at

New

YorkUniversity, Institute ofFine Arts, after 1947.

Communicated

byRose

12. Ibid., p.4

13. Notes,1965.Published byHarris

Rosen-steinin"BlackPastures,"ArtNews, vol. 65,

November

1966,p.34.Reprinted

(with errors)in Rose,p.10

14.Kubler, pp.55-56

stroke carried connotations of the "handwriting" of Abstract Expressionism for Reinhardt.

Thus

he thinned his paint radically,

superimposing

layer

upon

layer of

color, until not a trace of

hand

or brush remained. Still, an incandescent

glow

emerges from

the depths of the resulting color haze:

"Not

colored light," as

Reinhardt

wrote

in

1966

to

Sam

Hunter, "butcolor that gives off light."10

Itis doubtful that Reinhardt

had

an intimate

knowledge

of

Mondrian's

develop-ment. Yet, as

we

can see, his

own

progression

shows

visual

and

probably con-ceptual parallels to Mondrian's. Reinhardt's belief in "Style as recurrence"

went

backat leasttothe late 1940s

when

he

gave

a lecture in

New

York on "The

Spiral

Form

in

Modern

Architecture."" In reference to "dialectical theories (Engels,

Marx, Lenin)," he

quoted

(without a footnote):

"The

idea of

development

. . .that

seemingly repeats the stages already passed, but repeats

them

otherwise,

on

a

higherbasis ('negation of negation')a

development,

sotospeak,in spirals, notina straightline. . . ,"

12

Reinhardt definedhis

own

spiral

development

inthefollowing terms:

FivestagesofReinhardt's TimelessStylisticArt-Historical Cycle:

a.Late-classical-manneristpost-cubist

geometric

abstractionsofthelate thirties

b. _{Rococo-semi-surrealist fragmentation}

_and

_"all-over"

baroque-geometric-expressionistpatternsof the earlyforties

c. _{Archaic color-brick-brushwork Impressionism}

_and

_Black

_and

_white

constructivist calligraphies of thelate forties

d. Early-classical hieraticalred,blue,black

monochrome

square-cross-beam

symmetries

ofthe earlyfifties

e. Classicblack-square uniformfive-foot timeless trisectedevanescencesof the early sixties"

Whereas

conventional art historians usually chart a linear stylistic progression

from

the archaic to the classic to the

Rococo

(or

from

the tentative to the

re-solved to the

decadent

style), Reinhardt

chose

to plot a circular course for

him-self, positioning his late

(Rococo

or decadent) style prior to the middle classical

period.

This

was

neitherwhollyironic norarbitrary

on

the artist's part, noris itrelevant solely to his

own

concept

of circular as

opposed

to linear time.

Once

again

we

must

refer to Kubler's discussion of "form-classes"

and

certain distinctions

be-tween

"early"

and

"late" solutionswithina singleclass:

Early solutions(promorphic)are technicallysimple. . . expressivelyclear.Late

solutions

(neomorphic)

are. . . difficult, intricate. . .

and

animated.Early

solutions are integralinrelation tothe

problem

theyresolve. Late

ones

are partialinbeing

addressed

more

tothe details offunctionorexpression thanto thetotalityofthe

same

problem. . . . But these determinations

depend

upon

definingthepertinentform-class, forotherwisethe visualpropertiesoflate

solutionsin

one

class

may

deceptively

resemble

thoseof early solutionsin anotherclass. Late

and

early areperforcerelativetoadefinedstartingpointu

Reinhardt

was

surely referring distantly

and

loosely to Kubler's classifications

when

he

spoke

of the relative "ages" or stylistic classifications in his

own

pictorial

evolution: his earliest

work

(in a post-Cubist style) is indeed

"late-Classical-mannerist" if

compared

to classic

Cubism.

In identifying his last paintings as "earlyclassical," he

was

presumably

anticipating a

new

generation of "classical" paintersstill toemerge.

Theartistwith IrisClert attheopeningofhisexhibition

atGalerieIrisClert, Paris,June 1963

15. Rose, pp.82-83.Firstpublishedas

"Auto-critiquede Reinhardt,"Iris-Time,June

10,1963 (newsletterof GalerieIrisClert, Paris,on occasionofReinhardt's exhibition there)

IV.

A

square(neutral,shapeless) canvas,fivefeetwide,five feethigh, ashighasa

man,

as

wide

as a

man's

outstretched

arms

(notlarge, notsmall,sizeless),

trisected(nocomposition),

one

horizontal

form

negating

one

vertical

form

(formless,

no

top,

no bottom,

directionless),three

(more

orless) darkflightless) non-contrasting(colorless)colors,

brushwork brushed

to

remove

brushwork,

a matte,flat,free-handpaintedsurface(glossless,textureless, non-linear,

no

hard edge,

no

softedge)

which does

notreflectits

surroundings—

apure, abstract,

non-objective,timeless, spaceless, changeless,relationless,disinterested

painting—

an objectthatisself-conscious(nounconsciousness)ideal, transcendent,

aware

ofnothing

but

Art(absolutely

no

anti-art).'5

Reinhardt's description of his black or "ultimate" paintings

measures

the dis-tance hetraveled

"beyond" Mondrian. Without engaging

in a detailed analysis of

this text

(much

of

which

has

been touched

upon

before, or will be later), let us discuss briefly the statements

about format

and composition

before

approaching

the issue ofcolor.

To

begin with, the five-footsquare is physically largerthan

any

of

Mondrian's

formats.

Although

it is generally agreed that the presence of

Mondrian's

paintings extends far

beyond

the limits ofthe frame, technically they

are still easel pictures. Reinhardt's

chosen format

was

significant within his

own

or

any

other—

Eastern or

Western—

historical context. In the 1950s in

New

York, a

five-footsquare painting

was

definitelyan

anomaly.

Itcould not beidentified asan

easel-sized picture(in fact Reinhardtdid not

work

on

an easel,

whereas

Mondrian

did),

and

itdefied associationswith landscapeorwith metaphysical experience as well.

Presumably

Reinhardt decided

upon

the five-footsquare as the appropriate format for

human

perception, a field for vision to focus within.

The

viewer

was

neverto losehis

awareness

thathe

was

engaged

inaprocessof seeing, notof look-ingthrougha

window,

livingout an "action"or losing himself.

Second, the square format poses compositional

problems

for the artist.

Mondrian,

when

he did use a perfectly square canvas, often

acknowledged

this difficulty by turning it ninety degrees

and

orienting it as a lozenge. Unless he turned the square

on

the diagonal, he could not achieve the tensions within the

painting

and

in relation to the

edge

as successfullyas in his

more

common

slightly off-square formats. But Reinhardtsought toeliminate all inner

and

outertensions.

To do

so, he

emphasized

his equilateral square format by "getting rid of"

asym-metry,

rhythm and

contrast. In so doing, he eliminated

"composition"

in the

con-ventional hierarchical sense.

The complete

symmetry

of Reinhardt's

mature works

(the late red

and

blue canvases as well as the black paintings),

where

the areas,

although hazy, are defined

and

bonded

evenly to the frame, negates

any

visual

interplay orexcitement

and

even precludes an analysisofthe constituent parts.

So

that paradoxicallythe subdivisions of the surface create the unity ofthe field

and

oftheperceptual experience.

Mondrian's

understanding that "relationships"

were

the crucial focus of his art allowed

him

an infinity of possibilities.

And

as time passed

and

the artist's ideas

evolved, his compositions

grew more

explicitly rhythmic

and

complex.

One

might

say that

Mondrian

became

caught

up

in time. His paintings reflect his

own

history of

changing

circumstances, displacements

and

developing ideas.

And

his late titles

—

intheir reference to the

music

of Boogie

Woogie—

acknowledge

the introduction of a

temporal

dimension. Reinhardt's late compositions,

on

the other hand, are simpler,

more

monolithic,

more

holistic.

And

although his classic paintings, like Mondrian's, are articulated along parallel

and

perpendicular (or horizontal

and

vertical) axes,they

cannot

be

measured

in musical ortemporal terms.

Any

attempt

to assimilate his vertical

and

horizontal

bands

toa readingof

harmony

and

melody,

or

more

generally ofsimultaneity

and

succession, synchronic

and

diachronic time, brings us to the

same

conclusion: that Reinhardt's axes, neutral

and

equal, cancel

each otherout.

The

effect of the equilateral cruciform, creating a trisected square,

is far

removed from

the vital,

dynamic

equilibrium

Mondrian

sought.

On

the con-trary, itexpresses inertia, or a timeless, static balance.

Referring again to Kubler's discussion of "early"

and

"late" solutions within a single

form

class,

we

may

classify

Mondrian's

late pictures as "late solutions":

"difficult, intricate. ..

and

animated." In comparison, Reinhardt's late paintings

emerge

once

again as "early solutions"; despite their difficult aspects, formally

they are "simple [and] expressively clear." Reinhardt

was

aware

that he

had

achieved the classic timelessness he

sought

in these works,

and

that the

pos-sibilities ofvariation

were

extremelylimited

—

becausevariation

means

change and

change

implies

development

or temporal progression. Reinhardt understood that the only

way

to abolish time

was

through repetition ofthe

same

unique solution.

And

thus he painted the

same

painting

from 1954

to1967, theyearofhisdeath.

V.

"Someone

once

asked

me

about

color

and

I used the occasionto

mention

the

num-ber of times

and

places in art

where

color

was

excluded—

Chinese

monochrome

painting, analytic

Cubism,

Picasso's Guernica, etc. There is

something wrong,

ir-responsible

and

mindless

about

color,

something

impossible to control. Control

and

rationality are part of

any

morality.'"6

Reinhardt's

own

references to color reflect his understanding ofitsfunction

and

16.Transcript ofpaneldiscussion atPhila- possibilities.

A

born colorist, if he

chose

to eliminate red

and

blue

from

his final

delphia

Museum

SchoolofArt,March paintings (having discarded all other hues

many

years before), it

was

apparently 1960.Published inIt is, no.5,Spring1960, because he

found

them

too seductive

and

evocativeof experiences he

wanted

to pp.34-38.Thisquotepp.37-38 abolish

from

his art: contrast

and

tension, illusions of

advancing

and

receding

space; sensation, emotion, affectivity, expressivity; color

symbolism

and

art-historical references ofall kinds. Color, like drawing,

was

divisive

and

expressive

and

thus antithetical to his aims: formally, a unified field; theoretically, a rigorous art-as-artexperience.

Hisnotes

on

"color

symbolism"

includethefollowing:

"red,fire,blood, hotriot,revolution,passion,energy, fear,jealousy, deceit

scarlet

"blue—

'colorofvillains,ghosts

and

fiends'

hope, heaven, sky "black

heroism,patriotism

criminal death,

doom,

darkness""

Other

notes

evoke

a variety of popular

and

religious

meanings

of black in a

broad

rangeofcultures (morbidity, despair, negation,evil, etc.).18

Of

course, Reinhardt did not believe in these symbolic references; yet

he

acknowledged

their

wide acceptance and

was

determined

to avoid

any

possibility

thatsuchconnotations

might

be read into hisart.Perhapsthis isthe reasonhe kept

his color

ambiguous.

In the early "red" pictures of

about

1951, his reds are rarely

true red,rathertheyarehotpinks,oranges, apricots,even goldenhues. Still, within

the context of the unified visual field, they

announce

themselves as "red." Even

in the later red paintings,

when

Reinhardtdid use

something

bordering

on

a frank bright red, he juxtaposed itso subtly to other tones ofextremelyclose value, that thechromaticdistinctions

become

blurred.

The

blue paintings evolve similarly,

from

contrasting values assimilated with blue (a broad range of greens, blues, grays

and

purples)

and

an initially

complex

17.Undated, unpublishednotes.

Communi

catedby Rose

surface articulation, to ever-closer hues

and

a simple trisected square.

The

final

works

oftheblue seriesanticipatethe black paintings; firstperceived asauniform

color surface, they slowlyyield to theeye's insistence, revealinga subtly inflected

chromaticpattern.

The

red

and

blue paintings constituted Reinhardt's "early classic" period. This

classification is of course relative to the "classic. . . timeless . . . evanescences" of

the black paintings. Reinhardt's use of

"evanescence"

(as tending to fade or vanish) isa simplification.

The

images ofthe black paintings first

move

into focus,

then out of focus. Initially

we

see nothing but a unified, formless field.

Then

gradually an area defines itself, then a trisection

whose

origin is

somewhat

mys-terious since there is neither

drawing

nor color contrast to define its contours.

Finally,asour eyesadjust tothetwilight haze,

we

accommodate

a pattern of barely

visible

nuances

ofcolor within the blacks—usually blues, reds

and

browns

in the laterpaintings.

Once

deciphered, the chromaticdifferences blur

and

are

swallowed

back into the uniform field. Reinhardt enjoyed confusing the issue by describing these

works

as

monochromatic, whereas

they are

monochrome

only

on

the

most

superficial level.

He

also argued that black

was

a non-color, only to disprove it in

hispaintings.

The

colorornon-color inthese

works

is as contradictory

and

elusive to definition as that of the red

and

blue paintings.

The

pictorial context is in fact dark, buttechnically the

pigment

is not black.

The

surface is mat, refusing reflec-tion,yet itproducesa velvety irridescent radiance.So the eye questions

where

the

coloris held. Is it

suspended

above

thesurface,is it

embedded

inthe

pigment

oris

itaperceptual illusion?

Reinhardt's black paintings

came

closest to his ultimate objective: to

"push

painting

beyond

its thinkable, seeable, feelablelimits."19

They

aredifficultto"see,"

even

more

difficultto "think about." Still the black paintings' enigmatic presence,

which

we

can only "feel," urges us to push

beyond

the limits of formal inquiry in

orderto

apprehend

theirfullimplications.

Reinhardtdiscouraged theevocation ofa mystical

dimension

in hiswork,

and

he

certainly did not share Rothko's

and

Newman's

aspirations

toward

the "sublime." Yet he himself did not

demur

from

describing Asian art (of

which

he had a broad

and profound

understanding) in both physical

and

metaphysical, formal

and

spir-itual or conceptual terms. Thus, despite his protestations, he

acknowledged

that

theformsofart

do

reflector

encompass

spiritual

dimensions

of

human

experience.

Writing

about

Chinese painting in 1954, he could as well have

been

discussing his

own

black paintings, towhich, coincidentally, he

would devote

himselfexclusively startingthatveryyear:

ClassicChinese paintings range

from

rich

complexes

ofbrush-strokestoformless

washes and

dissolvedspaces.

They

can lookorganized

and

organic,

atmospheric

and

airless,

immanent and

transcendent,ideal, unreal

and

most

real.

They

are

complete,self-contained,absolute,rational,perfect,serene,silent,

monumental

and

universal.

They

are "ofthe

mind,"

pure,free,true.

Some

are formless,

lightless, spaceless, timeless, a "weightless nothingness" with

no

explanations,

no

meanings,nothingtopointoutorpin

down,

nothingto

know

orfeel. The

leastisthemost,

more

isless.10

20

Ad

Reinhardt "Cyclesthroughthe Reinhardtdid not

borrow from

Chineseart. Buthis

own

art

was

nourished byits

ChineseLandscape"

Art

News

vol 53 philosophical premises. In unpublished notes

on

Chinese art, he wrote:

"No

quality

December

1954,p.27 °f tangible, restricted space." "Voids as significant as forms;

compartmented,

21. Unpublishednotes.

Communicated

by additive, grid system." "Formless yet complete." "Color so fragile it looked as

Rose ifitcould be

blown away;

repeated

same

themes, conventions, flowof tradition."

22.It is, no.5,Spring1960,p.62

23.Ibid., p.63

24.Rose,p.90

25.Unpublished notes.

Communicated

by Rose

26.Artscanada, no.113,October1967, pp. 2-19.SeealsoRose, pp.86-88.The

symposium

tookplaceonAugust16,1967

27.Artscanada, October1967.The

illustra-tionsappear onp. 7;thecaption onp.19

28.Hilton Kramer,inTheNation,vol.196,

June22, 1963,p.534,wrote: "Reinhardt's

paintings arethe mostgenuinelynihilistic

paintingsI know."

29.

Ad

Reinhardt,"Three Statements,"

Art-forum,vol.IV,March1966,p. 35. Re-printed inRose,p.84

30.

Ad

Reinhardt,"AContributiontoa journal of

some

future art-historian," It is, no.2,

Autumn

1958,p. 76.Reprinted

inRose, p.9

31.Unpublishednotes.

Communicated

by Rose

32. "ATributeto

Ad

Reinhardt,"Artscan, no. 113,October1967,p. 2.

(Comments

by

critics,artists,friendsuponthedeathof

Reinhardt)

And

although he

was

not particularly attracted to Zen art or philosophy,

some

characteristics of

Zen

art

may

also be

evoked

in relation to the black paintings:

"LANSO—

The second

characteristic, 'simplicity,'

means

to be

without

gaudiness

ornot

heavy

and

gross. . . . Simplicity isalso preferred to complexity in the useof color.

The

simplest useofcoloris seen in

sumi

paintings; inthe directstatement in

one

'color.' By

means

ofthe

one

black ink, varied in thinness or depth, all colors areexpressed.

Often

thesimplicity oftheseblackink paintings is

found

tobe

much

more

profound

and

rich in expression than paintings in

which

complex and

in-volved uses of color are

employed."

22

The

fifth characteristic,

YUGEN,

includes

"darkness," "abrightdarkness,

which

is thedarknessofZen.

A

speck ofdust holds a universe,

and

complete

emptiness stores inexhaustible treasures."23

Reinhardt

wrote

in notes

on

the notion of "Dark": "'Black,'

medium

of the mind,"

and

further,

"Luminous

darkness, true light, evanescence."24

And

in other unpublished

notes:

"Tao

'.. . fillsthe

whole frame

yet

you cannot

keep track of it.' '.

. . It is

dim

and

dark,

showing no outward

form.'

""

These

notes

were

probably

made

prior to his participation in a

1967

symposium

on

"Black"as

concept

and

symbol.

The

symposium

was

organized bythe

magazine

Artscanada,

and

the edited transcript

was

published in their

October 1967

issue.26

And

surely it

was

Reinhardt

who

chose

to reproduce an

element

of Japanese

calligraphy next to the illustration of

one

of his

own

vertical

(two

superimposed

trisected squares) black paintings.

The

caption read:

"Element

of Japanese

callig-raphy,

emblematic

of 'painting.'

Anonymous."

27

This probably bestexpresses

what

Reinhardt

wanted

his black paintings to be: an

anonymous emblem

signifying the

quintessenceofpainting.

So

that Reinhardt, often attacked as a nihilist28

and

an iconoclast, far

from

wishingto subvert thetradition ofpainting, soughtto confirm

and defend

itsvery

tenets. For Reinhardt the black paintings represented "a logical

development

of

personal art history

and

the historic traditions of Eastern

and

Western

pure paint-ing."2'

_As

_{early as 1958, he described his "pure-painting idea" as}

_{coming from}

"Impressionism,"

"Cubism,"

and

"Post-plus-and-minus-Mondrianism."30

In going

"beyond" Mondrian and

pushing

form

tothe absolute limits of perception,

"form

and

content being one," he aspired to rid painting

once and

for all of non-art content.

Only

the irreducibleexperience ofart as its

own

subject matter remains.

"It is just this

and

nothing else," he liked to say.3'

A

younger

generation of

American

artists

understood

this,

and

it

was

of crucial

significance to them.

Upon

Reinhardt's death, Frank Stella

commented:

"If

you

don't

know

what

[Ad's paintings are]

about you

don't

know

what

painting is

>

Theartistand RobertLax,the poet, 1959,

New

York

00

o

ca

.a

Works

in

the

exhibition

1

PersonalSketchesofPaintings.

1966

Coloredpencil

and

ink

on

paper

mounted

on

board,20'/8 x

3OV4"

(51

x77cm.)

PrivateCollection

Provenance: theartist

Estate oftheartist

topresent

owner

Exhibition:

StadtischeKunsthalleDusseldorf,

Ad

Reinhardt, Sept.15-Oct.15,1972, pp.2,

no.64, repr.,71 (Untitled).Traveledto:

Stedelijkvan

Abbemuseum,

Eindhoven, Dec.15,1972-Jan.28,1973; Kunsthaus

Zurich,Feb.-Mar.;Centre Nationald'Art Contemporain,GrandPalais, Paris,

May

22-July2;

Museum

des20.Jahrhunderts,

%

cm

-r

n

£E

-

- _r I- J-'

£

' i i :

I

l__

rq

i

^Eg

r U'

_,30

_Pi

is

k

-(

V

: .:,' :

5J

R

EE

]

;t

p

_. J 1 i. I

_

i

ira

n

_p

EH

u

eu

'

n

r! fJ

Untitled.

1950

Oil

on

canvas,

60

x18"(152.4x

45.7cm.)

Signed

on

reverse:

Ad

Reinhardt

CollectionMr.

and

Mrs.Gilbert H. Kinney,

Washington,

D.C.

Provenance: theartist

Estate oftheartist

Marlborough

GalleryInc.,

New

York

topresentowner,

1974

Exhibitions:

TheJewish

Museum,

New

York,

Ad

Reinhardt:Paintings,Nov.23, 1966-Jan.

15,1967, no. 50,repr., p.71

Stadtische KunsthalleDusseldorf, 1972,

p.70,no.33

MarlboroughGallery Inc.,

New

York,

Ad

Reinhardt:

A

Selectionfrom 1937to1952,

No. 104.

1950

Oil

on

canvas,

60

1

/a x39"(152.7x

99

cm.)

Signed

and

inscribed

on

reverse:

Ad

Reinhardt/'Abstract Painting,

1950

Collection

The

Museum

of

Modern

Art,

New

York, Gift ofMrs.

Ad

Reinhardt,

1969

Provenance:

theartist

Estate oftheartist

topresentowner,

1969

Exhibitions:

TheJewish

Museum,

New

York,1966-67,

pp.22,no. 49, colorrepr.,71

Stadtische KunsthalleDusseldorf, 1972,

p.71,no.35

MarlboroughGalleryInc.,

New

York, 1974,

p. 12,no.42

The

Columbus

Gallery of FineArts,Ohio, AspectsofPostwarPaintinginAmerica,

Jan.17-Feb.29,1976.Organized byThe SolomonR.

Guggenheim

Museum,

New

York

Reference:

BrianO'Doherty, "Anti-Matter," Artand

4

Untitled.

1948

Oil

on

canvas,

60

x40"(152.4x

101.6 cm.)

Inscribed

on

reverse:"Early

Geometric

1950'sclosevalues"/60x40"

Lentby

Marlborough

GalleryInc.,

New

York

Provenance: theartist

Estate oftheartist

topresent

owner

Exhibition:

MarlboroughGalerieAG,Zurich,

Ad

Reinhardt, Dec.1974-Jan.1975, pp. 12, no.9,13,colorrepr.

5

No.114.

1950

Oil

on

canvas,

60

x40Vs"

(152.4x

102 cm.)

Collection

The

Museum

of

Modern

Art,

New

York, Gift ofMrs.

Ad

Reinhardt,

1969

Provenance:

theartist

Estate of theartist

topresent

owner,

1969

Exhibitions:

Philadelphia

Museum

ofArt,AmericanArt since 1945, Sept.15-Oct.24, 1972

WorcesterArt

Museum,

Oct. 20

—

Nov.30, 1975,AmericanArtSince1945fromthe Collection ofThe

Museum

of

Modern

Art,

New

York,p. 24, repr.Traveledto:The Toledo

Museum

ofArt,Jan.10-Feb.22,

1976:The DenverArt

Museum,

Mar.

22-May

2; Fine ArtsGallery ofSan Diego,

May

31—July 11; Dallas

Museum

of Fine Arts,

Aug. 19-Oct3:JoslynArt

Museum, Omaha,

Oct.25-Dec.5:GreenvilleCounty

Museum,

Greenville,SouthCarolina,Jan.8-Feb.20,

1977: Virginia

Museum

ofFineArts, Rich-mond,Mar. 14-Apr.17: Bronx

Museum,

New

York,

May

9-June30.Organized by

Red

Wall.

1952

Oil

on

canvas,

80

x42"(203.2x

106.8 cm.)

Signed

and

dated

on

reverse: Reinhardt

1952

Collection

Old

National Bancorporation, Spokane,

Washington

Provenance:

theartist

BettyParsonsGallery,

New

York

to present

owner

Exhibitions:

Randolph-Macon

Women's

College,

Ash-land,Virginia,46th Annual,Apr-June1957

FineArtsPavilion,SeattleWorld'sFair,

AmericanArtSince 1950, Apr.21-Oct.21

,

1962,p.44, no.55

(Number

5).Traveledto: InstituteofContemporaryArt,Boston,Nov. 21-Dec.23.Organized byThePoses

Insti-tute of FineArts,BrandeisUniversity, Waltham,Massachusetts,and Instituteof ContemporaryArt,Boston

AbstractPainting.1951

Oil

on

canvas,

60

x22"(152.4x55.9cm.) Signed

and

inscribed

on

reverse:

Ad

Reinhardt/'"AbstractPainting

7957"

Collection JessePhilips,Dayton,

Ohio

Provenance: theartist

Estate of theartist

Marlborough

GalleryInc.,

New

York

topresentowner,

1969

Exhibition:

MarlboroughGalleryInc.,

New

York,

AbstractPainting.1952

Oiloncanvas, 30x30"(76.2x76.2cm.)

CollectionMr.

and

Mrs. LeeV.

Eastman

Provenance: theartist

Betty ParsonsGallery,

New

York

topresentowner,ca. late1950s

Red

Painting. 1953

Oil

on

canvas, 41 x33"(104.2x83.8cm.)

Collection Mr.

and

Mrs. Charles H. Carpenter,Jr.

Provenance:

theartist

BettyParsonsGallery,

New

York

topresentowner,ca.

1958

Exhibition:

Graham

Gallery,

New

York, paintings, red,

10

Red

Painting.1952

Oil

on

canvas,

60

x82"(152.4x

208.4 cm.)

Signed

and

inscribed

on

reverse:

Ad

Reinhardt/Red

Painting

1952

Collection

Sydney and

Frances Lewis

Provenance:

theartist

BettyParsonsGallery,

New

York

Estate oftheartist

Marlborough

GalleryInc.,

New

York

topresent

owner

Exhibitions:

BettyParsonsGallery,

New

York,

Ad

Reinhardt,Nov.-Dec. 1953

Whitney

Museum

ofAmericanArt,

New

York,The

New

Decade:35Paintersand Sculptors,

May

11-Aug.7,1955,p.73,repr.

(Number

24).Traveledto:SanFrancisco

Museum

ofArt, Oct.10-Nov.6;Art Gallery,

University of California at LosAngeles, Nov.

20,1955-Jan.7,1956;ColoradoSpringsFine Arts Center, Feb.2-Mar.20; City

Museum

of Saint Louis, Apr.

15-May

15

Graham

Gallery,

New

York,1965

The

Museum

of

Modern

Art,

New

York,

The ResponsiveEye, Feb.23-Apr.25,1965, no.90(RedPainting

Number

15).Traveled

to:CityArt

Museum

of Saint Louis,

May

20-June20; SeattleArt

Museum,

July 15-Aug.23;PasadenaArt

Museum,

Sept.

25-Nov.7;TheBaltimore

Museum

ofArt,Dec.

14,1965-Jan.23,1966(not

shown

in

New

York)

TheMetropolitan

Museum

ofArt,

New

York,

New

York PaintingandSculpture, Oct.18,1969-Feb.1,1970, no. 330,p.102, colorrepr.

StadtischeKunsthalleDiisseldorf, 1972, no.

47,colorrepr.,p.70,no.44[sic]

Marlborough GalleryInc.,

New

York, 1974,

p.12,no.54

References:

FredMcDarrah,TheArtist'sWorldin

Pictures,

New

York, 1961,p.173,repr.

Sam

Hunter,AmericanArtofthe20th Century,

New

York, 1972,p.200, no. 366,

repr.

LucyLippard,"AdReinhardt:

One

Work," ArtinAmerica,vol. 62,Nov.-Dec.1974,

p.100, repr.

Harold Spencer, TheImageMaker,

New

11

Red

Painting.1953

Oil

on

canvas,

30

x30"(76.2x76.2cm.) Signed

and

inscribed

on

reverse:

Ad

Reinhardtf'Red

Painting,

1953"/ 30

in.

x30in.

Collection Frederick

Weisman

Com-pany, CenturyCity,California

Provenance: theartist

Estate oftheartist

The

PaceGallery,

New

York topresent

owner

12

Red

Abstract.1952

Oil

on

canvas,

60

x40"(152.4x 101.6cm.)

CollectionYaleUniversityArt Gallery,

New

Haven,Giftofthe

Woodward

Foundation

Provenance:

theartist

BettyParsonsGallery,

New

York

Graham

Gallery,

New

York

to

Woodward

Foundation,

Washington,

D.C.,Mar. 1965

topresentowner,

1977

Exhibitions:

BettyParsonsGallery,

New

York,

Ad

Reinhardt:Twenty-five YearsofAbstract

Painting, Oct.17-Nov.5,1960, colorrepr.

(RedPainting)

ArthurToothandSons,London, 6American

AbstractPainters,Jan.24-Feb.18,1961, no.

16, repr.

Graham

Gallery,

New

York,1965 YaleUniversityArt Gallery,

New

Haven, RecentAmericanArtfromthe

Woodward

Foundation,Oct.13,1977-Feb.5,1978

References:

Martin James, "Today'sArtists: Reinhardt,"

PortfolioandArt

News

Annual, no.3,1960,

p.56,colorrepr.(RedPainting)

LucyLippard,

"New

YorkLetter,"Art

International,vol.IX,

May

1965,p.52, repr.

ClementGreenberg,"TheArtistSpeaks:

PartSix,AmericaTakesthe Lead," Artin

America,vol. 53,Aug.-Sept.1965,p.125, colorrepr.

LucyLippard,"AdReinhardt:

One

Art,"Art

inAmerica,vol. 62,Sept.-Oct.1974,p.75,

13

Red

Painting.

1952

Oil

on

canvas,

78

x144"(198.1 x

365.8 cm.)

Collection

The

Metropolitan

Museum

ofArt,

New

York,Purchase, Arthur

Hoppock

Hearn

Fund,

1968

Provenance: theartist

BettyParsonsGallery,

New

York

Estate oftheartist

topresent owner,

1968

Exhibitions:

The

Museum

of

Modern

Art,

New

York,

1965,p. 16,no.89, repr.(RedPainting

Num-ber7;

shown

onlyin

New

York)

TheMetropolitan

Museum

ofArt,

New

York,1969-70,pp.58,no. 331, 286, repr.

Albright-KnoxArt Gallery, Buffalo,Color

andField:1890-1970,Sept.15-Nov.1,1970,

p.44,no.39, repr.(RedPaintingNo.7)

Traveledto:The DaytonArtInstitute,Nov.

20,1970-Jan.10,1971;TheCleveland

Museum

ofArt,Feb.4-Mar.28

Stadtische KunsthalleDusseldorf, 1972, no.

46,colorrepr.,p.71, no.43[sic]

The

New

YorkState

Museum,

Albany,

New

York:TheState ofArt,Oct.8-Nov.27,1977, no.548

14

AbstractPainting Blue.1953

Oil

on

canvas,30x30"(76.2x76.2 cm.)

CollectionMr.

and

Mrs. CharlesH. Carpenter,Jr.

Provenance: theartist

Estate oftheartist

15

AbstractPainting Blue.1952

Oil

on

canvas,

50

x20" (127x50.8cm.)

Inscribed

on

stretcher: Abstract Ptg Blue

PrivateCollection

Provenance: theartist

Estate oftheartist

topresent

owner

Exhibition:

TheJewish

Museum,

New

York,1966-67,

16

; DstractPainting Blue.1953

Oil

on

canvas, 56x22"(142.3x55.8cm.) Signed

and

inscribed

on

reverse:

Ad

Reinhardt/732

Broadway

NYC

3/

"AbstractPainting, Blue,

1953"

/56x

22in.1 1953

Estate oftheartist

Provenance: theartist

topresent

owner

Exhibition:

Stable Gallery,

New

York, paintings, blue,