Kenneth Noland - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale New York Tuesday, November 10, 2015 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    André Emmerich Gallery, New York
    Salander O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York
    Private Collection

  • Catalogue Essay

    Kenneth Noland’s Untitled, 1971, represents the pinnacle of the artist’s Stripes series, which matured between 1967 and 1970. Noland perpetually explored the boundaries of shape and color through his clearly defined compositional movements; exemplary in his circles of the late 1950’s and early 60s, his infamous chevrons of the mid 1960s, and followed by his 1964 diamonds. His Stripes abandon these geometric forms and instead act as a horizontal reading of color in its purest form. Untitled, rendered in muted shades of periwinkle, sage, cream and peach, mirrors the human perception of liner absorption. The raw, sandy canvas peaks through in 5 identical stripes, acting as line breaks in an otherwise wordy, colorful text. The horizontality of Untitled acts as a vast landscape that cannot be entirely visually consumed at one time, as the eyes of the viewer instead dart back and forth with swift momentum. This lyricism engrosses the viewer in the simplicity of the running lines of text or music. Noland, a jazz music enthusiast, believed the improvisational aspects of jazz mirrors the unexpected, visual response to formal painting, stating that the “purely formal characteristic exercise the senses.” Aptly stated by jazz musician J. J. Johnson, "Jazz is restless. It won't stay put and it never will."

Property from an Important Private Collection

173

Untitled

1971
acrylic on canvas, on wooden panel
6 1/2 x 105 in. (16.5 x 266.7 cm)

Estimate
$80,000 - 120,000 

Contact Specialist
John McCord
Head Day Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1261

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

New York Auction 10 November 2015 11am