Kenneth Noland

André Emmerich Gallery Inc., New York
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Waddington Galleries, London
Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, November 2, 1978, lot 231
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale

London, Rutland Gallery, Kenneth Noland, November 1974, n.p., illustrated

This work appears in good condition overall. The surface has recently benefited from cleaning by Arman + Estabrook Conservation which had enhanced the surface considerably. However due to the nature of unprimed canvases there is a patina consistent with age. The paint layer is sound. There is evidence of spot accretions scattered throughout evident in the left upper and lower quadrant. Under ultraviolet light inspection there is no evidence of previous cleaning solvents. Framed and well stretched.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In the Circle paintings, often also referred to as Targets, Kenneth Noland established his most celebrated series of works. High Easter is a visual apotheosis of Noland's insistence to give a primacy to color, while eschewing the traditional illusionism of easel painting. Noland did so with as much force as Robert Delaunay, the modernist painter who first focused on adapting the Cubist style to serve color. Like Delaunay, Noland was drawn to the symmetry and expansiveness of circular forms as a congenial vehicle for color and often chose the circle as the organizing principle of a composition. Expanding upon Delaunay's schema, Noland was able to experiment with the balance of concentric colored forms and the juxtaposition between the varied circular components. By staining the pigment directly onto a raw canvas, Noland purely and intimately unified the color and the surface. In a seminal text on Noland from 1993, William C. Agee, in discussing the Circle paintings of the late 1950s and early 1960s, noted that the "resolution of these paintings, their clarity and articulation, is such that they mark a high moment in the history of modern painting... The paintings, with evocative titles such as Heat, Plunge, and Beginning, were filled with intense color that seemed to radiate from a format of rough concentric circles. Their impact was dramatic... Today, these paintings are as fresh and powerful as they were when they were first exhibited... They are surely a high moment in post-1945 art and their historical importance and level of accomplishment are such that they compel us to look closely at them once again,'' (Exh. Cat., Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Kenneth Noland: The Circle Paintings, 1956-1963, 1993).