Morris Louis

Estate of the Artist (ML 2-41)
André Emmerich Gallery, Inc., New York
Marcella (Louis) Brenner, Chevy Chase, Maryland
Gift of the above in 1991

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Morris Louis Paintings, March - May 1970

Exh. Cat., Minneapolis, Dayton's 12 Gallery, Morris Louis, 1970, p. 39, illustrated
Kenworth Moffett, "Morris Louis: Omegas and Unfurleds," Artforum, 8, 1970, p. 46, illustrated in color
XXème Siècle, December 1973, p. 73
Diane Upright, Morris Louis: The Complete Paintings, A Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 1985, cat. no. 253, p. 156, illustrated in color

This work is in very good condition overall. Please refer to the following condition report prepared by Amann + Estabrook Conservation Associates. Framed.
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.

"The effect conveys a sense not only of color as somehow disembodied, and therefore more purely optical, but also of color as a thing that opens and expands the picture plane. The suppression of the difference between painted and unpainted surfaces causes pictorial space to leak through – or rather, to seem about to leak through – the framing edges of the picture into the space beyond them." (Clement Greenberg in Diane Upright, Morris Louis: The Complete Paintings, A Catalogue Raisonné, New York, 1985, p. 20)

By the late 1950s, Color Field artist Morris Louis thrust himself into a full force exploration of pure color on an epic scale. Louis stained his canvases with horizontal lines of deeply saturated hues, creating a ladder-like spectrum of pure pigment lining either side of the raw canvas. Louis orchestrated compositions that allowed the color to flow and breathe across open expanses of the white canvas. This process of working was in great contrast to the gesture-laden and built-up surfaces that characterized Abstract Expressionist painting. Omega I is one of only five paintings from this extraordinary series dating from 1959-1960. This glorious composition exemplifies Louis' mature style.

Beginning in 1952, after meeting Kenneth Noland, Louis began exploring his own visual vernacular. Both Louis and Noland worked in Washington, D.C. yet maintained an awareness of the practices of their contemporaries working in New York. At the same time, Louis and Noland were far enough away that they could develop their own individual creative voices. Noland introduced Louis to celebrated critic Clement Greenberg, who subsequently mentored Louis throughout his career. In 1953, Louis, Noland and Greenberg visited Helen Frankenthaler's studio. The artists were mesmerized by Frankenthaler's painting Mountains and Sea, in which eddies of pigmentation saturated the canvas, creating a floating effect above the picture plane. As a result of the studio visit, both painters returned to Washington D.C. and transformed their painting techniques.

In works from the Omega series, Louis focused on the contrasting force of jagged strips of brilliant colors arranged side-by-side down the opposite edges of the composition, symmetrically facing each other as they extended into the raw canvas in the central portion of the picture plane. Using highly saturated zips of magna, he imparted an extraordinary juxtaposition between pure color and canvas. His paint saturated the linen, thus appearing to float above the two-dimensional plane.  The Omega series marks a critical departure point from the artist's Veil paintings (1958-59) and anticipates the Unfurled paintings (1960-61). During the period between these two series, Louis explored a format that would allow color to command the central role in his pictures. Diane Upright postulated that the Omega series allowed the artist to reconcile his desire to master great draftsmanship and colorism without sacrificing structural coherence, and Omega I is an example of such success.