Diane Upright on Morris Louis tonight

Morris Louis Now: An American Master Revisited
September 20, 2007 - January 6, 2008

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

“Morris Louis Now: An American Master Revisited” is the first consideration of Washington, D.C.–based artist Morris Louis’s work since 1986. The exhibition presents major paintings dating from the early 1950s until his death in late 1962, the years Louis developed an innovative method of painting by “staining” his unprimed canvases with thinned washes of acrylic pigments. The artist, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1912, studied at the Maryland Institute of Fine and Applied Arts. As a young man he painted in a realist manner; only in his forties did he find his signature style. Even in cramped quarters in Washington D.C., Louis was able to make large paintings, achieving an exuberant, lyrical celebration of colors hovering in white space. Louis became an inspirational figure for other artists in the Color Field movement in the 1960s, notably Kenneth Noland and Helen Frankenthaler. The exhibition is organized by the High Museum of Art, in close collaboration with the artist’s widow, Marcella Louis Brenner and independent scholar Diane Upright. The Hirshhorn’s presentation is coordinated by senior curator Valerie Fletcher. Coinciding with this exhibition will be galleries devoted to the recent research and conservation of Color Field paintings in the Hirshhorn’s collection.

LECTURE
Diane Upright on Morris Louis
September 20, 2007 at 7 pm
Join Diane Upright on the opening day of the Morris Louis Now exhibition as she shares her perspectives on the artist. The foremost authority on Louis, Dr. Upright is a former professor of art history at Harvard University and was a curator at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. In 1985 she published Morris Louis:The Complete Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné, widely considered to be a major contribution to the understanding of Louis's aesthetic and influence. Support for this lecture is provided by Dr. Penn Lupovich.

FRIDAY GALLERY TALK
High Museum Curator Jeffrey Grove on Morris Louis
September 21, 2007 at 12:30 pm

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is located on the National Mall in downtown Washington, DC, at the corner of Seventh Street SW and Independence Avenue. West of the US Capitol and east of the Washington Monument, it is the round building next to the Smithsonian's red brick Arts and Industries building.