George Lovett Kingsland Morris (November 14, 1905 – June 26, 1975) was an American artist, writer, and editor who advocated for an "American abstract art" during the 1930s and 1940s, and is best known for his

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

sculptures and paintings.

Early life

Morris was born into a privileged family in Manhattan, New York City on November 14, 1905. He was the second son of Augustus Newbold Morris and Helen Schermerhorn Kingsland, who were married in 1896. His brothers were

Newbold Morris Augustus Newbold Morris (February 2, 1902 – March 30, 1966) was an American politician, lawyer, president of the New York City Council, and two-time candidate for mayor of New York City. Early life Morris, who never used his first name, was b ...

, a lawyer, president of the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...

, and two-time candidate for mayor of New York City, and Stephen Van Cortlandt Morris, a diplomat. His paternal grandparents were Augustus Newbold Morris and Eleanor Colford Jones. His grandmother's parents were General James I. Jones and Elizabeth (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Schermerhorn) Jones, the older sister of

Caroline Schermerhorn Astor Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn Astor (September 22, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was an American socialite who led the Four Hundred, high society of New York City in the Gilded Age. Referred to later in life as "the Mrs. Astor" or simply "Mr ...

, also known as "The Mrs. Astor." He was a direct descendant of

Lewis Morris Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Conti ...

, a signer of the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

, from the prominent Colonial-era Morris family of the

Morrisania Morrisania ( ) is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern Bronx, New York City, New York. Its boundaries are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, Crotona-Prospect Avenue to the east, East 163rd Street to the south, and Webster Avenu ...

section of the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. Morris attended

Groton School Groton School is a Private school, private, college-preparatory school, college-preparatory, day school, day and boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, United States. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcop ...

, and graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1928. From 1928 to 1929, he studied with realist painters

John French Sloan John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He was also a member of the group known as The Eight. He is best know ...

and

Kenneth Hayes Miller Kenneth Hayes Miller (March 11, 1876 – January 1, 1952) was an American painter, printmaker, and teacher. Career Born in Oneida, New York, he studied at the Art Students League of New York with Kenyon Cox, Henry Siddons Mowbray and with Willia ...

at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

. In 1929, he traveled to Paris with

Albert Eugene Gallatin Albert Eugene Gallatin (July 23, 1881 – June 15, 1952) was an American artist. He wrote about, collected, exhibited, and created works of art. Called "one of the great figures in early 20th-century American culture," he was a leading proponent ...

. In Paris, he continued his studies with

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

and

Amédée Ozenfant Amédée Ozenfant (15 April 1886 – 4 May 1966) was a French cubist painter and writer. Together with Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (later known as Le Corbusier) he founded the Purist movement. Education Ozenfant was born into a bourgeois ...

Career

While in Paris, he became a confirmed abstractionist, and continued writing and publishing on modern movements upon his return to New York. During World War II, Morris worked for a naval architect's firm as a draftsman. Although Morris exhibited frequently during the 1930s and 1940s, his paintings and sculpture received greatest recognition after the war. He remaining a dedicated practitioner of his own form of Cubism, even as colleagues and friends turned to expressionism in the postwar era. From 1937 through 1943, Morris served as editor, art critic, and patron of the relaunched radical literary magazine

Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a left-wing small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affi ...

, where he advocated for abstract art. After 1947, he began writing less and focused primarily on painting and sculpture. He was also a founding member of the

American Abstract Artists American Abstract Artists (AAA) was founded in 1937 in New York City, to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art. American Abstract Artists exhibitions, publications, and lectures helped to establish the organization as a major f ...

, serving as president of the group in the 1940s.

Legacy

In 2014,

Harry Holtzman Harry Holtzman (June 8, 1912 – September 25, 1987) was an American artist and founding member of the American Abstract Artists group. Early life At the age of fourteen, Holtzman visited the ''Société Anonyme’s'' 1926 “International ...

and L. K. Morris, two founding members of

were paired in an intimate 2-man exhibit, curated by Kinney Frelinghuysen and Madalena Holtzman, and designed to evoke an informal conversation between the two artists
L.K. Morris Harry Holtzman Pioneers of American Modernism: Points of Contact
Essays by T. Kinney Frelinghuysen, Madalena Holtzman, Wietse Coppes. Catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition from June 26 to October 12, 2014 at the

Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio The Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio is a historic house museum and former art studio in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The house and studio were home to American Abstract Artists George L.K. Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen. The stu ...

in Lenox. This exhibition marked also the beginning of a collaboration between the Estates of George L. K. Morris and Holtzman, with support of the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...

. The collaboration aimed at sharing, editing and exhibiting new historical materials related and connected to the world of abstract art of the seminal period of the 1930s and 1940s in Europe and in the USA. For this reason in this first show were present also the works of other European protagonists of the time like

Jean Hélion Jean Hélion (April 21, 1904October 27, 1987) was a French painter whose abstract work of the 1930s established him as a leading modernist. His midcareer rejection of abstraction was followed by nearly five decades as a figurative painter. He w ...

Cesar Domela Cesar or César may refer to: Arts and entertainment * César (film), ''César'' (film), a 1936 French romantic drama * César (film), ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt Places * Cesar, Portugal * Cesar Department, Colombia * Cesar R ...

, and

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscapes, and still-life. He was one of the leading promoters of abstract art in England. Backg ...

. A project, that duly enlarged and in the details curated will be evolving into a wider exhibition initiative. Morris' artworks appear in numerous museum collections, including

The Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughli ...

and the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

. He is best known for his brightly colored, geometric

hard-edge Hard-edge painting (also referred to as Hard Edge or Hard-edged) is painting in which abrupt transitions are found between color areas. Color areas often consist of one unvarying color. The Hard-edge painting style is related to Geometric abstrac ...

paintings, such as ''Recessional'', from 1950, in the collection of the

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

Personal life

In 1935, Morris married fellow artist Estelle Condit "Suzy" Frelinghuysen (1911–1988). She was the daughter of Frederick Frelinghuysen (1848-1936) and his wife Estelle B. Kinney. Their

Lenox, Massachusetts Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is in Western Massachusetts and part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Pittsfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,095 at the 2020 United States census ...

home and studio, constructed in 1930-1941, is now a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

. They had a dog, a red haired

Pekingese The Pekingese (also spelled Pekinese) is a dog breed, breed of toy dog, originating in China. The breed was favored by royalty of the Chinese sovereign, Chinese Imperial court as a companion dog, and its name refers to the city of Beijing (Peki ...

named "Miss Rose," who was listed in the Social Register in 1936. Morris died in an automobile accident, in

Stockbridge, Massachusetts Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridg ...

on June 26, 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, George L. K. 1905 births 1975 deaths Cornell family Morris family (Morrisania and New Jersey) Schermerhorn family American people of Dutch descent American people of English descent American people of Welsh descent American abstract painters Painters from New York City Yale University alumni American cubist artists 20th-century American painters American male painters Road incident deaths in Massachusetts Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)