Kenneth Noland (April 10, 1924 – January 5, 2010) was an American painter. He was one of the best-known American color field painters, although in the 1950s he was thought of as an

abstract expressionist Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

and in the early 1960s as a minimalist painter. Noland helped establish the Washington Color School movement. In 1977, he was honored with a major retrospective at the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

in New York that then traveled to the

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...

in Washington, D.C., and Ohio's Toledo Museum of Art in 1978. In 2006, Noland's ''Stripe Paintings'' were exhibited at the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

in London.

Early life and education

A son of Harry Caswell Noland (1896–1975), a

pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

, and his wife, Bessie (1897–1980), Kenneth Clifton Noland was born in Asheville,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. He had four siblings: David, Bill, Neil, and Harry Jr. Noland enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1942 after completing high school. As a veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he took advantage of the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

to study art at

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The coll ...

in his home state of North Carolina. At Black Mountain, where two of his brothers also studied art, Noland studied with Ilya Bolotowsky, a professor who introduced him to neoplasticism and the work of

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...

. Noland also studied

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

theory and color there under

Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...

and became interested in

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

—specifically Klee's sensitivity to color.

Career

In 1948 and 1949 Noland worked with

Ossip Zadkine Ossip Alexeevich Zadkine (; 28 January 1888 – 25 November 1967) was a Russian and French artist of the School of Paris. He is best known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs. Early years and education Zadkine was born o ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and had his first exhibition of his paintings there in 1949. After returning to the U.S., he taught in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, at

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univers ...

(1951–1960) and the Institute of Contemporary Arts. In the early 1950s, Noland met

Morris Louis Morris Louis Bernstein (November 28, 1912 – September 7, 1962), known professionally as Morris Louis, was an American painter. During the 1950s he became one of the earliest exponents of Color Field painting. While living in Washington, D ...

in D.C. while teaching night classes at the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts. He became friends with Louis, and after being introduced by

Clement Greenberg Clement Greenberg () (January 16, 1909 – May 7, 1994), occasionally writing under the pseudonym K. Hardesh, was an American essayist known mainly as an art critic closely associated with American modern art of the mid-20th century and a formali ...

to Helen Frankenthaler and seeing her new paintings at her studio in New York City in 1953, he and Louis adopted her "soak-stain" technique of allowing thinned paint to soak into unprimed canvases. Most of Noland's paintings fall into one of four groups: circles (or targets), chevrons, stripes, and shaped canvases. His preoccupation with the relationship of the image to the containing edge of the picture led him to a series of studies of concentric rings or bullseyes, commonly called targets, which, like the one reproduced here—''Beginning'' (1958)—used unlikely color combinations. This also led Noland away from Louis in 1958. In 1964, he was included in the exhibition '' Post-Painterly Abstraction'' curated by

, which traveled the country and helped to firmly establish color field painting as an important new movement in contemporary art of the 1960s. Noland pioneered the shaped canvas, initially with a series of symmetrical and asymmetrical diamonds or chevrons. In these paintings, the edges of the canvas become as structurally important as the center. During the 1970s and 1980s his shaped canvases were highly irregular and asymmetrical. These resulted in increasingly complex structures of highly sophisticated and controlled color and surface integrity.

Technique

Instead of painting the canvas with a brush, Noland's style was to stain the canvas with color. This idea sought to remove the artist through brushstrokes. This made the piece about the art, not the artist. He emphasized spatial relationships in his work by leaving unstained, bare canvas as a contrast against the colors used throughout his paintings. Noland used simplified abstraction so the design would not detract from the use of color. Noland's students included the sculptor Jennie Lea Knight and painter Alice Mavrogordato.

Personal life

Noland was married to: * Cornelia Langer, a daughter of the U.S. senator from

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

William Langer. They married in 1950 and divorced in 1957. They had three children: daughters Cady and Lyndon (a.k.a. Lyn) and a son, William. * Stephanie Gordon, a psychologist, lived with Noland from November 1964 until June 1970. They married in April 1967 and divorced in June 1970. * Peggy L. Schiffer, an art historian. They married circa 1970, and had a son, Samuel Jesse. *

Paige Rense Paige Rense, also known as Paige Rense Noland (May 4, 1929 – January 1, 2021) was an American writer and editor who served as editor-in-chief of ''Architectural Digest'' magazine from 1975 until 2010. She founded the Arthur Rense Prize poetry ...

, editor in chief of ''

Architectural Digest ''Architectural Digest'' (stylized in all caps) is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subjects are interior design and landscaping, rather than pure external architecture. The magazine is published by Condé Nast ...

'', whom he married in

Bennington, Vermont Bennington is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester (town), Vermont, Manchester. As of the 2020 United States Census, US Cens ...

, on April 10, 1994. Noland was her fourth husband; her previous spouses included Arthur F. Rense. Noland had an affair in the 1960s with artist and socialite Mary Pinchot Meyer.

Death

Noland died of

kidney cancer Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, a lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include ...

at his home in Port Clyde, Maine, on January 5, 2010, at the age of 85.

Exhibitions

Noland had his first solo exhibition at Galerie Raymond Creuze in Paris in 1948. In 1957, he had his first New York solo exhibition at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery. In 1964, Noland occupied half the American pavilion at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

.Kenneth Noland

, New York. In 1965, his work was exhibited at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art and the

Jewish Museum (New York) The Jewish Museum is an art museum housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the Felix M. Warburg House, along the Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The museum holds a collection of approximately 30,000 objects, including ...

. Noland's final solo exhibition, ''Kenneth Noland Shaped Paintings 1981–82'', opened on October 29, 2009, at the Leslie Feely Fine Art Gallery on East 68th Street in New York City and was scheduled to close on January 9, 2010 (though the closing date was later extended to January 16). In 2010, Noland was honored with a solo presentation of his work at the Guggenheim Museum, entitled ''Kenneth Noland, 1924–2010: A Tribute''. In addition, his work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at a range of international institutions, including the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City (1983); Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain (1985);

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

(2004);

, Liverpool (2006); and Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio (1986 and 2007).

Influence

In 1984, US menswear designer Alexander Julian incorporated Noland's designs and coloring in his knitwear.

Selected museum collections

Selected works

Notes

References

* Gowing, L (ed.) 1995, ''A Biographical Dictionary of Artists'', Rev. edn, Andromeda Oxford Limited, Oxfordshire.

External links

Kenneth Noland in the National Gallery of Australia's Kenneth Tyler collection

Tate08 Series: Kenneth Noland: The Stripe Paintings
exhibition at Tate Liverpool, England, 2006

TheArtStory.com/Kenneth_Noland

Kenneth Noland at The Phillips Collection
''New York Times'' artblog by Roberta Smith

Noland's works at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

''The Guardian'' Obituary
an
letter from Anthony Caro

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Noland, Kenneth American contemporary painters 20th-century American painters American male painters American abstract painters Minimalist artists Abstract expressionist artists Artists from New York (state) Painters from North Carolina United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Black Mountain College alumni Artists from Asheville, North Carolina Military personnel from North Carolina Deaths from cancer in Maine Deaths from kidney cancer in the United States 1924 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American male artists