Myron Stout (1908–1987) was an American abstract painter whose geometric paintings and drawings bridged the styles of

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

and

Minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...

.Brenson 1987. He was born in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

. During his senior year at

North Texas State University The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School ...

he decided to become a painter, but his progress was halting. He worked as a teacher, and spent part of his time painting landscapes, none of which are known to survive. After military service in World War II, he resumed painting with renewed commitment. In 1946 he began studies with

Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

. Stout's works of the period 1947–1952 show the influence of European geometric painting, and typically feature multiple intersecting vertical and horizontal bands of color. After about 1950, single forms rather than patterns dominated some of his paintings. In 1952 Stout relocated to

Provincetown Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...

.Winkfield 2014, p. 181. In the autumn of that year his readings of Greek mythology, especially the tragedies of

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...

and

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Gree ...

, inspired a new direction in his art. Working in black and white, usually on a small scale, he painted flat monolithic shapes which often resembled forks, shields, or lyres. Stout worked slowly and crafted his images with great care. He had an independent income and was not concerned with selling his work. His mature work has been described by

Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a bachelor's degree in English; Col ...

as "a mode of abstraction small in scale, purist in form and intimate in feeling—an art utterly devoid of expressionist bravura and emotional display."Kramer 2005. Although he rarely exhibited, in 1954 he displayed charcoal drawings and paintings at the Stable Gallery in New York, and in 1957 he showed at the Hansa Gallery in New York. He was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1969. Stout had a retrospective at the

Contemporary Arts Museum Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is a not-for-profit institution in the Museum District, Houston, Texas, founded in 1948, dedicated to presenting contemporary art to the public. As a non-collecting museum, it strives to provide a forum for visual ...

in Houston in 1977, and a retrospective at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

in 1980.Winkfield 2014, p. 179. Myron Stout died of lung cancer in

Chatham, Massachusetts Chatham () is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Chatham is located at the southeast tip of Cape Cod and has historically been a fishing community. First settled by the English in 1664, the township was originally called M ...

in 1987. The

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

and the

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbu ...

are among the public collections holding works by Myron Stout. ''Selections from the Journals of Myron Stout'' was published in 2005 by Midmarch Arts Press.

Notes

References

*Brenson, Michael
"Myron Stout, Abstract Artist And Minimalist, Is Dead at 79"
''New York Times'', August 8, 1987. Retrieved February 1, 2015. *Kramer, Hilton
"Myron Stout Lived a Solitary Life, Painted in Context"
''Observer'', April 4, 2005. Retrieved February 1, 2015. *Schwartz, Sanford, and Myron Stout (1980). ''Myron Stout''. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art. . *Winkfield, Trevor (2014). ''Georges Braque and Others: The Selected Art Writings of Trevor Winkfield (1990-2009)''. Brooklyn: Song Cave. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Stout, Myron 1908 births 1987 deaths American abstract artists American contemporary painters Artists from Texas Deaths from lung cancer 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American male artists