© 1954, Morris Louis
On view
Theodora Walton William Walton III Pavilion
Intrigue,
1954
Louis experimented with the viscosity of acrylic paint and the effects of gravity to create luminous, ethereal abstractions. Pouring and staining—unconventional methods at the time—formed an important part of his artistic repertoire. These pro-cesses were inspired by the potential of newly developed Magna acrylic paint, in which colored pigment is suspended in resin. An early adopter of the material, Louis used Magna exclusively from 1954 onward. He tipped cans of paint thinned with more resin or turpentine onto unprimed canvases, folding and tilting the fabric to control the direction of the pigment. The fabric soaked up the paint like a dye, leading Louis to title this series Veils. As the art historian and critic Michael Fried (Princeton University Class of 1959) poetically described the process, “By laying down wave on top of wave of liquid pigment Louis literally put color into color.”
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Handbook Entry
Inspired by the examples of Jackson Pollock and Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis experimented with the viscosity of acrylic paint and the role of gravity to create luminous, ethereal abstractions. Achieving these effects was not easy, and Louis honed his technique over many years. Pouring and staining, unconventional methods at the time, formed an important part of his repertoire. Typically, Louis would tip cans of acrylic paint, thinned with either resin or turpentine, onto unprimed pieces of canvas, folding and tilting the fabric to control the direction of the pigment. The fabric soaked up the paint like a dye, resulting in vertical swaths of color that literally bonded to the canvas. <em>Intrigue</em> belongs to Louis’s <em>Veils</em> series, and its peculiar visual rhythm evokes both falling and sprouting. Art historian and critic Michael Fried, Louis’s most articulate supporter, declared <em>Intrigue</em> "probably the strongest of the 1954 pictures and an unquestionable masterpiece."
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Information
1954
- "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2004," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 64 (2005): p. 91-135., p. 127
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 58-59 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 58
