(b. 1924) After serving in the United States Air Force from 1942-46, Kenneth Noland took advantage of the GI Bill to attend Black Mountain College, and then studied art in Pairs. In 1949, Noland returned to the United States and began teaching at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Washington, D.C. Noland, like Morris Louis, taught at the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts. In 1953, he and Morris Louis visited Helen Frankenthaler’s studio with Clement Greenberg whom Noland had met Black Mountain in 1950. Following the experience, Noland began experimenting with different stain painting techniques on large canvases. Later, he began developing the center of each canvas and concentrating on the interplay of different colors. From the late 1950s on, Noland worked in series, exploring such motifs as “Circles”, “Chevrons”, and “Strips”, while varying the color and intervals of each form. Diamond-shaped and irregular shaped canvases known as “Surfboards” followed. Noland’s paintings were shown at the Jewish Museum, New York, in 1965 and a retrospective of his work was held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1977.

Rareday

1970
Oil on canvas
66 x 114 1/2 inches