Circle II (II-5), from Handmade Paper Project, 1978 by Kenneth Noland

 

Circle II (II-5), from Handmade Paper Project, 1978; Handmade paper composed of five layers of colored paper pulp with one monotype litho printing; Signed & dated Noland 78 in pencil bottom right; Annotated II-5 in pencil left verso; Published by Tyler Graphics, Ltd., Bedford, New York, with their blindstamp lower right; Size - Sheet 32 x 20 3/4", Frame 35 x 24 1/2"; Framed floated on a white mat, white shadowbox wood frame, and plexiglass.

To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

"I knew what a circle could do. Both eyes focus on it. It stamps itself out, like a dot. This, in turn, causes one's vision to spread, as in a mandala in Tantric art." - Kenneth Noland

In October of 1952 Helen Frankenthaler, after a trip to Nova Scotia, had a breakthrough with a painting entitled "Mountains and Sea." The painting was abstract and rather than painting the landscape that she saw on her trip, the work portrayed the experience itself. The abstract image was painted using a "soak stain" technique, whereby unprimed canvas duct is painted using oil paint that had been heavily thinned with turpentine. The effects of the technique reinforced the abstract nature of the landscape painting; and when the artists Kenneth Noland and Morris Louis saw it in her studio in New York, their own painting styles were forever changed.

On the train ride back to Washington DC, Noland and Louis realized that Frankenthaler's painting was their key to finding their own paths. Each made the decision to disregard all his own prior work and begin fresh. Noland stated, "We were interested in Pollock but could gain no lead from him. He was too personal. But Frankenthaler showed us a way - a way to think about and use color." Morris Louis found is structure for his color field paintings first with the unfurl series; and soon after Kenneth Noland found his, with the circle paintings. "I knew what a circle could do. Both eyes focus on it. It stamps itself out, like a dot. This, in turn, causes on's vision to spread, as in a mandala in Tantric art," Kenneth Noland

The circle paintings in the 1960's were Noland's first color format; but would be followed over the years by chevrons, strips, plaids, and irregular paintin series. Noland would return to these early formats in the 1990's using opaque and bold acrylics, however the soak stain technique from the 1960's are by far his greatest achievement.

Circle II (II-5) from Kenneth Noland’s celebrated 1978 Handmade Paper Project, is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of this groundbreaking body of work. Measuring an impressive 32 x 20¾ inches, the artwork exemplifies Noland’s enduring fascination with the circle, featuring a central, multi-layered green and dark purple target motif that revisits the iconic geometric imagery for which he is renowned. Created through an innovative process that combines five layers of colored paper pulp with a single monotype lithographic printing, the work explores color, texture, and form beyond the boundaries of traditional painting, achieving a distinctive organic depth. This format allowed Noland to further investigate the circle as an abstract form he likened to a mandala in Tantric art—an image that focuses the eye while encouraging vision to expand outward. Published by Tyler Graphics, Ltd. of Bedford, New York, the piece stands as an important artifact of Noland’s mid-career experimentation and mastery of color. Beautifully framed, it is signed and dated “Noland 78” in pencil at the lower right, annotated “II-5” on the left verso, and bears the publisher’s distinctive blindstamp in the lower right, underscoring its authenticity and significance within Noland’s celebrated oeuvre.

To understand the weight of this piece, one must trace Noland's artistic lineage back to October 1952. It was then that artist Helen Frankenthaler returned from Nova Scotia and created her seminal painting, Mountains and Sea. Rather than capturing a literal landscape, Frankenthaler famously portrayed the raw experience of it through her innovative "soak stain" technique—diluting oil paint with turpentine so it saturated unprimed canvas duct. When Kenneth Noland and Morris Louis witnessed this breakthrough in her New York studio, they were forever changed. On their train ride back to Washington D.C., they realized Frankenthaler had opened the door to their own artistic futures. While Jackson Pollock's action paintings felt too deeply personal to emulate, Frankenthaler provided a fresh, revolutionary way to think about and utilize pure color. Both artists discarded their prior work to start anew: Louis found his rhythm in his Unfurl series, while Noland discovered his ultimate vehicle for expression in the circle.

Noland famously remarked on the hypnotic geometry of his chosen form, stating: "I knew what a circle could do. Both eyes focus on it. It stamps itself out, like a dot. This, in turn, causes one's vision to spread, as in a mandala in Tantric art." Though he would later transition into other dynamic formats throughout his career—such as chevrons, stripes, plaids, and irregular shapes—it was his 1960s soak-stain circle paintings that solidified his legacy as a titan of Color Field art.

Decades later, Noland's preoccupation with the circle found a brilliant new medium. From April to August 1978, Noland collaborated with Tyler Graphics, utilizing oriental and western fibers to create over 200 handmade paper images. As art historian Judith Goldman noted in her 1978 text Kenneth Noland Handmade Papers, the results were staggering. While the images appeared similar at a glance, no two were alike; they ranged in texture from wafer-thin to thick, encrusted surfaces, shifting across a spectacular spectrum of filmy blues, bright yellows, soft purples, and murky grays. For Noland, the process was never merely about papermaking—it was an entirely new frontier for exploring texture and the limits of color.

The Handmade Paper Project yielded works divided into four distinct categories: the Circle I Series (three layers of pulp on smaller sheets), and the Horizontal and Diagonal Stripes Series. However, the crowning achievement of the entire project belongs to the Circle II Series, featured here. Representing his largest and most commanding circles in this medium, the Circle II Series perfectly mirrors the iconic color formats for which Noland is universally recognized. We invite you to visit the gallery and experience the mesmerizing, meditative depth of Circle II (II-5) in person.

#noland #circlepainting #frankenthaler #helenfrankenthaler #untitledartgallery #kennethnoland  #colorfield #abstractart #abstactexpressionism #art #handmadepaper #greenberg #clementgreenberg #artist #artwork #morrislouis #julesolitski #paperpulp #kentyler #tylergraphic #kennethtyler

(Untitled) Dentures, 1984 by Andy Warhol

(Untitled) Dentures, 1984; Synthetic polymer paint on paper; Signed Andy Warhol and dated 84 in pencil lower right; Stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. and numbered VF TOP 91.0004 on verso; Size - Paper: 30 1/2 x 40 1/2", Frame 35 1/2 x 46"; Framed floated on a white mat, black wood exterior frame, and plexiglass.

To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

 

“Am I really doing anything new? … In transliterating newspaper or magazine ads to canvas, and in employing silkscreens of photographs, you have consistently used preconceived images.” - Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol’s Dentures (circa 1980s) is one of his lesser-known but thematically revealing black-and-white paintings, created during a period when he was revisiting the aesthetic and conceptual concerns of his early Pop Art years. Rendered in stark monochrome, the image features the unsettling, clinical form of artificial teeth—an everyday object transformed through Warhol’s distinctive lens into something both banal and strangely haunting.

The dentures, depicted as if photographed or x-rayed, connect to Warhol’s ongoing fascination with consumerism, mortality, and the artificial. Like his famous images of soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles, and celebrity portraits, Dentures reflects the mass-produced, impersonal quality of modern life—but here, the subject is explicitly tied to the body and its decay. The dentures serve as a memento mori, a reminder of aging and death disguised as a commodity.

Formally, the black-and-white palette marks a shift from the saturated color of Warhol’s 1960s work toward the more austere, minimal, and meditative tone of his late career. The contrast of light and dark amplifies the mechanical nature of his silkscreen process, emphasizing reproduction over originality. This was also a time when Warhol explored the tension between life and death, authenticity and artificiality—motifs that appear throughout his Skulls, Shadows, and Oxidation series.

In Dentures, Warhol captures the absurd beauty of a mundane prosthetic, inviting viewers to confront the uneasy relationship between consumer culture and human fragility. It’s a quietly powerful statement on the intersection of vanity, mortality, and the mechanization of the human image—an image as cold and precise as the silkscreen process itself.

Warhol’s Dentures aligns closely in tone and meaning with his Skull and Oxidation series, all of which reveal a late-career preoccupation with mortality and the passage of time. Each body of work, though visually distinct, shares an underlying tension between surface glamour and existential decay—a duality that runs throughout Warhol’s oeuvre.

In the Skull series (1976), Warhol used silkscreened images of human skulls cast in high-contrast color schemes. These paintings, much like Dentures, combine death imagery with the glossy detachment of commercial art. The skulls are lit and composed with the same precision as his celebrity portraits, turning a universal symbol of mortality into a consumer-like object. Warhol’s skulls, like his dentures, are stripped of personal identity—they’re mass-produced reminders of what lies beneath the skin of fame and consumption.

The Oxidation paintings (1977–78), sometimes called the “piss paintings,” take this meditation on decay into the abstract. Made by urinating on canvases coated with metallic paint, they transform a bodily function into an aesthetic event. The result is both repellent and beautiful, merging chance, chemistry, and the artist’s own physicality. Together with Denturesand Skulls, these works reveal Warhol’s fascination with bodily transformation—how life, art, and material processes all break down into surface patterns over time.

Seen in this light, Dentures becomes more than a curious image of prosthetic teeth. It’s part of Warhol’s larger inquiry into what happens when life is mediated through repetition, artifice, and technology. By the 1980s, Warhol’s once-playful Pop imagery had evolved into something darker and more introspective. His black-and-white Dentures echo the emptiness of consumer objects while gesturing toward the inevitable decay that even art cannot escape.

Created in 1984, Dentures exemplifies Andy Warhol’s continued fascination with the intersections of consumer culture, the human body, and mortality during the final decade of his career. Executed in synthetic polymer paint on paper, the work presents the stark, mechanical image of a set of artificial teeth—an everyday object rendered uncanny through Warhol’s detached, silkscreen-inspired aesthetic.

The choice of subject matter—a prosthetic substitute for part of the human body—reveals Warhol’s enduring interest in the artificial as a mirror of modern identity. By the mid-1980s, Warhol had moved beyond the colorful exuberance of his 1960s Pop imagery to explore themes of decay, reproduction, and impermanence in a more restrained black-and-white palette. The Dentures image, with its clinical precision and unsettling neutrality, resonates with his Skulls and Shadowsseries, in which familiar forms become symbols of both beauty and vanitas.

At once humorous and macabre, Dentures transforms a mundane dental appliance into a commentary on mortality and consumerism—an emblem of how even the most intimate aspects of the human body can be commodified, replicated, and aestheticized. The clean, graphic contrast of black and white evokes both photographic documentation and X-ray imagery, bridging the distance between life and artifice.

This work bears Warhol’s pencil signature and date in the lower right, affirming its authenticity and intimacy as a hand-signed work on paper. On the verso, the stamps of the Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., along with its official archive number (VF TOP 91.0004), further solidify its provenance and place within Warhol’s late output.

Presented floated on a white mat within a minimalist black wood frame under plexiglass, the piece retains a striking visual purity that complements its thematic austerity. Dentures stands as a quietly powerful meditation on artifice, aging, and the mechanization of beauty—a work that distills Warhol’s lifelong exploration of surface and substance into a single, haunting image.

#AndyWarhol #WarholArt #PopArt #ContemporaryArt #ModernArt #WarholDentures #LateWarhol #BlackAndWhiteArt #SilkscreenArt #ArtAndMortality #MementoMori #VanitasArt #ConsumerCulture #ArtAndDecay #WarholSkulls #WarholOxidation #ArtAndTechnology #ConceptualArt #MechanicalArt #ArtOfRepetition #AmericanArt #1980sArt #FineArtCollectors #ArtExhibition #ArtHistory #CulturalIcons #WarholFoundation #VisualArt #ArtAndIdentity #ArtCommentary #WarholLegacy

Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967 by Andy Warhol

Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn); Serigraph, 1967, on wove paper; Signed in pencil Andy Warhol and stamp-numbered 113/250 in ink verso; Published by Factory Additions, New York; Size - Sheet 36" x 36", Frame 38" x 38"; Framed floated on a acid free white mat, wood frame, and plexiglass; Catalog Raisonne: Feldman/Schellmann: II.28.

To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

 

“In August 62 I started doing silkscreens. I wanted something stronger that gave more of an assembly line effect. With silkscreening you pick a photograph, blow it up, transfer it in glue onto silk. and then roll ink across it so the ink goes through the silk but not through the glue. That way you get the same image, slightly different each time. It was all so simple quick and chancy. I was thrilled with it. When Marilyn Monroe happened to die that month, I got the idea to make screens of her beautiful face the first Marilyns.” - Andy Warhol

Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926, became a cultural phenomenon in the 1950's and 60's. Her image embodying the allure of Hollywood and epitomized the complicated dynamics of fame and fortune. With here platinum blonde hair, breathy voice, and voluptuous figure; Marilyn Monroe was much more than an actress, she was an icon. However, behind the glamorous persona, she was a woman struggling with her own identity, mental health, and the pressures that come from living in the public eye.

 

The year 1962 heralded the arrival of Pop Art as an artistic movement, and Andy Warhol began his transition from hand painting to the production of photo-transferred art. Choosing a publicity photograph of the actress taken in 1953 for her film Niagara, the image would become a modern American icon that Warhol would return throughout his career. He created his first silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe, just weeks after her untimely death at the age of thirty-six. With Marilyn, Warhol found the perfect combination of celebrity, disaster, and mass media; themes that had already had begun to fascinate the artist. Marilyn Monroe personified the cult of celebrity, beauty, sex symbol, and Hollywood glamor; and after she passed away she came to represent loneliness, tragedy, and the unfulfilled promise of the American dream. Warhol transformed Marilyn Monroe's image into an immaculate portrait that radiated in timeless bold technicolor. 

 

When Warhol decided to create a series in her honor, he moved away from his gold gilded stylized drawings of the 1950s and worked instead with his newly found silkscreen techniques. Warhol’s well-documented factory-line production methods were perhaps at their most poignant in his treatment of Marilyn. The slippages and imperfections that occur in the silkscreen process add an effect that conveys the human fragility of the iconic film star.

In 1966, Warhol together with the art dealer David Whitney, began publishing print portfolios under the name Factory Additions, utilizing his most famous subjects including Marilyn, Campbell's Soup, and Flowers. Published in 1967, Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) was the first of the Factory Additions projects and has since remained Warhol's most celebrated graphic works. The "Marilyn" prints were the first technically complex prints the artist made, and they were derived from cropping a publicity image of Marilyn Monroe thus emphasizing her face. Warhol had already used this image in over twenty screen printed canvases in prior years. For the portfolio of ten serigraphs, Warhol used a wide variety of color combination with differences in the registration to create portraits that range from dazzling and glamorous to frazzled and gaudy. 

 

Close up of the edition number and Andy Warhol signature verso.

 

Marilyn Monroe publicity photograph from 1953 for her film Niagara

 

Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967 by And Warhol

 

"When a person is the beauty of their day, and their looks are really in style, and then the times change and tastes change, and ten years go by, and if they keep exactly their same look and don't change anything and if they take care of themselves, they'll still be a beauty." - Andy Warhol

 

The success of the Marilyn Series marked a turning point of Warhol's working process, as he turned completely towards utilizing silkscreens for both painting and printing. He would continued to use the image of Marilyn as subject matter throughout his entire career. By utilizing silkscreens, Warhol was able to achieve the mechanized (factory) look that he desired, thereby fulfilling his desire to "be a machine." Each image in the portfolio suite of ten prints would be identical in size but vary in their color combinations. The choice of the color to be used for each screen resulted in an image that could be Hollywood glamor, garish, or outrageous in it's composition. The Marilyn prints would become the greatest of his graphic oeuvre, and forever be instantly recognized as quintessential Warhol. At the same time, Warhol would immortalize Marilyn as both a timeless Hollywood legend and a masterpiece of modern art. Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967 II.28 generally referred to as the blue face Marilyn by Andy Warhol is an absolutely fantastic work by the great Pop artist. The image showcases the icon as a glamorous Hollywood sex symbol, with the Warhol treatment of using bold technicolor in combination with image flattening. This piece would be a fantastic addition to any high end fine art collection!

#Warhol#AndyWarhol#PopArt#WarholFoundation#blackbean#tomatosoup#untitledartgallery #campbells#campbellssoup#soupcan #CampbellSoupCans #IrvingBlum #FerusGallery #Warholsoupcan #signedWarhol #signedandnumbered

Taffy, 1968 by Gene Davis

Taffy, 1968; Acrylic on canvas; Titled, signed, and dated "Title Taffy Gene Davis 1968" verso; Size - 89 x 8", Frame 89 1/2 x 8 1/2"; Framed with a wood and metal frame; Provenance and Price are Available On Request

To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

"My whole approach is intuitive. Sometimes I simply use the color I have the most of and worry about getting out of trouble later. Perhaps I'm like the jazz musician who can't read music but plays by ear. I paint by eye." - Gene Davis

Gene Davis (1920-1985) was an American Color Field painter known for his paintings of vertical strips of color. His first exhibition of drawings and first exhibition of paintings occurred in 1952 and 53 respectively. However, it was not until a decade later than he participated in the "Washington Color Painters" exhibit at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art in Washington DC that launched the recognition of the Washington Color School as a regional art movement. Davis was a central figure of that movement and was most known for his acrylic paintings of colored vertical stripes, which he began to paint in 1958.

 

In 1972, Davis created "Franklin's Footpath," which was at the time the world's largest artwork. It was accomplished by painting colored vertical stripes on the street in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He also painted "Niagara" in 1979, the world's largest painting (43,680 square feet) in a parking lot in Lewiston, NY. Davis also painted (at the other extreme) his "micro-paintings," that were as small as 3/8 on an inch wide.

In 1966, Gene Davis began teaching at the Corcoran School of Art, becoming a permanent member of the faculty. His works are included in many public and private collections as well as the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum; just to name a few.

Close up of the title, Gene Davis signature, and date verso.

Close up of the J L Hudson Gallery label verso.

 

 Close up detail of "Taffy," 1968 by Gene Davis

 

Original receipt from Sotheby's Parke-Bernet for "Taffy," 1968 by Gene Davis

 

Davis's paintings tend to repeat particular colors in order to create a sense of rhythm and repetition with variations. Davis has said, "I never plan my color more than five stripes ahead and often change my mind before I reach the third stripe." The titles of his paintings were inspired by the whimsy of Paul Klee and were determined after the paintings were complete; and some of Davis's more famous paintings titles are derived from sweet treats such as "Licorice Stick," "Lemon Ice," "Popsicle," "Raspberry Icicle," and "Apricot Ripple." "Taffy," 1968 is a wonderful example of Davis at the height of his skill and the work is composed of 64 colored strips. Colors of varying light values are repeated across the canvas forcing the eye to dance about looking for ebbs and flows of interactions. Often the stripes are arranged as pairs or discreet groupings of alternating colors to keep the eye moving. Adjacent colors push and pull lines of color both away and towards the viewer in a seemingly ever ending orchestration. The viewer's eyes are being expertly manipulated by Davis in a figure to ground interaction, ever seeking a way to resolve the composition. An absolutely fantastic painting that is perfect for any modern art collection!

 

Provenance: 

Fishback Gallery, New York 

J. L. Hudson Gallery Detroit

Sotheby's Parke-Bernet, Los Angeles, Contemporary Paintings, 22 January 1973, Lot 13

Private Collection

LA Modern, 20th Century Art, 20 June 2024, Lot 122

Untitled Art Gallery, Durham, NC

  #GeneDavis #colorfield #art #artwork #artist #untitledartgallery #OpArt #WashingtonColorSchool #Taffy

Etude de fruits et de feuilles de néflier (Study of medlar fruits and leaves), 1944 by Henri Matisse

Etude de fruits et de feuilles de néflier (Study of medlar fruits and leaves), 1944; Black Conté crayon on paper; Signed and dated 'H Matisse 44' lower right; With original Certificate of Authenticity from Archives Matisse; Size - 16 1/2 x 12 1/2", Frame 28 x 23 1/2"; Framed with a black wood frame, floated and matted with acid free white mats, black wood fillet, and UV conservation clear glass; Provenance, Exhibition History, and Price are Available On Request!

To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.” – Henri Matisse

Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse (1869 – 1954) was a French artist who was known for both his use of colour and his original draughtsmanship. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists who redefined the visual arts of painting and sculpture. Although he was initially labelled a Fauve (wild beast), by the 1920s he was increasingly being hailed as a leader in the classical tradition of French painting. His artistic creation spanned over a half-century, and he is now considered a leading figure in the modern art movement.

 

Matisse often drew variations of leaves that were growing in his own garden as well as his publisher friend, Teriade. The choice of medium was pencil, Conté crayon, or pen and ink on paper and the drawings were executed with a minimum of line in order to capture the essential character of the subject. Matisse recognized that the drawing of a line expressed his emotions, which could then be translated and integrated into his composition. The size and proportions of the support medium was adapted to realize a design of absolute elegance and clarity. The white space of the field against the lined botanical drawings reinforced the view that Matisse saw these works of art as "generators of light."

 

Close up of the H Matisse signature and 44 date.

Framed image of  "Etude de fruits et de feuilles de néflier (Study of medlar fruits and leaves)," 1944 by Henri Matisse. 

 

 Certificate of Authenticity from Archives Matisse Front

 

 Certificate of Authenticity from Archives Matisse Back

"Etude de fruits et de feuilles de néflier (Study of medlar fruits and leaves)," 1944 is a wonderful original drawing of medlar fruits and leaves. Mespilus germanica known as medlar, is a fruiting tree that has been cultivated since Roman times. The medlar fruit is usually harvested in the winter and the fruit is sweetest after ripening and further undergoing a softening referred to as bletting. The flesh taste is similar to an apple puree with hints of citrus, date, and apricot. This drawing is instantly recognized as being from the hand of Matisse, as it is executed in his classic loose drawing style. One only need to look at the leaves and fruit to see Matisse's great economy of lines, that form a wonderfully balanced composition. The use of contour and the ease of the movement are used in order to convey both a sense of softness and depth. The resulting composition is relaxed and calm, and the viewers eyes slowly drift across the sheet, finding refugee in the use of negative space. "Etude de fruits et de feuilles de néflier" is a spectacular, large, rare, and beautiful drawing by Henri Matisse and would be a great addition to any art collection!

 

Exhibited:

 

Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Musée Matisse, Matisse et l’arbre, October
2003-January 2004, p. 131 (illustrated)
Pontoise, Musée Tavet-Delacour, Henri Matisse, fleurs, feuillages et
fruits, May-June 2005, p. 39, no. 28 (illustrated)
Nice, Musée Matisse, Cinématisse, 2019

Georges Matisse has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

#Matisse #HenriMatisse #UntitledArtGallery #drawing #art #artist #artwork #leaves #signedMatisse #modernart #stilllife #medlarfruitsandleaves #Fauvism #originaldrawing #medlar

Circle II (III-5), from Handmade Paper Project, 1978 by Kenneth Noland

Circle II (III-5), from Handmade Paper Project, 1978; Handmade paper composed of five layers of colored paper pulp with one monotype litho printing; Signed & dated Noland 78 in pencil bottom right; Annotated I-13 in pencil left verso; Published by Tyler Graphics, Ltd., Bedford, New York, with their blindstamp lower right; Size - Sheet 34 1/4 x 20 3/4", Frame 40 x 28 1/4"; Framed floated on a white mat, white shadowbox wood frame, and UV conservation clear glass.

To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

"I knew what a circle could do. Both eyes focus on it. It stamps itself out, like a dot. This, in turn, causes one's vision to spread, as in a mandala in Tantric art." - Kenneth Noland

In October of 1952 Helen Frankenthaler, after a trip to Nova Scotia, had a breakthrough with a painting entitled "Mountains and Sea." The painting was abstract and rather than painting the landscape that she saw on her trip, the work portrayed the experience itself. The abstract image was painted using a "soak stain" technique, whereby unprimed canvas duct is painted using oil paint that had been heavily thinned with turpentine. The effects of the technique reinforced the abstract nature of the landscape painting; and when the artists Kenneth Noland and Morris Louis saw it in her studio in New York, their own painting styles were forever changed.

On the train ride back to Washington DC, Noland and Louis realized that Frankenthaler's painting was their key to finding their own paths. Each made the decision to disregard all his own prior work and begin fresh. Noland stated, "We were interested in Pollock but could gain no lead from him. He was too personal. But Frankenthaler showed us a way - a way to think about and use color." Morris Louis found is structure for his color field paintings first with the unfurl series; and soon after Kenneth Noland found his, with the circle paintings. "I knew what a circle could do. Both eyes focus on it. It stamps itself out, like a dot. This, in turn, causes on's vision to spread, as in a mandala in Tantric art," Kenneth Noland.

Close up of the signature and date.

The circle paintings in the 1960's were Noland's first color format; but would be followed over the years by chevrons, strips, plaids, and irregular paintin series. Noland would return to these early formats in the 1990's using opaque and bold acrylics, however the soak stain technique from the 1960's are by far his greatest achievement.

From Judith Goldman "Kenneth Noland Handmade Papers," 1978:
"From April to August 1978, Kenneth Noland made images out of paper at Tyler Graphics in Bedford, New York. Working with oriental and western fibers and bits of colored paper, he produced oer 200 images. The results were staggering. At first glance, many images seem quite like each other. But no two are the same. Colors vary from filmy blues and bright yellows to soft purples and murky greys. Textures range from wafer-thin oriental surfaces, thick as encrusted cardboard. In some pieces image prevail; in some, structure does. Paper-making is never the point, for Noland, it is a way to explore color and create texture."

Close up of the KN initials and the Tyler Graphics blindstamp.

The handmade paper works of art completed at Tyler Graphics fall into four categories. The Circle I Series were composed of three layers of colored pulp with three monotype litho printings. The sheet size was 20 x 16" oriented either vertical or horizontal. The Horizontal Stripes Series I-IV were varied by both size and the number of layers of colored pulp. The Diagonal Stripes Series were composed of eight layers of colored pulp. However, the greatest works of art created within the entire handmade paper project were the Circle II Series of artworks. These pieces were his larges circles, and it this format of color field painting that Kenneth Noland is most recognized. The Circle II Series were composed of five layers of colored pulp with one monotype litho printing. The sheet size was 32 x 21" oriented either vertical or horizontal.

Framed Circle II (III-5), from Handmade Paper Project, 1978 by Kenneth Noland.

This is an absolutely amazing Handmade Paper Circle Painting by Kenneth Noland! The inner circle is a soft light blue with outward circles of green, yellow, white, and pink. The ground is a rich pale yellow; that further enhances the interactions of the color fields, overall composition, and balance. To further activate the surface, there are colored fibers and bits multicolored paper scattered throughout the work. A beautiful addition to any art collection!

#noland #circlepainting #frankenthaler #helenfrankenthaler #untitledartgallery #kennethnoland  #colorfield #abstractart #abstactexpressionism #art #handmadepaper #greenberg #clementgreenberg #artist #artwork #morrislouis #julesolitski #paperpulp #kentyler #tylergraphic #kennethtyler

Daydreams Blossom, 2021 by Damien Hirst

Daydreams Blossom; Oil on card, mounted on birch ply frames, with canvas webbing around the edges; Titled Daydreams Blossom, signed Damien Hirst, and dated 2021 in oil paint by the artist verso; Allocated by HENI Primary, London UK (PB462, 2021); Size - 24 1/2 x 16 1/2", Frame 24 1/4 x 17 1/2"; Framed in an acrylic box.

To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

"I want them to make you feel good, feel happy, I want you to get lost in them. And I want them to feel like summer, I want you to forget your troubles if you have any, for a moment and enjoy the idea of flowers, of sunlight and of cherry blossoms and I want you to love the chaos and celebration of the splattered paint. Is that wrong for me to want that? Does that make me a hippy?" - Damien Hirst

 

Damien Hirst (b. 1965) is an English artist and art collector that was part of the YBAs (Young British Artists) that dominated the UK art scene of the 1990's. During this time he was linked to art collector Charles Saatchi, who acquired early works by Hirst and was an advocate of his work. Death is a central theme in Hirst's works with his most famous artistic series being dead animals (shark, sheep, cow, etc) sometimes dissected, and preserved in glass vitrines of formaldehyde. The most famous of the series is "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," is a 14-foot tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde suspended in a clear glass display case. Hirst deals with the complex relationships between art, beauty, science, religion, life and death. He has also created "Spin Paintings" by adding paint onto a spinning circular surface, and "Spot Paintings" which are rows of random colored circles painted by assistants.

In September 2008, Damien Hirst was able to sell a complete show entitled "Beautiful Inside my Head Forever" at Sotheby's auction; thus making the unprecedented move of bypassing his long standing galleries. The auction netted $198 million, breaking the record for a single artist auction as well as breaking the auction record for Damien Hirst when "The Golden Calf," a calf with 18-carat gold horns and hooves preserved in formaldehyde, sold for $18.4 million. In 2020 Hirst is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest living artist with his wealth estimated at $384 million. 

 

In 2018 Damien Hirst created a series of large scale painting of "Cherry Blossoms," and in 2021 he opted for a more intimate scale for the "Paper Blossoms" series. With "Paper Blossoms" the cropping of the cherry blossoms picture became more focused, bringing the viewer to a more focused state of observation and exploration. The series is composed of 900 oil paintings on card of cherry blossoms, mounted on birch ply frames, with canvas webbing around the edges. Each is signed, dated, and titled by Hirst on the verso. The 900 paintings are composed of 300 large paintings measuring 84.2 x 59.6 cm and 600 paintings measuring 59.6 x 42.1 cm.

The next two paragraphs are from the HENI Primary website about the Damien Hirst Paper Blossoms: 

"Arranged side-by-side across long tables in his studio, Hirst worked on several Paper Blossoms at a time, moving up and down the tables as he built up layers of thick, tactile paint. This process recalls the creation of his monumental Cherry Blossoms paintings: "I was getting lost in painting and wanted viewers to get lost in my paintings," he stated.

What results from this energetic practice are glimpses of the cherry blossom trees, views of their sprawling branches and gravity-defying blossoms. This intentional and careful use of framing to create more intimate experiences for viewers has long been part of Hirst's practice, stretching back to his infamous formaldehyde sculptures. As the artist said, "I just wanted it to be in your face. I want you to feel like you're too close to it, you know. All the work I've made - you know, the sharks, everything, all that sort of stuff - I want it to be aggressive and in your face. I want you to have a physical reaction to it.""

 

Damien Hirst painting the "Paper Blossoms."

Damien Hirst painting the "Paper Blossoms."

"Paper Blossoms" on folding table work surfaces.

"Paper Blossoms" on folding table work surfaces.

Damien Hirst painting the "Paper Blossoms."

Verso of framed "Daydreams Blossom," 2021 by Damien Hirst

In order to paint the 'Paper Blossoms," Damien Hirst arranged long tables end to end, simultaneously worked on multiple pieces, and applied thick textured paint in layers in order to bring the pieces to life. "Daydreams Blossom" is an exceptional work and one of the best paintings from the series. The image is beautifully rendered in thick strokes, dots, and splashes of oil paint that creates a field of explosive color. The blossoms and leaves are dynamic and create a push pull effect against the blue sky and brown tree branches. This is an absolutely fantastic unique work by Damien Hirst and would be a standout of any art collection!

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