by Jeremy Miller | 20 May 2010 | Modern, Museums
From the Guggenheim:
Kenneth Noland, 1924–2010: A Tribute
May 21–June 20, 2010A key figure of postwar abstract painting, Kenneth Noland explored the essential qualities of color and surface throughout a career that spanned six decades. Noland was born on April 10, 1924, in Asheville, North Carolina. He attended the nearby Black Mountain College on the GI Bill from 1946 to 1948 before leaving for Paris, where he studied with the sculptor Ossip Zadkine and was introduced to the work of Henri Matisse. During his studies at Black Mountain in the late 1940s, and again in the summer of 1950, Noland was affected by the teachings of former Bauhaus master Josef Albers, who was the driving force at the school and who had brought with him from Germany an encyclopedic knowledge of twentieth-century European art. However, Noland’s commitment to pure abstraction derived primarily from his studies with painter Ilya Bolotowsky.
It follows hot on the heels of “The Geometry of Kandinsky and Malevich” last fall. I sense a strong “teaching mandate” from the exhibition programmers. Makes me wish I lived in NYC, almost.
I too am looking forward to this exhibition, for the art and because I’m fascinated by all things related to Black Mountain College. It’s amazing how vibrant and influential a small place can become if the chemistry clicks, despite the barriers posed by low funds and a “provincial” location. By the by, I wouldn’t be surprised if we also see a Noland biography in the next few years. Five marriages, after all. Come to think of it, Robert Colescott and Saul Bellow had the same, all of them falling just one short of Norman Mailer’s six. Of course, writers and artists pale next to entertainers — Gloria Swanson, Larry King, Elizabeth Taylor, and Lana Turner all had even more. All that said, here’s hoping the Noland biography of the future will be mostly about the art!