View source for Hard-edge painting

{{Short description|Movement in painting}}
{{Infobox art movement
| name         = Hard-edge painting
| image        = File:Lorser_Feitelson,_"Untitled",_1952,_40_x_70_inches.jpg
| alt          = Untitled, 1952, by Lorser Feitelson
| caption      = [[Lorser Feitelson]], ''Untitled'' 1952, 40 x 70 inches
| country      = [[California]], United States

| yearsactive  = 1950s-present
| majorfigures = {{plainlist|
*[[Karl Benjamin]]
*[[Lorser Feitelson]]
*[[Frederick Hammersley]]
*[[June Harwood]]
*[[Helen Lundeberg]]
*[[John McLaughlin (artist)|John McLaughlin]]}}
}}

'''Hard-edge painting''' (also referred to as '''hard edge''' or '''hard-edged''') is painting in which abrupt transitions are found between color areas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tate |title=Hard edge painting |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/h/hard-edge-painting |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}}</ref> Color areas often consist of one unvarying color. The style is related to [[geometric abstraction]], [[Op Art|op art]], [[Post-painterly Abstraction|post-painterly abstraction]], and [[color field]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-04-19 |title=SBMA: exhibitions > current > Colorscope: Abstract Painting 1960-1979 |url=http://www.sbmuseart.org/exhibitions/colorscope.web |access-date=2024-01-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100419162812/http://www.sbmuseart.org/exhibitions/colorscope.web |archive-date=2010-04-19 }}</ref>

==History of the term==
The term “hard-edge painting” was coined in 1959<ref>{{Cite web |title=Finding Aid for the Jules Langsner papers, 1941-1967 |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt5v19r00h/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=oac.cdlib.org}}</ref> by writer, curator, and ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' art critic [[Jules Langsner]], along with [[Peter Selz]], to describe the work of several painters from [[California]] who adopted a knowingly impersonal paint application and delineated areas of color with particular sharpness and clarity. This style was a significant reaction to the more painterly or gestural forms of [[Abstract expressionism]], one of the United States’ primary painting movements at the time. The “hard-edge” approach to abstract painting became widespread in the 1960s, though California was its creative center.

Other earlier art movements have also contained the quality of hard-edgedness; for example, the [[Precisionism|Precisionists]] also displayed this quality to a great degree in their work. Hard-edge can be seen to be associated with one or more school of painting, but is also a generally descriptive term, for these qualities found in any painting. Hard-edge painting can be figurative or nonrepresentational.

=== ''Four Abstract Classicists'' Exhibition ===
In the late 1950s, Langsner and Peter Selz, then professor at Pomona College, observed a common link among the recent work of [[Lorser Feitelson]] (1898–1978), Feitelson's wife [[Helen Lundeberg]] (1908–1999), [[John McLaughlin (artist)|John McLaughlin]] (1898–1976), [[Frederick Hammersley]] (1919–2009), and [[Karl Benjamin]] (1925-2012). This group of seven gathered at the Feitelson's home to discuss a group exhibition of this nonfigurative painting style. Curated by Langsner, ''[[Four Abstract Classicists]]'' opened at the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1959, then traveled to the [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]] in Exposition Park. Helen Lundeberg was not included in the exhibit.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Finkel |first=Jori |date=October 7, 2007 |title=Karl Benjamin's Colorful Resurgence |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/arts/design/07fink.html |access-date=January 18, 2024 |website=New York Times}}</ref>

''Four Abstract Classicists'' was renamed ''West Coast Hard-edge'' by British art critic and curator [[Lawrence Alloway]] when it traveled to the [[Institute of Contemporary Arts]] in London, where Alloway was assistant director, and [[Queen's University Belfast|Queen's University]] in Belfast. The term came into broader use after Alloway used it to describe contemporary American geometric abstract painting featuring "economy of form," "fullness of color," "neatness of surface," and the nonrelational arrangement of forms on the canvas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Fullness of Color: 1960s Painting Opens on December 18 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/press-release/the-fullness-of-color-1960s-painting-opens-on-december-18 |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== ''California Hard-Edge Painting'' Exhibition ===
In 1964, a second major hard-edge exhibition curated by Jules Langsner, simply titled ''California Hard-Edge Painting,'' was held at the Pavilion Gallery in Balboa, CA (also known as the Newport Pavilion) with the cooperation of the Ankrum Gallery, Esther Robles Gallery, Felix Landau Gallery, [[Ferus Gallery]], and Heritage Gallery of [[Los Angeles]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Modernism101.com {{!}} Langsner, Jules [Director/essay]: CALIFORNIA HARD-EDGE PAINTING. Balboa, CA: The Pavilion Gallery, 1964. |url=https://modernism101.com/products-page/art-photo/langsner-jules-directoressay-california-hard-edge-painting-balboa-ca-the-pavilion-gallery-1964/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |language=en-US}}</ref> Along with Feitselon, Lundeberg, McLaughlin, Hammersley, and Benjamin, ''California Hard-Edge Painting'' included [[Florence Arnold]], [[John Barbour (artist)|John Barbour]], [[Larry Bell (artist)|Larry Bell]], [[John Coplans]], [[June Harwood]], and [[Dorothy Waldman]].

== Legacy ==
In 2000, Tobey C. Moss curated ''Four Abstract Classicists Plus One'' at her gallery in [[Los Angeles]]. The exhibit again featured John McLaughlin, Feitelson, Hammersley, and Benjamin, and added Lundeberg as the fifth of the original Hard-edge painters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Exhibitions |url=https://www.lorserfeitelson.com/exhibitions |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Lorser Feitelson |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2003, [[Louis Stern Fine Arts]] presented a retrospective exhibition for Lorser Feitelson entitled ''Lorser Feitelson and the invention of Hard-edge painting, 1945–1965.''<ref>{{cite book |title=Lorser Feitelson and the Invention of Hard Edge Painting, 1945-1965 |date=2003 |publisher=Louis Stern Fine Arts and the Feitelson Arts Foundation |isbn=0-9740092-0-2 |url=https://www.louissternfinearts.com/publications/lorser-feitelson-and-the-invention-of-hard-edge-painting}}</ref> The same year, NOHO MODERN showed the works of June Harwood in an exhibition entitled ''June Harwood: Hard-edge painting Revisited, 1959–1969.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=June Harwood - Hard-Edge Painting Revisited:1959-1969 |url=https://www.nohomodern.com/exhibition.htm |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=www.nohomodern.com}}</ref> Art critic [[Dave Hickey]] solidified the place of these 6 artists in ''The Los Angeles School: Karl Benjamin, Lorser Feitelson, Frederick Hammersley, June Harwood, Helen Lundeberg, and John McLaughlin'', an exhibition held at the Ben Maltz Gallery of the [[Otis Art Institute]] in [[Los Angeles]] in 2004-2005.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Past Exhibitions 2004 |url=https://www.otis.edu/past-exhibitions-2004 |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Otis College of Art and Design |language=en}}</ref> In 2007-2008, the [[Orange County Museum of Art]] exhibited ''Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury'', which included the original "four abstract classicists" along with midcentury [[design]], [[music]] and [[film]]. ''Birth of the Cool'' traveled nationwide to the [[Addison Gallery of American Art]], Andover, MA; the [[Oakland Museum of California]], Oakland, CA; the Mildred Kemper Lane Art Museum, St. Louis, MO; and the [[Blanton Museum of Art|Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art]], Austin, TX.<ref>{{Cite web |title=OCMA / Orange County Museum of Art |url=https://ocma.art/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=OCMA / Orange County Museum of Art |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2011, the style was featured prominently at the [[J. Paul Getty Museum|Getty Museum]]’s initial iteration of ''Pacific Standard Time'', titled ''Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950-1970'', which showcased the artistic practices that characterized the postwar L.A. art scene.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hood |first1=Amy |title=A Walk through "Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents," Opening This Weekend |url=https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/a-walk-through-pacific-standard-time-crosscurrents/ |website=Getty |date=30 September 2011 |publisher=J. Paul Getty Trust}}</ref> The exhibition highlighted selections from [[Louis Stern Fine Arts]] including Karl Benjamin’s ''Stage II'' (1958)<ref>{{cite book |title=Dance the Line: Paintings by Karl Benjamin |date=2007 |publisher=Louis Stern Fine Arts |isbn=978-0-9749421-7-9 |pages=19 |url=https://www.louissternfinearts.com/publications/dance-the-line-paintings-by-karl-benjamin}}</ref> and Helen Lundeberg’s ''Blue Planet'' (1965).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Muchnic |first1=Suzanne |title=Helen Lundeberg: Poetry Space Silence |date=2014 |publisher=The Feitelson/Lundeberg Art Foundation and Louis Stern Fine Arts |isbn=978-0-9837871-3-6 |pages=133 |edition=1}}</ref>

Louis Stern Fine Arts continues to exhibit and represent the estates of Hard-Edge painters, including Benjamin, Lundeberg, and Feitelson.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Contact - Louis Stern Fine Arts |url=https://www.louissternfinearts.com/contact |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=www.louissternfinearts.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected Hard-Edge Artists==
This style of hard-edge geometric abstraction recalls the earlier work of [[Kasimir Malevich]], [[Wassily Kandinsky]], [[Theo van Doesburg]], and [[Piet Mondrian]]. Aside from Feitelson, Lundeberg, McLaughlin, Hammersley, and Benjamin, other artists associated with Hard-edge painting include:{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Herb Aach]]
* [[Josef Albers]]
* [[Richard Anuszkiewicz]] 
* [[Mino Argento]]
* [[Max Bill]]
* [[Ilya Bolotowsky]]
* {{ill|Ralph Coburn|qid=Q22002280|short=yes}}
* [[Nassos Daphnis]] 
* [[Ronald Davis]]
* [[Gene Davis (painter)|Gene Davis]] 
* [[Robyn Denny]] 
* [[Howard Mehring]] 
* [[Burgoyne Diller]] 
* [[Burhan Dogancay]] 
* [[John Ferren]]
* [[Peter Halley]] 
* [[Al Held]] 
* [[Robert Indiana]] 
* [[Ellsworth Kelly]] 
* [[Günther C. Kirchberger]] 
* {{ill|Lucian Krukowski|qid=Q50321306|short=yes}}
* [[Alexander Liberman]]
* [[Agnes Martin]] 
* [[George L. K. Morris]]
* [[Marion Nicoll]]
* [[Kenneth Noland]]
* [[Barbro Östlihn]]
* [[Georg Karl Pfahler]]
* [[Larry Poons]] 
* [[Mavis Pusey]]
* [[Ad Reinhardt]] 
* [[Deborah Remington]] 
* [[Bridget Riley]] 
* [[Ivo Ringe]]
* {{ill|Ludwig Sander|qid=Q20089904|short=yes}}
* [[David Simpson (artist)|David Simpson]]
* [[Leon Polk Smith]] 
* [[Julian Stanczak]] 
* [[Frank Stella]] 
* [[John Stephan]] 
* [[Myron Stout]]
* [[Robert Swain (artist)|Robert Swain]] 
* [[Leo Valledor]] 
* [[Victor Vasarely]] 
* [[Charmion von Wiegand]]
* [[Neil Williams (artist)|Neil Williams]]
* [[Sanford Wurmfeld]]
* [[Jack Youngerman]] 
* [[Larry Zox]]
{{Div col end}}

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
*[[Abstract art]]
*[[Abstract Imagists]]
*[[Concrete art]]
*[[Formalism (art)]]
*[[Lyrical abstraction]]
*[[Minimal art]]
*[[Modern art]]
*[[Shaped canvas]]
*[[Verdadism]]
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*NOHO MODERN (2003) ''June Harwood: Hard-Edge Painting Revisited, 1959–1969'' exhibition catalogue, [http://www.nohomodern.com/exhibition.htm]
*Louis Stern Fine Arts (2003) ''Lorser Feitelson and the Invention of Hard-Edge Painting, 1945–1965'' exhibition catalogue, [https://web.archive.org/web/20061028014731/http://www.louissternfinearts.com/past_exhibitions.html]
*Moss, Tobey C. (2000). ''Four Abstract Classicists Plus One'' exhibition catalogue, [http://www.tobeycmossgallery.com/]
*Nittve, et al. (1998). ''Sunshine & Noir: Art in LA 1960–1997''. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
*Mastin, Catharine. (2022). ''[https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/marion-nicoll/ Marion Nicoll: Life & Work].'' Toronto: Art Canada Institute, 2022. {{ISBN|978-1-4871-0301-9}}

==External links==
*[http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-list/movement/?search=Hard-edge%20painting Guggenheim collection online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910102827/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-list/movement/?search=Hard-edge%20painting |date=2012-09-10 }}
*[http://www.theartstory.org/movement-hard-edge-painting.htm Hard-edge Painting] - Art Movement and Style Overview on Art Story Foundation 

{{Abstract art}}
{{Minimal art}}
{{Op art}}{{Western art movements}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hard-Edge Painting}}
[[Category:American art movements]]
[[Category:Artists from California]]
[[Category:Contemporary art]]
[[Category:Modern art]]
[[Category:Western art]]