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Details
- Date
- 1958
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- synthetic polymer paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- 248.3 x 358.1 cm stretcher; 252.0 x 362.0 x 6.8 cm frame
- Credit
- Purchased under the terms of the Florence Turner Blake Bequest 1967
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- OO2.1967
- Copyright
- © Estate of Morris Louis/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Morris Louis
Works in the collection
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About
An early exponent of colour field painting, Morris Louis was a prolific artist, though his career was relatively short. Louis was influenced by Helen Frankenthaler’s stain paintings, and commenced working in this style in 1954. He made more than 600 paintings in the following eight years before succumbing to lung cancer in 1962.
'Ayin', from Louis’ second series of ‘veil’ paintings, was made by pouring a diluted artist’s acrylic paint onto unprimed cotton canvas. Louis folded, stretched and angled the fabric to direct the rivulets of pigment, allowing the washes of luminous colour to merge with the canvas.
'Ayin' was acquired by the Gallery from the 1967 exhibition 'Two decades of American painting'. A display of post-war paintings by predominantly by New York-based artists, it is regarded as one of the most significant shows to travel to Australia. The exhibition was coordinated by the International Program of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and toured to the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
Two decades of American painting, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan, 15 Oct 1966–27 Nov 1966
Two decades of American painting, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto, 10 Dec 1966–22 Jan 1967
Two decades of American painting, Lalit Kala Gallery, India, 28 Mar 1967–30 Apr 1967
Two decades of American painting, National Gallery of Victoria [Swanston Street], Melbourne, 06 Jun 1967–09 Jul 1967
Two decades of American painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 26 Jul 1967–20 Aug 1967
Abstract Expressionism, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 13 Jul 2012–25 Feb 2013
Unpainting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 16 Sep 2017–12 Aug 2018
Some mysterious process, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Jun 2020–13 Sep 2020
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Bibliography
Referenced in 6 publications
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Sydney, 1972, 63 (colour illus.).
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Tony Bond and Wayne Tunnicliffe, Contemporary: Art Gallery of New South Wales Contemporary Collection, 'Collecting contemporary art at AGNSW', pg.424-441, Sydney, 2006, 425.
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Renee Free, Art and Australia, 'European Collection', p63-75, Sydney, Jul 1972, 71 (colour illus.).
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Robert Hobbs, Milton Avery: the late paintings, 'Clement Greenberg and Milton Avery', pg.10-58, New York, 2001, 15, 16 (illus.). fig. 6
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Waldo Rasmussen, Two decades of American painting, Melbourne, 1967.
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Editor Unknown (Editor), Bulletin, Sydney, 09 Sep 1967, 40.
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