Alpha Mu
1961
Numerous contemporary American abstract painters have worked in series, especially during the 1960s. Concentrating on a particular format, they advanced through an extensive range of compositional and coloristic variations. Morris Louis' mature work, which began around 1954, anticipates the serial paintings of later abstractionists. He started with the Veil paintings and moved on to three other basic formulations; Florals, Unfurleds, and Stripes. In all of his later paintings, unsized and unprimed canvases are stained with highly diluted plastic-based paint. Louis' decorative hues flow into the canvas with a freedom inspired by his encounter in 1953 with the paintings of Helen Frankenthaler, an example of whose work is seen on the opposite wall. Of this second-generation Abstract Expressionist he later professed, "She was a bridge between Pollock and what was possible." Louis' heroic scale builds upon that of the first Abstract Expressionists, but he drastically simplified their painterly gesture. What he retained in his tidal pools and flowing bands of color was their search for the sublime.
His career spanned less than a decade, the last months of which he was too ill with cancer to be able to paint. His fame was posthumous, though in a handful of exhibitions during his lifetime he established a considerable public and critical following. Yet his productivity far exceeded his exhibition opportunities. Only two examples of the approximately 150 examples of the "Unfurled" series were shown during his lifetime. All share bands of color streaming down at left and right leaving a triangulated void of (now darkended) whiteness at the center. The specific titles of both the entire "Unfurled" series and this particular painting, were designated after his death by his artistic executors under the direction of his close friend the esteemed critic Clement Greenberg. This work's title, as with other "Unfurled" works, comes from letters in the Greek alphabet; Alpha, the first, and Mu, the twelfth.
Acrylic and resin on canvas
103 x 161 7/16 in. (261.6 x 410 cm)
Gift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection
77.43
Provenance: Collection Mr. and Mrs. Robert Rowan, Cate School, California; Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York City; Mr. and Mrs. Bagley Wright, Seattle, Washington, 1973; Fractional Interest Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bagley Wright to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1977; full gift to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1980
Photo: Paul Macapia
