Morris Louis

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, 1912
Died in Washington, D.C., 1962

Morris Louis was a leading figure of Color Field painting, known for his experimental methods in which he manipulated the surface flow of the medium to realize vibrant and mesmerizing compositions. Moving away from the concurrent trends of action painting, Louis became part of the Post-Painterly Abstraction movement that aligned him within a generation of artists that included Kenneth Noland, Barnett Newman and Helen Frankenthaler.

Morris Louis has been the subject of major institutional exhibitions worldwide, including solo presentations at the Baltimore Museum of Art (2013); The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2011); Kawamura Memorial Dic Museum Of Art, Sakura (2008); High Museum of Art, Atlanta (2006); Jewish Museum, New York (1997); Musée de Grenoble (1996); Museum of Modern Art, Shiga (1985); Museum of Modern Art, New York (1985); Fort Worth Art Museum (1985) ; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1985); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1977); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1970); Seattle Art Museum (1967) ; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1967) ; Cleveland Museum of Art (1967); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1965); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1963); Institute of Contemporary Art, London (1960); among others. Morris Louis’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Jewish Museum, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Cleveland Museum of Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago; Dallas Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; Tate, London; in addition to many others.

Artwork © 2023 Morris Louis / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York. All Rights Reserved.