Two major movements in modern art are Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting. The movements share two fundamental characteristics: the overall or generalized composition and a notably large scale. Abstract Expressionists concentrated much of their energy on individual brush stroke. In contrast with this, the Color Field painters sought to impersonalize their art by permitting the materials themselves to create the forms or by utilizing hard-edged shapes with relatively flattened tints.
Three major artists stand out as the best examples of color field painting: Helen Frankenthaler (1928- ), Morris Louis (1912-1962) and Kenneth Noland (1924- ). Many art historians refer to the Color Field painters in general as "second generation" Abstract Expressionists.
Helen Frankenthaler created works that used both approaches. Some of her works possess free-flowing elements that are at least partially self-generated (not influenced directly by the artist), and other works utilize controlled, hard-edged shapes with flat tints.
Morris Louis adopted the approach of allowing the paint to create its own forms almost exclusively. Even in his more controlled, planned, the paint has been allowed to run fairly independently of the artist's "brush" in parallel stripes down (or up) the canvas.
Kenneth Noland, on the other hand, utilized hard edges almost exclusively in his work. His use of flat shapes and tints is quite distant from the spontaneous, gestural emphasis of the Abstract Expressionists. His mathematically executed geometric shapes consist of highly uniform tones. The slight variations present at the edges of the concentric circles result more from his system of taping the canvas before painting than from his brush strokes.
The significance of large size is also particularly important to the color emphasis and techniques of the Color Field painters. The colors gain in impact by displaying themselves across the large, flat surfaces. This aspect is at the crux of the concept of Color Field painting: the view of the surface of the painting as a field.
