NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Cheekwood Estate and Gardens announces Chroma: The Exploration of Color Field Painting. The exhibition of 18 works on paper from the Cheekwood collection will be on view in the mansion galleries from June 25 through September 18.
“The word “chroma” originates from the 19th century and refers to the purity or intensity of color.” says Eric Birkle, Curator at Cheekwood. “These qualities and the formulation of chromatic relationships are the focus of the exhibition, explored through a selection of works on paper from the mid-20th century – a time when flattened, highly saturated colors became a subject unto themselves for Color Field artists.”
The exhibition features works by artists known broadly as Color Field Painters, who embraced the boldness of pure, saturated hues and regularly employed basic geometric shapes in their compositions. Many of these artists contributed to a revived interest in lithography in the mid-20th century, including Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella, Helen Frankenthaler, and more. The works examine the effects of scale, saturation, and juxtaposition (placing two or more colors side by side), resulting in varied compositions that contain a single or multiple colors. Some are “hard-edged” while others appear more “painterly,” but all are non-descript, which encourages viewers to concentrate on
Chroma.
This exhibit emphasizing color will provide the perfect accompaniment to the major exhibition COLORSCAPES by the art collaborative Luftwerk also on display from May 7-September 4, 2022.