“REUNION’ WAS A GEMOF AN EXHIBITION at the CONNERSMITH Gallery in Washington, DC. Although this was a small show comprised of only eleven paintings, it represented a stellar exhibit displaying museum quality work seldom or never exhibited publicly. Several of the paintings come from the estate of Vincent Melzac and others are in private collections from the Washington DC area including work by Gene Davis, Sam Gilliam, Alma Thomas, Thomas Downing, Howard Mehring and Hilda Shapiro Thorpe.

Each of the artists was connected to The Washington Color School that began in the late 1950s. They were painters who made abstract art that accentuated the power of pure color to make dynamic forms. Each produced idiosyncratic art using groundbreaking techniques that extended the Abstract Expressionists’ painterly methods as well their investigations about color. The Color School painters understood the methods of Color Field, as well as Hard Edge painting and some like Howard Mehring appear to anticipate the evolution of Minimalism.

Above, left: Howard Mehring, #5 (1962), acrylic and graphite on canvas, 96 x 60″

Entering the gallery one is immediately struck by the vitality of Mehring’s piece #5 (1962). On seeing this large vertical painting, momentarily it evoked Frank Stella ‘s Black Paintings series of defined parallel black stripes. Contrarily, Mehring opted to use brilliant blue color and black to structure the edges of his composition. The larger central portion of his arrangement is an unpainted canvas disclosing a circumscribed system of striped patterns that function as the underlying structure. Jointly the composition evinces a brilliant juxtaposition of controlled geometric striped forms with brushy colorful outlines framing the work. This painting evinces Mehring’s astute knowledge of Modernist artwork and the balance needed between color, shape, and composition. According to him, “I start with a certain symmetrical image, and then let the picture paint itself out in a balance between intellect and intuition.”

Gene Davis was the leading Washington Color School painter who went on to become one of the major American Abstract artists. Vincent Melzac, a DC collector, was his strongest supporter who early recognized his talent. Davis’ Black Turmoil (1957)acrylic on canvas 12 x 10″ [right] is a zinger painting despite its diminutive size of 12 x 10 inches. It evinces a pervasive raw intensity and a dark, brooding palette. This energetic piece depicts this artist’s ability to bring line, color and gesture together in a powerful way, demonstrating a synthesis of painterly surface within dimensional planes. This intense work is significantly dissimilar from his known colorful stripe paintings.

Sam Gilliam, Old Side (1968) acrylic and metallic paint on back bevel canvas, 108 x 75″.

A superb work titled Old Side (1968), is by the late African-American artist, Sam Gilliam who left an indelible legacy of experimentation. He was an innovative Color Field painter who advanced the creations linked with the Washington Color School. Stimulated by jazz music and African fabrics, his paintings make evident Gilliam’s enduring practice of free-form use of color. This large composition depicts a multi-layered field of translucent color with a powerful interaction of vertical striations across its surface. The complexity of the piece invites the viewer to pause and spend time examining its mysterious irregular patterns.

Another strong piece is Macy’s Parade (1960), watercolor on paper, 22.5 x 30″ [right], the African American artist, Alama Thomas. The enormous helium balloons of the Thanksgiving Parade inspired this pulsating watercolor that is unlike her more controlled colorful nature compositions. Bursting with vibrant warm hues of red and yellow and spontaneous slashes of black linear lines, figurative puppet-like black shapes appear to be riding across the exploding abstract background. The collocation of strong black figures against the warm colors creates an illusory depth in this small yet captivating theatrical painting!

Thomas Downing, Untitled (c1959), magna on canvas, 78 x 73″.

Thomas Downing was a co-founder of the Washington Color School and his work Untitled (c. 1955-57) is a captivating painting. This early, gestural piece is unlike his later dot-grid canvases that were influenced by his association with Kenneth Noland. It’s significant to mention that Downing’s paintings of simple colorful circles, making them the sole subject and objects in his art, predates Damien Hirst’s mass produced spot paintings (about fourteen-hundred, in all). The gestural linear framework of the interwoven shapes, colors and lines evoke a kinship to Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings. However, the connective threads throughout this work are white curvilinear lines tightly interlaced throughout this energized composition. A synthesis of multiple ideas and techniques seem to co-exist in this robust work.

As if veil of time has been pulled back, the Reunion exhibition gives viewers a unique opportunity to witness seldom seen works by the Washington Color School artists. In an era where extensive focus is on ideological figurative narration, this show is a welcomed change!

By Elaine A. King, Contributing Editor