Morris Louis, © The artist
Morris Louis (1912–1962) was a pioneering American painter and a central figure in the Washington Color School, known for his groundbreaking contributions to Color Field painting. Born in Baltimore, he studied at the Maryland Institute of Fine and Applied Arts and later worked in New York during the 1930s. After moving to Washington, D.C., in 1952, Louis formed a close friendship with Kenneth Noland, and together they explored new techniques of abstraction inspired by Helen Frankenthaler’s stain painting. Louis became known for his innovative use of thinned acrylic paints, which he poured onto unprimed canvases to create luminous, layered effects.
Louis’s work is defined by its focus on color and abstraction, avoiding the gestural brushwork of Abstract Expressionism. His major series, including the Veils (1954, 1958 -59), Unfurleds (1960 - 61) and Stripes (1961 - 62), explored the interaction of transparent and opaque colors, often emphasizing the purity and visual impact of color. His technique involved pouring paint and manipulating the canvas to control the flow, creating works of striking clarity and beauty.
Despite his premature death in 1962, Louis’s influence was significant and his work gained posthumous acclaim. He had several solo exhibitions during his lifetime, including his first in New York at the Martha Jackson Gallery in 1957. After his death, his legacy was celebrated in major retrospectives at institutions such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1963), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1967) and the National Collection of Fine Arts (1976). Louis remains a key figure in mid-20th-century abstraction, known for transforming the role of color in modern painting.