Overview

Since the mid-1970s, American painter Stanley Whitney has been exploring the formal possibilities of colour within grids of multi-coloured blocks. Matthew Jeffrey Abrams's thoughtful book, the first full monograph on the artist, highlights Whitney's unique and sophisticated understanding of line and colour and his commitment to abstract painting over four decades of consistent practice. Abrams brings together Whitney's personal and professional narratives to weave a chronological analysis of the work and the artist's wider cultural contribution. Born in Philadelphia in 1946, Whitney moved to New York in 1968, and under the guidance of Philip Guston he began to experiment with abstraction, drawn to the basic formal qualities of Abstract Expressionism, the pure chroma of the Color Field movement, and the minimalist approach of such artists as Donald Judd. Steadfastly pursuing abstraction at a time when critical interest was focussed on figurative art and photography, Whitney has not received the critical recognition due to him until late in his career. This book affirms his outstanding achievement.

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9781848222519

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Reviews

'Stanley Whitney's paintings and drawings exude an uncannily effortless equipoise and grace. [...]The recent focus on Whitney's art is part of a long overdue reexamination of the history of modernism during an era when communities of color were pushed to the margins if not overlooked altogether. What better corrective can there be than an artist for whom color provides all the vivid nouns and active verbs we need to celebrate harmonious possibility?' - Rob Storr 'This text by Matthew Jeffrey Abrams beautifully captures the lyricism and vibrancy of Stanley's work while also rooting his practice within a deep art-historical tradition.' - Thelma Golden, Director, The Studio Museum in Harlem

'Stanley Whitney's paintings and drawings exude an uncannily effortless equipoise and grace. [...]The recent focus on Whitney's art is part of a long overdue reexamination of the history of modernism during an era when communities of color were pushed to the margins if not overlooked altogether. What better corrective can there be than an artist for whom color provides all the vivid nouns and active verbs we need to celebrate harmonious possibility?' - Rob Storr 'This text by Matthew Jeffrey Abrams beautifully captures the lyricism and vibrancy of Stanley's work while also rooting his practice within a deep art-historical tradition.' - Thelma Golden, Director, The Studio Museum in Harlem

Author Information

Matthew Jeffrey Abrams is a writer and art historian. In 2017 he received a PhD from Yale in the History of Art, where he was the A. Bartlett Giamatti Fellow at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, BOMB Magazine, Conjunctions and Burlington Magazine.

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