Thoughts on Morris Louis

So by now I'm sure you all know how obsessed I am with Morris Louis, and you're probably tired of hearing about it, but it's my blog, so you'll have to bear with me a bit longer. You may not really be familiar with his work. As I have found in the months since my obsession began, it seems Morris Louis has kind of fallen out of vogue. You don't hear much about him in general. I wouldn't say he's a particularly big name, he definitely does not rival the popularity of Pollock and the other Abstract Expressionist megaliths. Single artist shows of Morris Louis, are at this point in time, pretty much unheard of. There is only one book on Morris Louis currently in print. The Hirschhorn owns more of his work than any other art museum, but still doesn't list him under featured artists on their website. They also only display four or five of his pieces at a time.

But things may be changing, or at least a girl can hope. I know I mentioned before that there are plans for a big exhibition on DC color field for next spring, of which Louis was a key player. And the first single artist show in ages on Morris Louis is currently up in Atlanta at the High Museum as of last weekend (the one book currently in print is the exhibition catalog). It will go through January 24 and then move to San Diego. Maybe I will make it down there. Probably not. But since Morris Louis was from DC, there was a great article in the Sunday Post about the exhibit, his work and his life.

To me art is not something that is supposed to be understood, but something that is supposed to be appreciated on it's own terms. I know this isn't how everyone sees it, but I do and it is why I like abstract art so much. Because it demands to be dealt with in that manner. Some arts of the article assert that Louis' work is especially hard, if not near impossible to understand. The circumstances under which his work was done are to this day somewhat unclear. There is an ongoing debate about whether it was all done through folding the canvas and poring the paint, or if for some works (especially the stripes) if tools were used. There are other aspects of his work that make it hard to conceive of clearly in the mind. The article makes me wonder if this is exactly the reason I am drawn so strongly to his work.
It would be silly for me to deny however that, although I find his work visually amazing, and really enjoy it for it's own sake, a part of the appeal is that he is some kind of forgotten hometown hero. Since my obsession with DC rivals my obsession with Morris Louis, I will not try to pretend that has nothing to do with it. And since I found out from the article that Morris Louis did his work in his Dining Room in his home in Chevy Chase, well let's just say it seems somehow like a match made in heaven (if you can call it a match, when half the equation is a dead man you've never met).

I am currently contemplating that somehow the day that slide flashed up in my Art Since 1945 class, that it was in fact fate. Sure Prof. Cernuschi probably teaches the same syllabus every year, and all the other students were there, and I was only taking the class pass/fail, but maybe, just maybe that slide was really for me. That it was the beginning of the kind of life long friendship that you can only have with people you don't actually know. The kind of friendship that is based on the appreciation of and fascination with something that someone has put out into the world. And for those of you that don't believe in that kind of friendship, I will say that it is real and it is one of my favorite kinds.