"Birthday Tribute to Jacob Kainen: Selections ffrom the Washington Color School"
1999-12-07 until 2000-01-03
National Museum of American Art
Washington, DC, USA United States of America

On December 7, Jacob Kainen celebrated his 90th birthday and more than six decades of accomplishment as an artist. In the selection of seven paintings from the museum’s permanent collection, Kainen demonstrates the ease with which he has worked in both figurative and abstract styles. His dedication to the fundamentals of painting, especially to abstract qualities of color and form, provides his entire body of work with unifying vision. In 1994 the museum organized a travelling show of Kainen’s paintings.

Kainen’s work helped clear the way for the Washington Color School, a group of local artists who painted bands of color and stained pigment into unprimed canvas to give greater impact to color and abstract form, bringing new relations about the role of color in abstract art. Color School holdings are a strength of the Smithsonian American Art Museum permanent collection. Fifteen works by Gene Davis, Thomas Downing, Sam Gilliam, Morris Louis, Howard Mehring, Kenneth Noland, Alma Truitt are featured in this installation.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of District of Columbia

Other Important Exhibitions in Washington