Ann: Where as many of the abstract
expressionist artists began as figurative painters, Ad Reindhart
began as a geometric painter. Very much following in the
footsteps like many American artists at that time of Piet
Mondrian and the geometric, almost rhythmic patterns
of his early work. He limited his palette to
a very few select colors: white, red, blue and ultimately
by the end of the 50s black. A color to which he
devoted himself exclusively through up until his death
at the end of his 60s. The sensibility of his
pictures is a mystical one. Like most of the abstract expressionist
painters there's no figures or any indication of landscape
that the viewer can connect to. Instead it's really the painting
itself, the making of the painting and perhaps even more important
the perception of the painting that matters to Reinhardt. With the black paintings especially,
his interests are very clear. When you first look at a black
square painting by Reinhardt you really just see a black square. But when you continue to focus and
look at it a little while longer what you'll see emerging from
the depths of that black surface is a cross going from top
to bottom and side to side in the center of the canvass. In which you can read different
colors embedded in that black and emerging through the black,
rewarding the viewer who takes the time to really look and really
be patient with the picture. For all of the abstract
expressionists, this is a key priority. They're making paintings
that take time to unfold. They're making paintings
that can't be glanced at or walked passed quickly. In this way the abstract expressionists
I think thought of their works almost as the holders of secrets. One can initiate one's
self into those secrets without having to say any magic
password or anything like that, but just by spending time. For those Philistines, the abstract
expressionists would have said who did not even know enough or
care enough to spend the time. They would walk right by these
canvasses with no idea of what treasures lay within them. I think that just pleased
these artists totally fine. Their work was made to
communicate with a certain level of like-minded or like-spirited
viewers who were ready for what they were providing them. If those viewers had to
do something to prove it like stand in front of the painting
a little while, all the better.