In 1977, Kenneth Noland was the subject of a major retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, accompanied by the publication of a monograph by Kenworth Moffett. For a limited special edition of the book, Noland produced individually painted covers, extending his engagement with color and geometric form into the format of the artist’s book.

The painted surface of Untitled (Painted Book) echoes the appearance of Noland’s canvases while retaining the scale and function of a publication. Three concentric fields of color structure the composition: a red center enclosed by hunter green and bordered by a pale blush-pink perimeter. The sharply defined bands establish a measured sequence of color relationships, recalling the concentric configurations that became among the most recognizable forms of Noland’s mature practice.

Noland’s work of this period was grounded in the perceptual effects generated through the placement of color. Rather than relying on pictorial imagery or conventional subject matter, he constructed compositions in which hue, scale, and spatial intervals determined the experience of the work. The painted book covers bring these concerns into an especially concentrated form, reducing the composition to a small number of carefully calibrated chromatic relationships.

Hilton Kramer, reviewing Noland’s Guggenheim retrospective, underscored the demands of this approach, observing that it depended upon the artist’s capacity to continually produce “fresh and striking combinations” of color.¹ The present work is further distinguished by Noland’s handwritten dedication to Patrick Cunningham, the designer of Moffett’s monograph, linking the object to the network of individuals involved in its production and publication.

The Armory ShoW

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