Synchromism

Synchromism was an art movement founded in 1912 by American artists Stanton MacDonald-Wright and Morgan Russell. Their abstract "synchromies", based on a theory of color that analogized it to music, were among the first abstract paintings in American art. Synchromism became the first American avant-garde art movement to receive international attention.

Airplane Synchromy in Yellow-Orange made by  Stanton MacDonald-Wright (1890-1973)

Theory and style

Synchromism is based on the idea that color and sound are similar phenomena, and that the colors in a painting can be orchestrated in the same harmonious way that a composer arranges notes in a symphony. Macdonald-Wright and Russell believed that by painting in color scales, their work could evoke musical sensations. It became abstract and expressive, hoping to unite visual and auditory stimuli through a symphony of color. This phenomenon of 'hearing' a color or the pairing of two or more senses--synesthesia--was also central to the work of Wassily Kandinsky, who was developing his own synesthetic paintings, or 'compositions', in Europe around the same time.

The abstract "synchromies" are based on color scales, using rhythmic color forms with advancing and reducing hues. They typically have a central vortex and explode in complex color harmonies. The Synchromists avoided using atmospheric perspective or line, relying solely on color and shape to express form.

The earliest synchromist works were similar to Fauvist paintings. The multicolored shapes of synchromist paintings also resembled those found in orphism. MacDonald-Wright insisted, however, that Synchromism was a unique art form, and "has nothing to do with orphism and anybody who has read the first catalogue of synchromism ... would realize that we poked fun at orphism".

(Cosmic Synchromy (1913-14). Oil on canvas, 41.28 cm x 33.34 cm. In the collection of the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute.)

 History

Synchromism was developed by Stanton MacDonald-Wright and Morgan Russell while they were studying in Paris during the early 1910s. From 1911 to 1913, they studied under the Canadian painter Percyval Tudor-Hart, whose color theory connected qualities of color to qualities of music, such as tone to hue and intensity to saturation. Also influential upon MacDonald-Wright and Russell were the paintings of the Impressionists, Cézanne, and Matisse, which heavily emphasized color. Russell coined the term "synchromism" in 1912, in an express attempt to convey the linkage of painting and music.

The first synchromist painting, Russell's Synchromy in Green, exhibited at the Paris Salon des Indépendants in 1913. Later that year, the first synchromist exhibition by Macdonald-Wright and Russell was shown in Munich. Exhibits followed in Paris in October 1913, and in New York in March 1914. Macdonald-Wright moved back to the U.S. in 1914, but he and Russell continued to separately paint abstract synchromies. Synchromism remained influential well into the 1920s. Other American painters who experimented with Synchromism include Thomas Hart Benton, Andrew Dasburg, Patrick Henry Bruce, and Albert Henry Krehbiel.

Morgan Russell

Morgan Russell (January 25, 1886 - May 29, 1953) was a U.S. abstract painter. He was born and raised in New York City in 1886. He was, along with artist Stanton Macdonald-Wright, the founder of Synchromism an important modernist movement in early 20th century art.

Biography

Initially he studied architecture and after 1903 he became friendly with the sculptor Arthur Lee for whom he posed as a model, and lived with for a while. During the period from 1903-1905 he studied sculpture at the Art Students League, with Lee and James Earle Fraser, (where he also posed as a model for the sculpture class). With financial help from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney whom he met at the League in late January 1906 he traveled to Paris to study art. In 1907 after returning to New York City he studied painting at the League with Robert Henri among others. Returning to Paris in 1909 he studied at Matisse’s art school. After meeting Stanton Macdonald-Wright in 1911, the two began developing theories about color and its relationship to pattern. With Macdonald-Wright, he co-founded the Synchromist movement in 1912. In June of the same year he and Stanton Macdonald Wright had their first Synchromist exhibition at Der Neue Kunstsalon in Munich, with a follow-up exhibition at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris. He began exhibiting at the Salon des Indépendants in 1913. Russell also exhibited his paintings at the famous New York Armory Show of 1913.

Synchromism was an early and important innovation in pure abstract painting, which was developed primarily by Russell with contributions from Stanton Macdonald-Wright. Other American painters in Paris experimenting with synchromism at the time included Thomas Hart Benton, Andrew Dasburg, and Patrick Henry Bruce, all of whom were friends with Russell and Macdonald-Wright. Bruce was also friendly with Sonia and Robert Delaunay and the proponents of Orphism, (a term coined in 1912 France by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire), a similar movement to Synchromism.

After spending nearly forty years as artist in France from 1909 until 1946, Russell retired to the United States. After suffering two strokes, he died at age 67 near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1953.