The artwork titled “Alpha” is a distinguished piece by the artist Morris Louis, created in the year 1960. It embodies the Color Field Painting movement, a genre that is heralded for its large expanses of unmodulated color. The medium used for this artwork is acrylic on canvas. “Alpha” belongs to the “Unfurled” series and is displayed at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, which is located in Buffalo, New York, United States.
The artwork itself is an abstract composition that exemplifies the Color Field Painting technique. It showcases a canvas dominated by a pristine, off-white background that serves as a stage for rivulets of color to make their presence felt. Broad stripes of color, each with a different hue—ranging from black and orange to yellow, blue, and red—cascade down the canvas’s edges. These colors appear to have been applied in a fluid, organic manner, with the pigment thinning and spreading to create variations in opacity and intensity. The negative space at the center draws the viewer’s eye, creating a strong visual tension between the bold edges and the tranquil center. The lack of a central focal point and the expansive colored stripes that seem to stretch beyond the canvas edges are characteristic of Louis’ “Unfurled” series, suggesting a continuity that moves beyond the physical confines of the artwork.
