Synchromism

Synchromism was an art movement founded in 1912 by American artists Stanton MacDonald-Wright and Morgan Russell.

Related Topics:
Art movement - American - Artists - Stanton MacDonald-Wright - Morgan Russell

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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.

Related Topics:
Color - Sound - Painting - Composer - Notes - Symphony - Scales - Musical

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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.

Related Topics:
Abstract - Vortex - Harmonies

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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. Next were exhibits in Paris and, the following year, in New York.

Related Topics:
Paris - Salon des Indépendants - Munich - New York

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These synchromies are some of the first abstract non-objective paintings in American art, and became the first American avant-garde art movement to gain international attention.

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The multicolored shapes of synchromist paintings often resembled those found in orphism, but MacDonald-Wright insisted 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".

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Other American painters experimenting with synchromism included Thomas Hart Benton, Andrew Dasburg, and Patrick Henry Bruce.

Related Topics:
Thomas Hart Benton - Andrew Dasburg - Patrick Henry Bruce

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