Buying Synchromism
Paintings
Synchromism paintings feature harmoniously balanced colors
and a feeling of movement. It is believed that synchromist
paintings evoke similar feelings and sensations as music. This
is a basic tenet of the synchromism art movement. As such,
these paintings make wonderfully pleasing additions to any
modern art collection.
Founded in 1912 by Morgan Russell and Stanton
MacDonald-Wright, synchromism was an art movement based no the
idea that sound and color are phenomena that are similar in the
way that the individual experiences and perceives them.
Movement as well as organization of color into ‘color scales’
are the ways in which synchromism pieces correlate to musical
art forms.
A basic tenet of synchromism is that color can be arranged
or orchestrated in much the same way that notes of a symphony
are arranged by composers. This harmonious arrangement of
colors and shapes produces experiential results similar to that
of listening to well balanced orchestral compositions.
Artists of the synchromism art movement believed that by
painting in color scales could evoke sensations that were very
musical in nature. Typically, synchromism pieces feature a
strong rhythmic form or forms that then advance toward
complexity in form and hue, moving in a particular
direction.
In many cases, such explosion of color using color scales
pours out in a radial pattern. It is most common for
synchromism art works to have some sort of central vortex that
bursts outward with color, into complex color harmonies.
The first painting to be dubbed a synchromism work, was
Morgan Russell’s ‘Synchromy in Green’ which was exhibited in
Paris at the Paris Salon des Independants in the year 1913.
That same year, the first exhibition featuring primarily
synchromist works by MacDonald-Wright and Russell was held in
Munich, Germany. Following the synchromist exhibition in
Munich, there were exhibits in both Paris and New York.
These first synchromist pieces were some of the first
non-objective abstract paintings found in American art. These
later became better known under the label of ‘avante-garde’. In
this way, synchromism was the first American avant garde art
movement that gained attention internationally.
Synchromism has been compared and contrasted to Orphism.
Orphism refers to paintings that relate to the Greek god
Orpheus, the symbol of song, the arts and the lyre. Though
Orphism is rooted in cubism, this movement moved toward a
lyrical abstraction that was more pure, in the sense that this
form of painting was about synthesizing a sensation of bright
colors.
Though there is little doubt that Orphism was an influence
to later Synchromism, Synchromists would argue that it is an
entirely unique art form. As Stanton MacDonald-Wright said,
“synchromism has nothing to do with orphism and anybody who has
read the first catalogue of synchromism … would realize that we
poked fun at orphism.”
Several other American painters have been known to
experiment with synchromism. Whether synchromism was a branch
of orphism or its own unique art form, there is little doubt
that the harmonious use of color and movement based composition
inspired many artists and art forms. Among these artists were
Andrew Dasburg, Thomas Hart Benton and Patrick Henry Bruce.
Though the majority of Thomas Hart Benton’s works centered
on regionalism and murals, there was also a strong flair of
synchromism. Benton’s interest and incorporation of synchromism
was due mainly from having studied with synchromism artists
such as Stanton MacDonald-Wright and Diego Rivera.
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