Stanton MacDONALD-WRIGHT US, 1890-1973
"I strive to make my art bear the same relation to painting that polyphony bears to music. Illustrative music is a thing of the past: it has become abstract and purely aesthetic, dependent for its effect upon rhythm and form.“- Stanton MacDonald-Wright
Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1890, Stanton Macdonald-Wright moved to California at age eleven. He went to Paris in 1907; his studies there led him to optical theories and color technology, which influenced the development of a new stylistic approach called “Synchromy.” This movement was interested in producing form through color and combined optical science and color theory with fine art, purporting that each color changes depending on the colors that surround it. It was also based on “Synesthesia,” a disorder that crosses sense perception (those with Synesthesia might “taste” or “hear” color). For Macdonald-Wright, Synchromy allowed a viewer to tap into this phenomenon, and he believed that color tone in his painting conveyed unique musical tones and suggested mood, depth, and resonance to affect the subconscious.
- Courtesy of the Weisman Art Museum