Art as an Analogy to Music: The Work of Kenneth Noland

For Kenneth Noland (1924- ), a modern artist in the color field painting tradition, color placement is akin to musical composition. Noland believes that each color possesses a pitch that resonates and affects other, adjacent colors, which in turn affect the overall composition. Colors can also be used in conjunction with each other like major and minor chords and repeated in varying ways to create visual counterpoint. The musical analogies include harmony, dissonance, tone and dynamics.

The work of Kenneth Noland is characterized by carefully planned geometric patterns and color dynamics. Noland''s greatest desire was to find equilibrium between structure and color. This aim was alien to the complex, neurotic psychological issues of many other forms of modern art such as Surrealism.

Kenneth Noland''s paintings often feature a single central focus that contrasts with the complexity of most compositions in the pre-modern period. Noland pushed the limits of traditional fo rmatting even further in other works by combining a large scale with unusually shaped canvases. Some works were formatted symmetrically with shapes such as diamonds and others were irregularly shaped.

The work of Kenneth Noland utilizes an approach to composition that is an energetic celebration of life and color. Noland''s outstanding painting entitled Song (1958) is the most obvious example of his attempt to translate musical sounds into color harmonies. The central pink circle, surrounded by a ring of red, then a concentric band of black, then red again, then deep blue and then a final band of gray with a hazy, irregular edge, is like a single brass note vibrating outwardly until the sound begins to disintegrate and fade.

The horn is blaring and the message is carried forward clearly: life, pleasure and color are to be acclaimed boldly and without apology. In Noland''s work entitled Song, color has found a voice and the internal harmonies are exquisitely tight and s trong.