"Morris Louis New: An American Master Revisited" at the Hirshhorn was the perfect way to spend the day after Christmas. I went late in the afternoon as darkness was descended amidst a steady cold rain and found the museum nearly empty: Bad for the museum, excellent for the exhibit-goer; especially, with this exhibit. I can't imagine finding the holiness of these large works in the midst of a crowd.
The show is not super-large and it doesn't give much insight into the first couple of decades of Louis' career. Decades obliterated for the most part by the artist himself, who destroyed as many of the early works, as possible. Rather it picks up with his oeuvre after a visit with Helen Frankenthaler. He witnessed her use of a new technique involving raw canvases and hyper-thinned oils and it was an epiphany that I think not only transformed his expressive life, but also validated Frankenthaler's to the extent that any pupil can rise to become a shadow over their teacher.
The show clearly covers the scope and evolution of Louis' post-Frankenthaler career. And I found the initial works the most compelling. They are like altars defining a space that is spiritual to the visceral sense that you wish you had the courage to kneel before them in an attitude of expectant prayerfulness.
I've seen many Morris Louis works in museums from New York to London, from San Francisco to DC, but until you experience a trinity of them in a space as pure and undistracting as the Hirshhorn....it's like you have never seen one of his works before. The closest analogy that I can think of to this is Rothko, and the Rothko Chapel at the Tate Modern in London. Singularly, the works are beautiful; together, they are transcendental.
You have until January 6th to catch this amazing show.
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