One of the last vertical stripe paintings made before Morris Louis’s death in 1962, Number 4-31 is a commanding example of an artist at the height of his production, flawlessly synthesizing color and form into a sweeping and hypnotic image. Pulsating with rich atmospheric hues, Sounds in the Summer Night is a testament to Kenneth Noland’s virtuosic exploration of color and an outstanding example from the artist’s acclaimed Target series, a body of work long recognized as one of the seminal achievements of post-war American abstraction. Rendered in exquisite gem-like hues, in the largest scale of the series, and during a seminal year of Josef Albers’s career, Homage to the Square in Green Frames is a superlative example from one of the most iconic series in all of the twentieth century.
These works of the William S. Paley Collection will be offered in the Contemporary Evening Auction on 16 November as a part of the New York Sales at Sotheby’s.
