Blue Planet
Blue Planet, 1965, Helen Lundeberg. Acrylic on canvas. 60 x 60 in. The Marilynn and Carl Thoma Collection. © Feitelson Arts Foundation, courtesy Louis Stern Fine Arts
On View at the Getty Center: Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950-1970
In the mid-1940s, artists in Los Angeles began developing new forms of painting and sculpture that offered a uniquely Californian take on modern art. Hard-edge painting is a form of abstraction in which geometric forms are delineated by clean painted borders. Artists working in this style, including Helen Lundeberg, emphasized unified composition, rhythmic patterning, balanced geometric shapes, and complementary color relationships. Blue Planet is one of many works by Lundeberg that draw on organic forms found in nature, recalling not only planets but pools of water and islands as well. Although many of her canvases are dominated by angular, geometric shapes, Lundeberg also created more curvilinear compositions. The nesting, circular forms of Blue Planet produce a cool, soft composition while still retaining the clearly defined borders that characterize hard-edge painting.
Exhibition audio: More about Lundeberg’s work
Explore the Archive
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Abstract Classicists meet at Lorser Feitelson’s studio in Los Angeles, May 10, 1959
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Helen Lundeberg in front of one of her paintings. Photo by Frank J. Thomas. Courtesy of the Frank J. Thomas Archives
