Ambi I 1960

Ambi I, held here at SFMOMA, is an acrylic on canvas piece by Morris Louis, an artist who died too young in 1962. Louis, a key figure in the Color Field movement, stained his canvases with thinned acrylic paint, allowing the colors to merge and flow into the fabric. Born in Baltimore at the start of WWI, he navigated a world deeply divided by race and class. His choice to eliminate traditional brushstrokes speaks to the social upheavals of the mid-20th century. The flowing veils of color invite us to lose ourselves in a space of pure feeling. This was a period marked by struggles for civil rights and equality. Louis's work mirrors the era's quest for liberation, expressed through an abstraction that transcends conventional boundaries. The canvas echoes the period's search for new modes of expression, embodying a spirit of change and possibility, reflecting the era’s complex negotiations of identity and freedom.