Delta Lambda 1961

Morris Louis made this painting, Delta Lambda, with acrylic resin on canvas. The process was key. Louis stained the fabric with highly diluted paint, soaking it directly into the weave. The effect is quite different from traditional painting, where the pigment sits on the surface. Here, the support and the color are intimately united. The fluid acrylics cascade down the canvas, creating rivulets of pure hue. There’s a real tension in this work. On the one hand, the color feels spontaneous, almost accidental. On the other, the artist had to control the flow of the paint, tilting and manipulating the canvas to achieve the desired effect. It's a dance between chance and control, typical of the mid-century avant-garde. This approach to art-making blurs the lines between painting and other, more hands-on disciplines, like textiles. Louis was as much a craftsman as a fine artist, and this piece reminds us that materials and processes are just as important as the final image.