Chapter 11: Synchromy – Color as Music

One of my favorite artworks is a 1919 painting by Stanton MacDonald Wright:

(link here)

SMW was way ahead of his time, and never quite got the notoriety he deserved for breaking new ground in the arts.

Having lived in California for most of his life, before his passing in 1973, he was strongly influenced by the early Cubism movement as well as Asian art. SMW (along with Morgan Russell) developed a new color theory in the early 1900s, believing that color had sound equivalents… and that if they painted in color scales as music is composed in scales, their paintings would evoke musical sensations. They called this new movement “synchromism” or “synchromy”.

Just as music is composed of particular notes (A through G, with sharps and flats), certain chord combinations, and key signatures (major and minor) - each of which can evoke a different mood - SMW had arranging the full color spectrum as “notes” on a palette. And by using different color combinations into various “color chords” and “color key signatures” he would then paint with a certain palette of colors to evoke or enhance a particular mood he was trying to convey. The results are paintings rich in complex color harmonies and lyrical melodies.

The painting in question (titled “Synchromy in Purple”) is on permanent display at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) on Wilshire Boulevard. In the summer of 2001, I was lucky enough to seen a full exhibit of well over 60 of his paintings which were on display as part of a traveling exhibit that also went to North Carolina. His theory is fascinating. And whenever I visit the LACMA I always try to find that painting and spend some time just contemplating it… absorbing it’s mood… listening to it’s harmonies.

It’s been at least two years since I was last at the LACMA, and I think I need to go back down there again sometime later this month. The popular King Tut exhibit is going on right now, and it’s going to be a madhouse (especially on the weekends). So, rather than waiting for hours in line to be briefly herded through that exhibit, I think I’ll check out the rest of what the museum has to offer… and take another long look at this favorite painting of mine.