Morgan Russell, an American painter, was one of the founders of Synchromism, a rhythmic use of color analogous to musical composition, that would be the first American non-objective theory of painting. This theory was the culmination of Russell’s life work and interests in music, religion, philosophy and science.
Background
Morgan Russell was born on January 25, 1886 in New York, United States. He was the son of Antoinette Miner and Charles Jean Russell. Charles Russell passed away, when his son was only nine. Antoinette Miner remarried three years later. When she died in 1909, the young Russell found himself without any family.
Education
During the period from 1903 to 1905, Morgan attended the Art Students League, where he studied sculpture. It was in this same class, where he encountered his future benefactor, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, an important patron of the arts. Russell enrolled in an architecture school in 1904 and studied there for two years. His studies in architecture influenced his artwork.
Some time later, Morgan went to Europe to study art in Paris and Rome. In 1907, upon his return to New York, Morgan studied painting at the New York School of Arts, where Robert Henri was one of his mentors. Returning to Paris in 1909, he studied at Matisse’s art school, frequented Gertrude Stein's salon and met Pablo Picasso and Auguste Rodin.
Morgan's encounter with Stanton Macdonald-Wright in 1911 had an enormous impact on his artistic career. Their collaboration and constructive critique of each other’s work was very productive. Russell and his colleague were primarily interested in the abstract use of color. Together, they developed an abstract painting style they called Synchromism, meaning "simply color". This movement was based on the idea, that color can be orchestrated like music.
Macdonald-Wright and Russell had their first exhibition of Synchromist paintings in June of 1913 at the Der Neue Kunstsalon in Munich, followed by the Gallery Berheim-Jeune. Russell also exhibited his work at The Armory Show in 1913, the first international exhibition of Modern Art in the United States.
By the end of 1915, his work became more realist, than abstract. Meanwhile, Stanton Macdonald-Wright decided to stay true to Synchromism. Russell went back to the United States in 1916 to exhibit his work at the Anderson gallery in New York.
In 1918, Russell moved to France. After living briefly in Nice, Russell left for Paris, where he found himself overwhelmed by the pace of the urban life style. On July 4, 1921, he bought a farm and settled in Aigremont, a village in Burgundy. During the period from 1922 to 1925, Morgan exhibited his works in Salon des Independants in Paris.
By the end of the 1920s, his paintings returned to mainly figurations with strong Expressionists colors and Cubist technique and boldness. However, the artist never truly abandoned Synchromies. Later in life, he combined figural painting and Synchromies.
In 1931, Russell went to California and worked at the Chouinard School of Art (later known as Chouinard Foundation School) in Los Angeles. Once he had completed the academic year in Los Angeles, he decided that he would return to France.
Through the last half of the 1930s, Russell painted several religious themes, such as Christ’s Resurrection.
During the last years of his life, Morgan settled down in the United States. In the early 1950s, his works were shown in New York at the Rose Fried Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art.