Florence Arnold

Florence Arnold Color Screen Print, Signed and Dated

1977

Florence Arnold began painting seriously in 1947. By the late 1950s she associated with a group of painters including Karl Benjamin, Paul Darrow, Doug McCleland, Frederick Hammersley, and Jack Zajac. She was inspired by John McLaughin’s abstract works. Her style, abstract classicism or hard-edge, matured by the early 1960s. Jules Langsner defined the term “hard-edge” in the late 1950s for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibition: “Four Abstract Classicist” In 1964 a second major hard/edge exhibition curated by Jules Langsner was held at The Pavillion Gallery in Balboa, California (also known as The Newport Museum) with the cooperation of the Arkum Gallery, Ester Robles Gallery, Felix Landau Gallery, Ferus Gallery and Heritage Gallery of Los Angeles. This was called simply “California Hard-Edge Painting.” Included in this show were Florence Arnold, John Barbour, Larry Bell, Karl Benjamin, John Copeland, Lotser Feitelson, Fredrick Hammersley, June Harwood, Helen Lundeberg, John McLaughlin and Dorthy Walkman. By the 1970s, Arnold’s work was included in museums and collections around the United States and Europe.