Paul Reed Art

This vibrant acrylic screen print diptych by Paul Reed uses circular, striped patterns alongside more fluid shapes in a way that conveys a sense of movement to the viewer. The orange...

Signed & dated Verso. 1965 Paul Reed in 1970. He favored “staining” untreated canvas. Paul Reed, the last surviving member of the Washington Color School, who explored the complexities of color and form in vibrant bio-morphic and hard-edge abstract paintings, died on Sept. 26 at his home in Phoenix. He was 96. His death was confirmed by his daughter, Jean Reed Roberts. Mr. Reed acquired his public identity as an artist when he was included, along with Gene Davis, Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis, Thomas Downing and Howard Mehring, in “The Washington Color Painters,” a landmark traveling exhibition that began at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art in 1965. All of the other painters had been shown, the year before, in “Post-Painterly Abstraction,” a 31-artist exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art organized by the critic Clement Greenberg in an effort to write a new chapter in the historic march of abstract art. Like his fellow Washington artists, Mr. Reed rejected the hot, gestural approach of Abstract Expressionism and explored color and abstract forms in a cooler mode. Working with diluted acrylic paint, in discrete series that methodically explored formal issues, he created luminous fields of color by letting the paint bleed into, or stain, untreated canvas. “I have a saying: Pollock dripped, Frankenthaler poured,” he told The Washington Post in 2011, referring to the artist Helen Frankenthaler. “Morris Louis poured. Howard Mehring sprinkled. I blot.” In his first stained series, “Mandala,” color radiated from a circular central image. The nearly 100 paintings in his “Disk” series, which he called “a matrix for exploiting color,” consisted of a central circle and two triangles positioned at the corners of the canvas. Over the next decade he moved to hard-edge geometric zigzags and stripes in the vertical “Upstart” series, color grids and shaped canvases that allowed for more complex experiments in form and color relations. He also made welded steel sculptures and, in the “Quad” series of the 1980s, collaged photographs. “Reed was, in a sense, the ‘little master’ of that first batch of Washington colorists,” the critic Benjamin Forgey wrote in The Washington Post in 1997. “He was a latecomer — he didn’t turn seriously to painting until he was in his mid-30s — but he never considered becoming anything other than an abstract painter. And when he was ready to show, in his early 40s, he was a very good abstract painter indeed.” Mr. Reed gave himself a more modest assessment in an interview with NPR last year. “I’m sort of low man on the totem pole of that group of six,” he said. Paul Allen...

This vibrant oil pastel drawing by Paul Reed boasts elements of photo collage, pencil and oil pastel, is energetic and lively. The bold, horizontal blue stripe creates a horizon line...

This striking and vibrant acrylic screen print by Paul Reed features minimalist shapes and provides a thought-provoking commentary on color. The pink hue at the top right corner is p...

This oil pastel drawing by Paul Reed contrasts vibrancy and dynamism with a straightforward, angled line that feels much more concise. This line acts as a frame that the abstract sub...

Paul Reed Barcelona II, 1968 Acrylic on custom-shaped canvas 42 x 57 in Signed, dated and titled on reverse Paul Reed ( 1919 - 2015 ) was a member of the " Washington Color School...

Paul Reed Zig - Field D, 1969 Acrylic On Canvas 28 x 96in Signature and title on reverse stretcher Paul Reed ( 1919 - 2015 ) was a member of the " Washington Color School " an art ...

Complementary colors purple and yellow are on full display in this large acrylic screen print by Washington Color School artist Paul Reed. The purple stripes in the top left corner l...

This oil pastel drawing is one of Reed's more fluid compositions; much of the left side of the composition is a dark blue with the bottom edges of the work putting smaller, dynamic s...

This oil pastel drawing by Paul Reed is both vibrant and dynamic. The hues of purple, green, blue, and yellow work together to create an almost iridescent appearance on paper. The co...

This colorful monotype by Paul Reed features a blue, wave-like composition reminiscent of an acrylic pour. The pour is abruptly interrupted by an unyielding bright red block of color...

This vibrant drawing created with oil pastels by Paul Reed presents a light, wispy composition with the deepest blues set slightly off-center left. The blotted pastels become a gradi...

This screen print triptych by Paul Reed employs muted colors and neutrals for a balanced composition overall. The individual prints all take on elements reminiscent of Futurism and c...

This dynamic acrylic screen print by Paul Reed uses circular, striped patterns alongside more fluid shapes in a way that seemingly conveys a sense of movement. The orange yellow hue ...

This gold and brown screen print diptych by Paul Reed takes a more neutral approach than many other works by the artist. The backgrounds of the two prints both feature a yellow hue t...

This colorful oil pastel drawing by Paul Reed was created after the artist moved to his smaller home studio in Arlington. The composition is balanced with abstract forms on either si...

This oil pastel drawing by Paul Reed uses repetition and color in a way that veers slightly from the artist's other work. It features a balanced and rhythmic pattern regarding the an...

When looking at this colorful and dynamic screen print by Paul Reed, the viewer might first notice the bright blue curved edges on either the top left or bottom right corner of this ...

This oil pastel drawing by Paul Reed is relatively muted in comparison to other works from this period. Here, the artist uses oil pastels to blend colors together in a waterfall of v...

This vibrant blue and green oil pastel drawing by Paul Reed takes an inverted approach to the artist's usual compositional style; the background is off-white and the anamorphic abstr...

This oil pastel drawing by Paul Reed uses colors such as burnt orange and browns to convey a sense of depth in the composition. The center of this work features three, off-white righ...

Paul Allen Reed Untitled #31, 1982 Oil pastel on paper Pencil signed dated and annotated "7 10 79 1" by Paul Reed on the lower front Frame included: This work is elegantly floated an...