Santa Monica Canyon (Cañón de Santa Mónica)

Stanton Macdonald-Wright, American, 1890 - 1973

1919

oil on canvas

Gift of Pinnacle West Capital Corporation in honor of Bill and Mary Kay Post and the Museum's 50th Anniversary

2009.144

Modern

Yes

Katz Wing, Lower Level, Contemporary Art

In 1912, while they were students in Paris, painter Stanton Macdonald-Wright collaborated with artist Morgan Russell to create a short-lived movement they called Synchromism. Using luminous color to create abstract paintings as analogues to music, it was the first American art movement to gain international attention. Their work was exhibited in Paris and Munich, and respected by European avant-garde artists. In 1919, the year Santa Monica Canyon was painted, Macdonald-Wright left New York for southern California, and established himself as a leader in developing West Coast modernism.