SYNCHROMISM

art movement begun by American painters Morgan Russell and Stanton Macdonald-Wright in 191213 that focused on colour. At the time, the two artists were living in Paris, painting abstract works they called synchromies. Although the multicoloured forms in their paintings strongly resembled the whirling circles of the Orphist Cubist paintings of Robert Delaunay and Frantiek Kupka (see Orphism), Russell and Macdonald-Wright claimed originality for their works. The first Synchromist painting, Synchromy in Green by Russell, was exhibited in 1913 at the Paris Salon des Indpendants. In the same year, the Synchromists held their first exhibition, in Munich, followed by one in Paris at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune. In March 1914 their works were shown at the Carroll Gallery, New York. In a 1916 statement on Synchromism, Macdonald-Wright described how he purified his paintings to create effects through rhythmic colour forms, explaining that color, in order to function significantly, must be used as an abstract medium. Synchromism briefly attracted several American painters, among them Thomas Hart Benton, Patrick Henry Bruce, and Andrew Dasburg. Although Russell and Macdonald-Wright abandoned Synchromism about 1919, returning to representational works, they were important pioneers of American abstract art.