About the Hard-edge Painting Movement

Hard-edge painting may have many different artists that contribute to its movement today, but one notable artist of the past that helped make the movement popular was Doris Leeper. Doris Leeper started her career as a painter and sculptor in the 1950s.⁽¹⁾ Later in the 1950s, she began to use subtle texture details as well as solid geometric shapes.⁽²⁾ These geometric forms are what led to and eventually became part of her characteristic style. However, Doris Leeper is not commonly thought of as a great member of the hard-edge painting movement. Perhaps she was too early to the movement, had too many other impressive achievements, or simply was not considered because she was not based in California.

Traditionally, the hard-edge painting movement is said to have been identified by an art-critic named Jules Langster, who was based in California. He described hard-edge painting as a style characterized by flat, abstract shapes of a certain color with 'hard' edges, meaning they were not gradients. This style can be traced back in history to artists such as Piet Mondrian and Josef Albers. According to TATE, "it can be seen as a subdivision of post-painterly abstraction, which in turn emerged from colour field painting. Artists associated with hard edge painting include Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella, William T. Williams and Sam Gilliam."⁽⁸⁾

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