Water Gate, 1960
Oil on masonite
Gift of the Sewell Sillman Foundation 2009.11.1

Sewell Sillman’s painting Water Gate is part of a series that abstractly represent doors, portals, and gates. The combination of colors, however, is the true subject here. As a student of Josef Albers at Black Mountain College, and his teaching assistant at Yale University, Sillman developed interests in color theory and design similar to those of the German Modernist.

Albers created simple geometric compositions, like his well-known “Homage to the Square” or “Variant,” designed to allow for maximum experimentation in color. The overall composition remained the same from work to work, but the color arrangements varied, demonstrating the interaction of different hues. Sillman also utilized a relatively simple geometric structure in his portal paintings, allowing his use of color to take precedence.