Louis, Morris (1912–1962)

US abstract painter. He painted totally abstract works, aiming at purely colouristic effects by soaking unprimed, and therefore highly absorbent, canvas with thinned-out acrylic paint. Works in the series Veils 1954–60 and Unfurleds 1960–61 are typical.

He developed his technique by moving away from abstract expressionism and adopting the colour-staining technique developed by Helen Frankenthaler. In his early works, such as the series Veils, the canvases are saturated by successive layers of colour. In subsequent paintings these are separated into distinct bands, his last works consisting of vertical or horizontal stripes in intense glowing colour.