Original abstract painting on canvas by Kenneth Morton, signed and dated “K. Morton / 66” on the reverse, with a stretcher label naming the artist and giving his address as 1455 Lexington Avenue, New York City.
Painted in 1966, the work combines broad color fields with a heavily worked, tactile surface. A large mustard-ochre rectangle occupies the upper portion above an expansive cream-white field, with vivid blue running along the left edge and reappearing as a short horizontal accent near the lower right. Deep brown-purple borders the ochre, creating an asymmetrical framework around the central color.
The geometry is deliberately loose: edges break and overlap, underlying colors remain exposed, and passages of thinly dragged paint contrast with thicker ridges and sweeping marks. The result sits between color field abstraction and gestural geometric abstraction, balancing a restrained composition with substantial surface activity.
The painting is presented in a substantial, ornate silver-tone frame. Its broad outer molding features repeating floral ornaments surrounded by curling leaves, with a narrower band of dense scrollwork bordering the canvas. Dark recesses emphasize the raised decoration, while a stepped channel separates the two ornamental bands. The elaborate, traditional Victorian frame creates a strong visual contrast with the painting’s spare modernist forms.
• Artist: Kenneth Morton
• Date: 1966, inscribed “66” on reverse
• Original painting on stretched canvas
• Signed on reverse: “K. Morton”
• Stretcher label naming the artist with address
• Overall dimensions including frame: approximately 25.5 × 22 inches
The painted surface shows cracking, scattered marks, and localized small losses. Raised paint texture and exposed underlying layers are also visible throughout the composition; please examine the close-ups.
The frame has an aged, worn silver-colored finish, with rubbing, chips, losses to the decorative molding, and visible gaps at some corner joints. Areas of the underlying material are exposed. Both painting and frame are offered in their present condition, as photographed.