Principles of Modernism: Unmodulated Color

Sawtooth medallion about 1900

Art historians analyze trends and describe them, often using jargon like "unmodulated color," which means plains or solids to a quilter.

Not Modern

In painting they are talking about large areas of flat color without the traditional shading seen in this 1889 portrait of a shepherd by William-Adolphe Bouguereau 

Modern

In this portrait of a clown done in 1896, Henri-Toulouse-Lautrec relies less on shading to depict the figure and her clothing: Unmodulated color.

One reason folkarts appealed to the modernists was the use of flat areas of color.

Amish Quilt

Early 20th century

Chintz Quilt

Early 19th century

We can apply the same principle to modern-looking quilts. Prints add texture and modulation to the areas of the composition--- the visual equivalent of a romantic painting.

Amish Quilt

Early 20th Century

Plains look more modern.

Early 20th Century

Mid-19th-century

Early 19th century

The age of the quilt has nothing to do with how modern it looks.

The calimanco wool quilt above from the collection of the American Folk Art Museum

is about the same age as the chintz quilt below.

Early 19th century

Early 20th century

You see the use of flat planes of color in modern prints too.

The early 19th-century chintz above is full of shading, highlights and visual texture.

CFA Voysey's "Bird & Tulip" from about 1900 uses a minimum of shading with very different effect.

Not Modern

Modern