WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Cynthia Carlson

Cynthia Carlson

Artist

WA-00035541

PaintingPattern and DecorationGeometric AbstractionColor Field

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ16105875

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Painting and Sculpture

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1974

No image

Untitled I

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1971

Source Registry (2)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/64638
Tier 1 · Institutional92%
Artsy (bulk)https://www.artsy.net/artist/cynthia-carlson
Tier 1 · Institutional85%

About

Why this artist matters now

Cynthia Carlson is an American painter working in acrylic and oil who constructs compositions of interlocking planes to investigate color interaction and spatial illusion. Her geometric abstractions emerged within postwar abstraction, engaging the legacy of color field painting through a systematic, architectural approach to composition. Rather than gesture or surface incident, her work prioritizes the perceptual effects of chromatic relationships and their capacity to dissolve or reinforce planar structure.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 29d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Pattern and Decoration

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago

Canonical record

Artworks (6)

WattsOS

Easy Keyhole

1980 · Acrylic and wax crayon with rhoplex on paper mounted on foam-core board

24 7/16 × 31 7/8 in. (62 × 81 cm) Other (Primary substrate): 22 3/8 × 29 15/16 in. (56.8 × 76 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

Overhanging Layback

1980 · Acrylic and wax crayon on paper

29 7/8 × 22 1/4 in. (75.9 × 56.5 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Criss Cross

1976 · Acrylic paint and watercolor on cream wove paper

49.5 × 65 cm (19 1/2 × 25 5/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Extended Lines #2

1976 · Acrylic paint, over colored chalk and price tags with string, on cream wove paper

51 × 68.5 cm (20 1/8 × 27 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Gesture Animation #7 (after Bruegel)

1976 · Acrylic and pencil on paper

22 1/2 × 30 1/8" (57.2 × 76.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

All the Elements

1974 · Colored pencil and safety pins on paper

22 × 30" (55.9 × 76.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Artwork sources (3)

6 published of 8 catalogued · 6 with image

MoMA
2 publishedof 4 catalogued4 img
Art Institute Chicago
2 published2 img
The Met
2 published

Record

Images

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

Movements3

Pattern and Decoration Geometric Abstraction Color Field

Collections3

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Art Institute of Chicago

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition Painting and Sculpture

New York · 1974

Group Exhibition Untitled I

New York · 1971