Yellow Dawn

In the 1970s, Gloria Klein developed a mathematical system to methodically divide her compositions, organize complex patterns, and distribute predetermined colors. Klein’s earliest paintings, such as Yellow Dawn, are composed of hatch marks produced by rigorously gridding and taping her canvases, using factors of 60 (for a 60-inch canvas) to determine the placement of marks. The resulting paintings resemble woven textiles in which individual “stitches” with slight variations in length, angle, or color produce a layered and all-over pattern effect. 

Klein was a member of the Criss-Cross artists’ cooperative, which explored systemic patterning as part of the larger Pattern and Decoration movement of the late 1970s. She also participated in important early initiatives for lesbian artists’ visibility, including the 1977 “Lesbian Art and Artists” issue of the journal Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics.