It’s founders believed Synchromism to be "....the only possible version of reality capable of expressing the totality of different qualities applicable exclusively to painting.''

In such a short phrase, there’s a lot for the movement to work with. Taking into account earlier works moving towards abstraction and making use of color to express emotion, the founders of Synchromism - both Morgan Russel and Stanton Macdonald Wright - were both of American stock, but educated in Europe, Paris specifically.

Up until this particular point in time, the early teens of the twentieth century, American artists hadn’t as of yet been received with a round of huzzahs from their Euro counterparts. Perhaps there wasn’t anything worth lauding at the point. Whatever the case, though, Russel and Wright’s slight derivation from Cubism and Orphism marked a crucial point in American fine arts.

Both returned home with ideas pushing towards the abstract. For Russell, who would eventually disassociate with the movement, only a brief trip back and an exhibition in this country would count as time in the States, prior to moving to Pennsylvania late in life. But Wright, who returned sampled both east and west coasts, eventually settling in the Los Angeles area, would wind up being in charge of So Cal’s branch of the WPA during the depression.

His overseeing of public art as well as his own murals don’t generally ape the affectations of Synchomism, but obviously count as an indispensable part of America’s history - within the arts as well as in politics and social history.

What’s interesting is the fact that neither these men nor the movement they worked to cement really had legs in the grand scheme of things. Obviously, various approaches to painting came and went, but contributing to America’s first internationally known painterly movement seems to deserve more than being pushed asside.

Granted, both Russell and Wright have work hung in prominent galleries around the country, LACMA being a notable one. And while the enduring qualities of the work - which do now seem a bit light and frivolous to be taken ultra seriously - have been swept up in movements referencing similar source material, it’s worth wondering why these folks haven’t been anthologized in the same way that other innovators have. Of course, neither figure sports an all too enticing narrative-as-life. But that shouldn't’ relegate these folks to second class artists.

Like the paintings or not, Synchomism provided a bridge to new things, not just in the States, but internationally.