Stanton Macdonald-Wright, “Stony River Rippling, Lightning Flickering,” 1966-1967, Woodblock print on mulberry paper, 17.875 x 21.5 in.

The early 20th century was a period of rapid innovation in Western art, with artists seeking to break free from the representational shackles of the past. In the scrum of early modern painting that was Paris, Stanton Macdonald-Wright (1890–1973) was one of the few Americans who stood out, if only briefly. Alongside his compatriot Morgan Russell, he co-founded Synchromism, an art movement that in the liberating wake of cubism and the Fauves sought to create a form of painting analogous to music, using color arrangement to evoke sound and rhythm. The fire of Synchromism burned bright but brief and neither Macdonald-Wright nor Russell were able to parlay their time in Paris into fame or success once they returned stateside. Macdonald-Wright drifted to Los Angeles, where between the wars he turned to an abstracted form of figurative painting and found moderate success in the local scene. By the 1950s and early ‘60s, when his early work was ripe for rediscovery, he was leading a relatively quiet life, his work heavily influenced by his discovery of Japanese painting and poetry.

From their vaults, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts has brought to the light three lovely works by the artist from this period. During an artist’s residency at a Buddhist monastery in Kyoto in the 1960s, Macdonald-Wright developed a portfolio of prints influenced by his observations of the haiku tradition. The haiku’s aim to capture the essence of a moment in a few brief lines, often incorporating a seasonal reference and a juxtaposition of images, finds a visual echo in Macdonald-Wright’s woodcuts. On exhibit in the museum’s ACME Lab, these woodcuts stand out for their synchromistic exploration of sound and atmosphere: each piece not only showcases Macdonald-Wright’s early development of Synchromism but also reflects his fascination with depicting the intangible—sound—through the tangible medium of woodcut prints.

“Stony River Rippling, Lightning Flickering” presents an abstract landscape throbbing with life and movement. The jagged yellow strikes of lightning serve as visual onomatopoeia, their zigzag forms slicing through the serene blues and greens of the river scene. Macdonald-Wright’s use of contrasting colors creates a dynamic tension, while the rhythmic patterns of the river’s ripples allude to the auditory experience of a storm’s power.

Stanton Macdonald-Wright, “An Old Pond, A Frog Leaps in, The Sound of Water,” 1966-1967, Woodblock print on mulberry paper, 21.5 × 17.875 in.

In “An Old Pond, A Frog Leaps in, The Sound of Water,” we witness a shift to the more harmonious interaction of elements. Here, the concentric circles emanating from the central splash evoke the gentle plop of a frog’s leap into the still pond. The swirls of blue and white are the ripples made visible, the silent sound waves turned into a visual spectacle. This woodcut captures the tranquil moment when sound and silence coalesce, underscoring the Synchromist principle that visual harmony can be achieved through the careful orchestration of color.

“Cruel Heat, My Mind in a Whirl, I Listen to the Thunder Rumble” takes us into the more oppressive ambiance of a summer’s heatwave, where the mind’s turmoil is mirrored in the swirling forms of the composition. The heat here is almost audible, the colors evoking the low, distant rumble of thunder. In this woodcut, Macdonald-Wright explores the sensory overload of a heated moment, the palette a visual crescendo of thunder’s approach.

The artist’s approach to these woodcuts reflects a synesthetic ambition. Synesthesia, the cross-sensory experience where one sense involuntarily prompts an experience in another—such as seeing colors when hearing music—was a concept that intrigued many avant-garde artists. In Macdonald-Wright’s case, his Synchromism aimed to visualize the auditory and harmonize the visual with the sensual experience of sound. What is remarkable about Macdonald-Wright’s late woodcuts is how they visually manifest the sounds suggested by the haikus—ripples, splashes, and thunder. These are not literal representations but abstract interpretations where form and color resonate with the sound each haiku intimates. The woodcuts do not depict a scene but rather an experience, an auditory sensation captured through the visual medium.

Stanton Macdonald-Wright, “Cruel Heat, My Mind in a Whirl, I Listen to the Thunder Rumble,” 1966-1967, Woodblock print on mulberry paper, 21.5 × 17.875 in.

The Sound of Water: Woodcuts by Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, through June 16.

Shawn Rossiter

The founder of Artists of Utah and editor of its online magazine, 15 Bytes, Shawn Rossiter has undergraduate degrees in English, French and Italian Literature and studied Comparative Literature in graduate school before pursuing a career in art.