Frederick Hammersley was one of the Four Abstract Classicists, a group of groundbreaking young painters working in Southern California after World War II. Hammersley’s work is emblematic of their hard-edge painting style. Much like the artist himself, his artwork he created is measured, clever, intelligent, and cool. 

Hammersley kept comprehensive notebooks and sketchbooks that capture his thought process, material use, and compositional strategies. The sketchbooks reveal an exhaustive contemplation of the subtle difference created by shifts in line and color.