Burgoyne Diller (b. 1906) was among the first American artists to explore the possibilities of hard-edge geometric abstraction and colour field in his work. After attending the New York Art Students League and working with the WPA for a number of years, Diller's style became more geometric as he began to integrate European Neoplasticism and Constructivism (particularly the ideas of Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich) into his work.

“For almost three decades (1930s–1965), Diller pursued the three compositional variants he had devised for his geometric abstractions. While most of these works were executed in bright red, blue, yellow, black, and white paint, others were limited to black, white, and gray, which emphasized structure over movement... in 1949, Diller was well-respected within the American arts community, but shortly thereafter he was eclipsed by the Abstract Expressionists whose emotional, gestural paintings were the opposite of his highly controlled, intellectual designs” (Metropolitan Museum of Art)