John McLaughlin was a self-taught American painter known for his austere geometric abstractions based in the Zen Buddhist notion of the void. Employing precisely painted rectangular and gridded forms of beige, warm black, marigold yellow, and deep indigo, McLaughlin’s works intended to provoke a meditative state. “My purpose is to achieve the totally abstract,” he once reflected. “I want to communicate only to the extent that the painting will serve to induce or intensify the viewer’s natural desire for contemplation without the benefit of a guiding principle.” Born on May 21, 1898 in Sharon, MA, McLaughlin’s parents fostered his interest in Asian art throughout his childhood. Serving in World War I as a young man, he later lived with his wife...