His work stands alone because it derives from the Romantic landscape previously articulated by Avery and early Rothko (who was a friend) and later developed into almost hard-edged painting.
An implicit grid has served as an understructure of his paintings throughout the years except for a period in the 60s when he used few intense colors on raw cotton with hand drawn perfect lines that sometimes formed a polygon.
This gave him another attack element, an underlying structure of interest to support and give point to his sensuous and precisely weighted color.
The slight roughness of the lines, softening the plane edges without lessening the impact of the image, saves the painting from mechanical precision.
Boardman’s spontaneous works on paper exhibit energetic vigor in attacking the surface with a concentration on strong and overlapping oil stick marks, maximizing his sense of palpable shallow space.
He served in the United States Air Force from 1942 to 1946, during which he was hospitalized for over a year due to a wound to his left shoulder, which resulted in partial paralysis of the arm and hand.
[1] After a full medical discharge from the service in 1946, he left for Paris to continue his art education at the École des Beaux-Arts, Académie de la Grande Chaumière, and Atelier Fernand Léger.
He began to acquire recognition in the 1950s with his paintings of griddled facets seen as if through a frosted glass, without any crisp lines, and in bright colors favoring reds.
Boardman's friends included Lawrence Calcagno, Perez Celis, John Hultberg, Burt Hasen, Frank Lobdell, Richards Ruben, Robert Ryman and Nassos Daphnis.
Thomas Levitt, the Director, wrote in the catalogue, "…Seymour Boardman has gradually eliminated the arbitrary aspects of his work until only straight lines and two or three areas of flat, usually somber, tones remain…" This accurately describes the paintings of that period.
Interest in his work continues to grow, and in 2010 Anita Shapolsky Gallery presented the exhibition Modern Sensibilities: Ernest Briggs & Seymour Boardman.