“Translucence: Southern California Art from the 1960s

Norman Zammitt, an artist whose mural-size paintings in rich colors blend a straight-edged precision with a meditative mood, has died. He was 76.

His art did not fit neatly into a single school or movement but overlapped several. His interest in capturing light and space related his work to that of such artists as Larry Bell and Robert Irwin, Eliel said. At the same time, his precision and a preference for sleek surfaces related his creations to the art of Billy Al Bengston, among other California artists who rose to prominence in the 1970s, Eliel said.

Although Zammitt is not as well known as some of his contemporaries, his art is included in the collections of major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Hirschhorn Collection in Washington, D.C. He had solo exhibits at several leading museums, including the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., in 1978.