Swing

Copied Sam Gilliam, Swing, 1969, acrylic and aluminum on canvas, 119 58283 12 in. (303.8720.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. Edwin Janss, Jr., 1973.189

Artwork Details

Title
Swing
Artist
Date
1969
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
119 58283 12 in. (303.8720.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. Edwin Janss, Jr.
Mediums Description
acrylic and aluminum on canvas
Classifications
Highlights
Keywords
  • Abstract
Object Number
1973.189

Artwork Description

Swing is a color field painting--a style characterized by large abstract compositions achieved through color and form, rather than line and figuration--set loose from its stretcher. Sam Gilliam folded, squeezed, and suspended enormous sheets of canvas while the paint was still wet. The title reflects this intense physical movement as well as the piece's swagged shape. Swing also evokes Gilliam's desire to "just work and let things go," as John Coltrane and other jazz musicians did in the music that frequently played in Gilliam's studio. An African American, Gilliam moved from Mississippi to Washington, DC, in the early 1960s. He created Swing when the city was torn by racial and political protests, but Gilliam resisted the pressure to make his art explicitly about his black identity. Today, he remains a vital figure on the national scene, continuing to create paintings that reveal the lyrical and expressive capacity of abstract form.