Artist

Sam Gilliam

born Tupelo, MS 1933-died Washington, DC 2022
Media - portrait_image_113542.jpg - 90299
Courtesy Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Born
Tupelo, Mississippi, United States
Died
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Active in
  • Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Biography

Gilliam is an innovative color field painter who has advanced the inventions associated with the Washington Color School. During the late 1970s, Sam Gilliam discovered that by cutting and rearranging geometric shapes from thickly painted canvases, he could expand his experiments in color and improvisation. The shifting irregular patterns in these randomly patterned canvases resemble those found in African American "crazy quilts." His large scale installations in metro stations and airports are as stimulating as his studio pieces.

Gwen Everett African American Masters: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C. and New York: Smithsonian American Art Museum in association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2003)

Works by this artist (3 items)

Ray Strong, San Francisco from Russian Hill, ca. 1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, 1974.89.9
San Francisco from Russian Hill
Dateca. 1934
oil on canvas
On view
Ray Strong, San Francisco from Russian Hill, ca. 1933-1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.102
San Francisco from Russian Hill
Dateca. 1933-1934
oil on canvas
Not on view
Ray Strong, Golden Gate Bridge, 1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.50
Golden Gate Bridge
Date1934
oil on canvas
Not on view

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      An interview with the artist Sam Gilliam. Sam Gilliam grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, and studied art in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1962 he moved to Washington, D.C., and created abstract paintings inspired by the Washington Color School artists Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland. These artists, among others, broke the rules of abstract expressionism by pouring thinned paint directly onto unprimed canvas instead of applying thick, vigorous brushstrokes. Gilliam pushed this method even further by folding and draping the canvas before it dried, creating unusual "tie-dye" effects. He started working with very large canvases in the late 1960s, hanging vast pieces of painted cloth across walls and ceilings to emphasize the relationship between the work and its environment.

      Exhibitions

      Media - 1977.48.5 - SAAM-1977.48.5_1 - 59312
      Local Color: Washington Painting at Midcentury
      July 3, 2008October 12, 2008
      Explore the expressive possibilities of color in this special installation of twenty-seven large-scale paintings from the museum's permanent collection.
      Media - 1967.59.1118 - SAAM-1967.59.1118_1 - 2924
      Artworks by African Americans from the Collection
      August 31, 2016February 28, 2017
      In celebration of the 2016 Grand Opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, SAAM will display 184 of its most important artworks by African Americans.
      Media - 1995.22.1 - SAAM-1995.22.1_1 - 65784
      African American Art in the 20th Century
      The Smithsonian American Art Museum is home to one of the most significant collections of African American art in the world.

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