Clyfford Still

Clyfford Still

Clyfford Still (November 30, 1904 – June 23, 1980) was an American painter. He was one of the first artists to help start a new art style called abstract expressionists. These artists began painting in a new, strong way just after World War II.

Still started painting in this new abstract style between 1938 and 1942. He did this earlier than some of his friends, like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, who kept painting in more realistic and surrealist styles until the 1940s. His work helped change how people thought about art during an important time.

Biography

Clyfford Still was born in 1904 in Grandin, North Dakota. He grew up in Spokane, Washington, Bow Island in southern Alberta, Canada, and other places. He studied art in New York and at Spokane University. Later, he taught at Washington State College, now Washington State University.

In 1941, Still moved to the San Francisco Bay area, where he worked and painted. He had his first solo exhibition in 1943. He taught at schools and inspired many young artists. In 1950, he moved to New York City. Later, he moved to a farm in Maryland and lived there until he passed away.

Family life

Clyfford Still married Lillian August Battan around 1930. They had two daughters, born in 1939 and 1942. The couple separated in the late 1940s and divorced in 1954. In 1957, Still married Patricia Alice Garske, who had been one of his students at Washington State. She was sixteen years younger than him.

Paintings

Clyfford Still made strong paintings that used color in new ways. He taught in San Francisco from 1946 to 1950 and developed his own style there. His paintings are called "Color Field" because they show different colors and surfaces.

Still used a method called "Gestural" or "Action Painting." This means he put paint on with bold, quick strokes. His paintings often look like layers of color have been torn off. He used thick paint, making the colors shimmer in the light. His big paintings remind people of natural things like caves and trees. One of his famous works, 1957-D No. 1, uses mainly black, yellow, white, and a bit of red. These colors, along with dark blues and purples, are common in many of his paintings.

Exhibitions

Clyfford Still had his first solo show in 1943 at the San Francisco Museum of Art. In 1947, he had another show at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. He did not show his work publicly again until 1959, when a big show of his paintings happened at the Albright–Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. After that, his paintings were shown at the Institute of Contemporary Art of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1963, and at the Marlborough-Gerson gallery in New York from 1969 to 1970. In 1975, some of his paintings were put on permanent display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In 1979, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held the biggest show of Still's art at that time.

Awards

Clyfford Still got an Award of Merit for Painting in 1972 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He joined this group in 1978 and also won the Skowhegan Medal for Painting in 1975.

Estate and museum

After painter Clyfford Still passed away in 1980, his collection of artworks was kept private for many years. In 2004, the city of Denver, Colorado was chosen to receive these artworks. The Clyfford Still Museum opened in November 2011, showing many of Still's paintings and drawings, along with his personal items.

The museum building was designed by an architecture company led by Brad Cloepfil and is known for its modern style. In 2011, some of Still’s artworks were sold to help support the museum. The museum also started a research center in 2013 to learn more about Still's art.

Other collections

Clyfford Still's artwork is shown in many famous museums around the world. Some of these places include the Buffalo AKG Art Museum in Buffalo, New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Other museums with his paintings are the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Tate collection in London, among many others.

Quotes

From Still

Clyfford Still talked about his art in a thoughtful way. He wanted colors, textures, and images to feel alive together, not just stay apart. He also thought it was tricky when a painting was cut off by the edge of a frame.

He didn’t just want to show what was happening around him. He believed the world had many scientific ideas, strong forces, and sad events, and he didn’t want to add more of those to his art. He wondered how people could live and die without really understanding the difference.

From others

People who knew his work spoke well of him. Jackson Pollock said Still made the rest of them seem less original. Robert Motherwell talked about Still’s show in 1946, saying it was very new and different from others at the time. Art critic Clement Greenberg was very impressed when he first saw Still’s painting in 1948.

Art historian John Golding said Still became a very creative artist in the mid-1940s. Another art historian, Stephen Polcari, described Still’s paintings as very strong and powerful. Robert Hughes, a former art critic for Time magazine, called Still a special talent.