2014
Postwar American artist Sam Gilliam was an innovative Color Field painter and lyrical abstractionist perhaps best known for working directly on draped, unprimed canvases freed from their stretcher bars in as early as the mid-1960s.
Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Gilliam studied art at the University of Louisville, earning both undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine art. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1962, where he became associated with the Washington Color School. Inspired by the vibrant hues of German Expressionism, Gilliam pushed the limits of his medium by eliminating the use of easels and stretchers. Instead, he painted on draped canvases suspended from the walls and the ceiling of his studio.
Overlooked at first, the resulting works, radiant and rippling with energy, would become universally recognized as a hallmark of Gilliam’s oeuvre. Later in his career, he would draw inspiration from jazz and textile artistry, creating improvisational collage-style “quilted” paintings on nylon or canvas that recall quilt patterns.
In 1972, Gilliam became the first Black artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale; he also exhibited at the 2017 Venice Biennale. His works can be found in more than 50 public collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art (now the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design) in Washington, D.C., the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Paris Museum of Modern Art, among many others. Gilliam’s awards include the United States State Department Medal of Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and more.
Find original Sam Gilliam prints and other art on 1stDibs.
$6,400Sale Price|20% Off
H 21.5 in W 22 in
Sam Gilliam 1998 Signed Mixed Media Lithograph Edition of 60
By Sam Gilliam
Located in Minneapolis, MN
Artist: Sam Gilliam Title: Untitled (1998) Year: 1998 Medium: Mixed Media Lithograph Size: 21.5" x 22" Frame: 28" x 29" x 3" Edition: 29/60 Inscription: Signed, dated, and numbered o...
Paper, Lithograph
$18,000
H 41 in W 32 in D 1.25 in
Sam Gilliam - Cuatro, Monoprint and collage acrylic stitching & embossing Signed
By Sam Gilliam
Located in New York, NY
Sam Gilliam Cuatro, 1994 Monoprint with screenprint, collage, acrylic, stitching and embossing in colors on handmade paper Hand signed, dated, titled and annotated P/P by Sam Gilliam...
Mixed Media, Acrylic, Monoprint, Screen
$12,500
H 31.5 in W 24 in
Sam Gilliam -Buoy Landscape IV Mixed media signed/n Abstract Expressionist print
By Sam Gilliam
Located in New York, NY
Sam Gilliam Buoy Landscape IV, 1982 Color relief print, etching, screenprint, drypoint, aquatint and roulette all from deeply etched copper plates, on handmade wove paper 31 1/2 × 24...
Mixed Media, Drypoint, Etching, Aquatint, Screen
$18,000
H 38 in W 30 in D 2 in
Sam Gilliam - Monoprint with collage acrylic stitching & embossing Signed Framed
By Sam Gilliam
Located in New York, NY
Monoprint with screenprint, collage, acrylic, stitching and embossing in colors on handmade paper, 1994, signed, dated, titled, and numbered 10/40 (each unique) in black and silver i...
Thread, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Rag Paper, Screen
$19,500
H 24 in W 28 in D 2 in
Manet Acrylic, collage, relief, handmade paper, screen print, cutouts Stitching
By Sam Gilliam
Located in Southampton, NY
"Manet" by Sam Gilliam was created in 1998, it is a Mixed-media work on Handmade paper with hand painting, relief painting, screen printing, cutouts, collage and stitching, making ea...
Thread, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Screen, Handmade Paper
$160,000
H 26 in W 31 in D 1 in
Sam Gilliam - Ab Ex painting, Ex-Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Collection, Signed
By Sam Gilliam
Located in New York, NY
Sam Gilliam Untitled Abstract Expressionist mixed media painting on paper, Ex-Museum of Modern Art Collection, 1968 Watercolor and Aluminum Paint on Fiberglass Paper. (Framed with Mu...
Fiberglass, Paint, Watercolor
$4,850
H 38 in W 20 in
"Recitals, Signed Mixed Media Print, Abstract Color Collage Design, 38x20"
By Sam Gilliam
Located in Union City, NJ
RECITALS is mixed media limited edition print by the renowned African American artist Sam Gilliam, created using Archival Inkjet, Relief, and Stencil techniques. This vertical, rainb...
Mixed Media
$7,600Sale Price|20% Off
H 20 in W 23.5 in
Sam Gilliam Shoebox Mixed Media Relief Etching Collage 1997 Signed Edition of 21
By Sam Gilliam
Located in Minneapolis, MN
Artist: Sam Gilliam Title: Shoebox Medium: Relief Etching with Collage on Handmade Paper Size: 20" x 23.5", unframed Edition: 16/21 Year: 1997 Inscription: Signed, titled, dated, and...
Paper, Etching
$11,200Sale Price|20% Off
H 11 in W 14 in
Sam Gilliam Untitled (Purple) 1996 Signed Mixed Media on Paper
By Sam Gilliam
Located in Minneapolis, MN
Artist: Sam Gilliam Title: Untitled (Purple) Year:1996 Medium: Original Mixed Media on Paper Size: 11" × 14" Inscription Front: Signed and dated lower left edge, "Sam Gilliam 96" Ins...
Paper, Mixed Media
Dance '72
By Sam Gilliam
Located in New York, NY
Color screenprint, 1972. Signed by the artist and dated in pencil, lower right margin. Numbered 24/60 in pencil lower left,. Printed and published by Workshop, Inc., Washington, DC...
Screen
"Abare" Jules Olitski, Color-Field, Abstract Expressionist, Gestural Painting
By Jules Olitski
Located in New York, NY
Jules Olitski Abare, 1987 Signed and dated on the reverse Oil-based acrylic and water-based acrylic on plexiglass 44 3/4 x 23 5/8 inches Provenance The artist Andre Emmerich Gallery...
Plexiglass, Oil, Acrylic
"Untitled (Park Avenue Series)" Beryl Barr-Sharrar, 1979 Color Field Abstraction
Located in New York, NY
Beryl Barr-Sharrar Untitled (Park Avenue Series), 1979 Signed and dated on the reverse Acrylic on canvas 44 x 73 1/2 inches As an undergraduate at Mount Holyoke College (Beryl McLe...
Canvas, Acrylic
"New Address" James Suzuki, Vibrant Color Abstract Expressionist Composition
By James Suzuki
Located in New York, NY
James Suzuki New Address, 1961 Signed and dated lower right; signed, titled and dated on the reverse Oil on canvas 54 x 42 1/2 inches James Hiroshi Suzuki...
Canvas, Oil
"Untitled (C82-142)" Hannelore Baron, Mixed Media Collage, Abstract
By Hannelore Baron
Located in New York, NY
Hannelore Baron Untitled (C82-142), 1982 Signed and dated on the reverse Mixed media collage Sheet 12 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches Provenance: Manny Silverman ...
Fabric, Paper, Mixed Media, Laid Paper
"Doubling" Sherron Francis, Abstract Expressionist, Color Field, Female Artist
By Sherron Francis
Located in New York, NY
Sherron Francis Doubling, 1983 Signed, titled and dated on the overlap Acrylic and mixed media on canvas 68 x 36 1/2 inches Provenance Houston, Texas, Watson/de Nagy & Company ...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
"Kamakura" Edward Zutrau, 1963 Abstract Expressionist Chromatic Composition
By Edward Zutrau
Located in New York, NY
Edward Zutrau Kamakura, 5/1963 Signed, dated and titled on verso Oil on linen 38 1/2 x 51 1/2 inches Edward Zutrau is among the American artists who worked within the whirlwind of ...
Linen, Oil
