A Tribute to Sam Gilliam, an Abstract Art Pioneer and Global Artist

July 22, 2022 African American History, Culture and Digital Humanities | David C. Driskell Center for the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora

The David C. Driskell Center will miss and will honor him in the Fall 2022 exhibition, '"Telling Our Story: Seeing Art, Seeing Community from the Permanent Collection".

The David C. Driskell Center and the world mourns the loss of a giant in the art world, Sam Gilliam, a singular artistic genius like his good friend and colleague David C. Driskell. We are witnessing a major shift in a generation that has led to a way of recognizing and acknowledging the significant contribution of artists of color all over the world. The David C. Driskell Center has lost a friend and supporter.

Sam Gilliam, Great Colorist whose work influenced generations of artist, died at 88 years old

Gilliam was born in Tupelo, Miss., in 1933 as the seventh child of eight to a father who worked on the railroad and a homemaking mother. He attended the University of Louisville for both bachelor's and master's degrees, but in 1962 moved to Washington, D.C., where he lived and had his studio for the rest of his life. He became one of the leading artists of the Washington Color School — a 1950s movement that emphasized large fields of color.

Sam’s work can be described by many as vivid color, huge, and detailed. From canvases and frames to Drape works of the 1960s which: 1) were part painting and part sculpture; 2) huge works that hung from ceilings and went wall to wall; and 3) never hung the same way twice.

Drape work was an epiphany that came about from seeing laundry hang on a clothesline. This moment inspired him “to develop the idea of movement into shapes” (Morning Edition 2018).

A Few of Sam’s Accolades

Museum & Gallery Exhibitions

Tate Modern
The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC
The Museum of Modern Art in Paris
David Kordansky Gallery
Pace Gallery
New York's Museum of Modern Art
The Studio Museum in Harlem
Whitney Museum
Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

Awards

2015, U.S. State Department's Medal of Arts Lifetime Achievement Award

How is the DMV area honoring Sam Gilliam?

Sam Gilliam: Full Circle exhibition is on view at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., through Sept. 11 (Tsioulcas 2022).