Untitled, 1974
acrylic on polypropylene
20" x 24"
Snow Lane, 1996
multi-layered relief, die-cut, collaged monoprint with raked acrylic medium on handmade paper
34 1/2" x 34 1/2"
In the Fog, 2010
mixed media relief, acrylic paint, nylon thread, and collage on handmade paper
31" x 38"
unique from edition of 25
Cool Zebras #9, 1997
multi-layered relief and die-cut collage with hand additions
12" x 12"
For the Fog, 2010
relief, digital, acrylic paint, polymer varnish, rivets, aluminum plate, wood veneer, hand sewing
28 1/2" x 44"
For the Fog, 2010
relief, acrylic paint, wood veneer, varnish, Japanese paper, rivets, handmade paper
28" x 43 1/2"
Sam Gilliam (1933-2022) became prominent during the 1960s as part of the Washington Color School. Born in Tupelo, MS, and raised in Louisville, KY, Gilliam is best known for his innovative Drape paintings, painted canvases without stretcher bars that were hung from the ceiling or draped along walls. The innovation allowed his work to flow naturally, looping and overlapping free from the architecture of the frame, thereby bridging the gap between painting and sculpture. Gilliam's career has spanned decades and mediums, primarily canvas and mixed media collage.
Gilliam studied painting at the University of Louisville, receiving both undergraduate and graduate degrees, before moving to Washington, DC in 1962. He became an art teacher at McKinley Technical High School, his first of many teaching positions, and began an influential friendship with Color School painter Thomas Downing. Gilliam's career took off in 1969 when he shocked the local art scene with his solo show of Drape paintings. In 1972 he became the first Black artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale.
Many Black artists of the 60s and 70s were expected to engage in overtly political art, and as an abstract artist Gilliam resisted those expectations. However, although most of his work was not overtly political, he did address current events, such as Martin Luther King, Jr's assassination and the Vietnam War protests, in his painting titles.
Gilliam's later works incorporated expressionistic, vivid marks on layers of aluminum, Japanese paper, or wood veneer, joining them together like puzzle pieces with rivets and thread, and coated with varnish. Gilliam even sewed canvas or paper together, referencing quilting. A highlight of his career is the recent 28-foot commissioned work for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. A solo show of Gilliam's work opened at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 2022, the artist's first since his 2005 Corcoran Gallery of Art retrospective.
Gilliam's work is in the collections of the Tate Modern, London; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; and more.
Bethesda Fine Art is proud to present #Corcoran1970s, an exhibition celebrating the circle of abstract artists who showed, taught, and were affiliated with the Corcoran Gallery of Art in the 1970s. The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an artistic center for Washington, D.C. artists, particularly abstractionists, during the 1970’s. Active in the Corcoran’s orbit were Washington Color School notables such as Leon Berkowitz, Cynthia Bickley-Green, Gene Davis, Sam Gilliam, Mimi Herbert, Dan Yellow Kuhne, Howard Mehring, Paul Reed, and Kenneth Young. While most showed in group shows, a select few, including Berkowitz, Davis, Mehring, Reed, and Young, had their own solo exhibitions.
Claudia Rousseau, Ph.D. reviews #Corcoran1970s on East City Art.
Washington Post critic Mark Jenkins writes: "Pretty, genteel and increasingly venerable, the paintings of 20th-century DC colorists are now enjoying a commercial revival. Bethesda Fine Art, which specializes in them, offers some fine examples in 'Washington Color School: 50 Years Later.'”
