About This Artwork

Clyfford Still
American, 1904-1980

1951-52, 1951-52

Oil on canvas
301.8 x 396.2 cm (118 3/4 x 156 in.)
Wirt D. Walker Fund; gift of John Stephan, 1962.906

© The Clyfford Still Estate

In the late 1940s, Clyfford Still, along with Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, originated the type of Abstract Expressionism known as Field Painting, a term used to describe large canvases dominated by one uniform color or a few colors closely related in hue and value. In contrast to Newman and Rothko, who usually applied paint thinly and uniformly, Still used a palette knife, creating textural effects that give the surface a complex, nearly sculptural sense of materiality. Named after the years of its creation, 1951–52 is a rare, nearly all-black work in the artist’s oeuvre. A vertical white line to the right of center and a thin streak of red-orange along the left side provide the sole interruptions in the black field. The subtle modulations of texture and finish support the artist’s claim that "I do not oversimplify—in fact, I revel in the extra complex."