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.”
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Dorothy Canning Miller, 15 Americans, exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1952), 47, as Painting.
Eduard Trier, II. documenta: Kunst nach 1945 International Ausstellung, exh. cat. (Köln: M. DuMont Schauberg, 1959), 384, 385 (ill.), as Painting, 1951-52.
Lawrence Alloway, “Sign and Surface Notes on Black and White Painting in New York.” in Quadrum IX (Association Pour La Diffusion Artistique et Culturelle, ADAC, 1960), 60 (ill.).
Allan Kaprow, “Entering Public Domain” ARTnews 62, no. 10 (February 1964): 35.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Clyfford Still, exh. cat. (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1976), n.p., cat. 7 (ill.).
Kynaston McShine, ed., Barbara Novak, Robert Rosenblum, and John Wilmerding, The Natural Paradise: Painting in America 1800–1950, exh. cat. (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1976), 46 (ill.), as Painting, 1952.
John Philip O’Neill, Clyfford Still, exh. cat. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979), 184 (ill.), 193, 197, 198.
Adam Schor, “Art lovers contemplate Still life” The Outside World (May 1, 1985), 2.
Ben Heller, Clyfford Still: Dark Hues/Close Values, exh. cat. (New York: Mary Boone Gallery, 1990), n.p. (color ill.), as Untitled, 1952.
Daniel Schulman, “Untitled, 1958 by Clyfford Still.” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 25 (1999): 20.
Carter Ratcliff, “The Idea of Order in the Art of Clyfford Still,” Art in America 89, no. 12 (December 2001): 81-82, 83 (ill.), 84-85.
James Demetrion, David Anfam, Neal David Benezra, and Brooks Adams, Clyfford Still: Paintings, 1944-1960, exh cat. (Washington, D.C.: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, 2001), n.p., cat. 29, 161.
Daniel Kunitz,”Clyfford Still: The Importance of Being Earnest.” New Criterion 20 (October 2001): 42.
Dean Sobel, David Anfam, Diane Still Knox, and Sandra L. Still Campbell, Clyfford Still: The Artist’s Museum (New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2012), 16, fig. 1 as PH-246, 1951-52 (ill.), 23, 49, n. 9.
Dean Sobel, “Why a Clyfford Still Museum?” in Clyfford Still Museum: Inaugural Publication (Denver: Clyfford Still Museum, 2012), (color ill.), fig. 15 and 16, 65, n 8-9. (ill.).
Sobel Dean, Neal David Benezra, and David Anfam, Repeat/Recreate: Clyfford Still’s “Replicas,” exh. cat. (Denver: Clyfford Still Museum, 2015), 20, fig. 12 as PH-246 (1951-52), 21 (color ill.), 43, fig. 12.
Dean Sobel, David Anfam, Dorothea Rockburne, and Alex Katz, Clyfford Still: The Late Works, exh. cat. (New York: Rizzoli Electa, with Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, 2020), 18, fig. 6 (color ill.) as PH-246.
New York City, The Museum of Modern Art, Fifteen Americans, Apr. 9-July 27, 1952, no cat. no.
Kassel, Documenta 59, Kunst nach 1945 International Ausstellung, July 11-Oct. 11, 1959, cat. 1.
Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Smithsonian Institution, Clyfford Still: Paintings, 1944-1960, June 20, 2001-Sept. 16, 2001, cat. 29.
The artist; John and Ruth Stephan, New York, by Dec. 1954 {email from Molly Warnock, the Clyfford Still Museum, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, Dec. 11, 1962
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