Sam Gilliam

Sam Gilliam (American, born 1933)

Gilliam studied at the University of Louisville, earning a MFA in 1961. He moved to Washington D. C. shortly after college, and became involved with the abstract group known as the Washington Color School, which also included artists Kenneth Noland and Alma Thomas. In 1969, he developed his “draped painting” technique: washes of color over large, unsupported canvases, hung from ceilings or walls. The drape paintings, as well as his sculptural color field paintings, have been shown numerous times at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Museum of Modern Art since 1968.

Important Source Material:

Gilliam, Sam and Annie Gawlak. “Solids and Veils,” in Art Journal. Vol. 50, No. 1. Spring, 1991.

Gilliam, Sam. “Sam Gilliam” on NEA Arts.gov. Vol. 4, 2011. Accessed on 15 March 2013.

Patton, Sharon F. African American Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1998.

TAL