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Sam GilliamReckoning 11-9-891991
1991
$18,950
£14,259.47
€16,485.03
CA$26,757.95
A$29,013.45
CHF 15,397.09
MX$357,337.50
NOK 190,837.29
SEK 180,106.52
DKK 123,048.32
About the Item
Sam Gilliam (1933–2022) is beloved as one of the 20th century's most important abstract artists. He was a true innovator in the evolution of American abstraction. He is credited with originating several groundbreaking techniques such as removing the canvas from the stretcher and draping his paintings.
Born in Mississippi, Gilliam studied at the University of Louisville and later worked in Washington D.C. with the Washington Colour School among artists such as Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland.
With a focus on structure and materiality, experimentation was the only constant in Gilliam's practice. He pushed mediums to their boundaries, blurring the contexts in which they typically exist. Working in Washinton, D.C., at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Gilliam rejected expectations to create figurative art that addressed inequality or prioritized representation.
This unique work is exemplary of his explorative curiosity and dedication to unconventional approaches. Made with an actual fragment of the Berlin Wall, the title of this work refers to the day the Wall fell.
Gilliam painted on the fragment in his lyrical and vibrant style. By painting on this cement block, Gilliam is continuing and paying tribute to the art that adorned the Wall as a symbol of protest and expression before its fall.
This work is an outstanding example of Gilliam’s affinity for experimentation, and dedication to creating and defining art's role in unstable or changing times.
Today, Gilliam's work can be found in the permanent collections of institutions around the world. He has held solo exhibitions at MoMA (New York City), The Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.), and Kunstmuseum Basel (Switzerland).
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"Reckoning 11-9-89"
1991
Painted concrete block (from the Berlin Wall)
Signed, titled, and dated on the underside
7.5"H 7.5"W 4"D (work)
Very good condition
Provenance: the collection of Dr. Necia Harkless
- Creator:Sam Gilliam (1933, American)
- Creation Year:1991
- Dimensions:Height: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)Width: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)Depth: 4 in (10.16 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Very good condition.
- Gallery Location:Toronto, CA
- Reference Number:Seller: 07-251stDibs: LU215216902032
Sam Gilliam
Postwar American artist Sam Gilliam was an innovative Color Field painter and lyrical abstractionist perhaps best known for working directly on draped, unprimed canvases freed from their stretcher bars in as early as the mid-1960s.
Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Gilliam studied art at the University of Louisville, earning both undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine art. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1962, where he became associated with the Washington Color School. Inspired by the vibrant hues of German Expressionism, Gilliam pushed the limits of his medium by eliminating the use of easels and stretchers. Instead, he painted on draped canvases suspended from the walls and the ceiling of his studio.
Overlooked at first, the resulting works, radiant and rippling with energy, would become universally recognized as a hallmark of Gilliam’s oeuvre. Later in his career, he would draw inspiration from jazz and textile artistry, creating improvisational collage-style “quilted” paintings on nylon or canvas that recall quilt patterns.
In 1972, Gilliam became the first Black artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale; he also exhibited at the 2017 Venice Biennale. His works can be found in more than 50 public collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art (now the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design) in Washington, D.C., the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Paris Museum of Modern Art, among many others. Gilliam’s awards include the United States State Department Medal of Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and more.
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