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Sam Gilliam
After Smoke: large limited edition abstract screen print, signed Artist Proof

1985

$9,000
£6,743.84
€7,905.75
CA$12,604.43
A$14,127.41
CHF 7,395.89
MX$174,323.85
NOK 92,906.25
SEK 87,454.28
DKK 58,977.39
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About the Item

This is a large, framed abstract color screenprint on Arches paper. It is a rare Artist Proof, #11/14, aside from the edition of 73. Signed, titled, dated, and inscribed "Artist Proof 11/14" in pencil in the lower margin. Printed by Stovall Printmaking Workshop, Washington, DC, with the blind stamp lower left. Sight: 30.5" x 37.5" professionally framed to 40.25" x 47.25". Double matted with white archival materials and framed in a contemporary, narrow gold metal frame. Some slight scratches on frame commensurate with age. Print is in excellent condition. Provenance: Collection of artist P. Buckley Moss. Please contact me to arrange reduced price, speedy delivery in the Philadelphia, PA area. Washington, DC artist Sam Gilliam (1933-2022) was part of the Washington Color School in the 1960s, an association of artists including Thomas Downing, Gene Davis, Morris Louis, and Kenneth Noland, who were indebted to the Abstract Expressionists experimentation with color and form. Gilliam’s deeper experimentation with process and the introduction of sculptural elements into his work took him beyond the association with the Washington School, and he has since become a leader in exploring the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and printmaking. Gilliam began extensively incorporating printmaking techniques and paper into his practice, making his first prints in collaboration in the early 1970s with the printmaking workshop of Lou Stovall, who would later publish Gilliam’s After Smoke. At this time, Gilliam was among the first Black artists to represent the U.S. at the Venice Biennale, preceded only by Jacob Lawrence and Norman Lewis. By the 1980s Gilliam had been building up his surfaces with applied collaged pieces, an aesthetic that appears in After Smoke. Gilliam also pushed his explorations of painting as sculpture, producing The Saint of Moritz Outside Mondrian, 1984 (The Menil Collection, Houston, TX), a sculptural painting in acrylic, canvas, and metal. The following year, Gilliam created After Smoke, whose composition echoes the Menil Collection work. Gilliam was born in Tupelo, MI and earned his BA and MA degrees in Painting from the University of Louisville (KY). His work is included in over fifty permanent collections, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France; Tate Modern, London, England; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; and Art Institute of Chicago, IL. He has had numerous solo exhibitions at institutions worldwide including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (2022); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2018); Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2011); J.B. Speed Memorial Museum, Louisville, KY (1996); Whitney Museum of American Art, Philip Morris Branch, New York, NY (1993); The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY (1982); and Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (1971), among many other institutions. Recent group exhibitions include Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (2024–2025); Edges of Ailey, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2024); Day for Night: New American Realism, organized by the Aïshti Foundation, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy (2024); Abstraction after Modernism: Recent Acquisitions, Menil Collection, Houston, TX (2024); and American Voices and Visions: Modern and Contemporary Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. (2023). Gilliam has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions at institutions worldwide including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (2022); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2018); Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2011); J.B. Speed Memorial Museum, Louisville, KY (1996); Whitney Museum of American Art, Philip Morris Branch, New York, NY (1993); The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY (1982); and Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (1971), among many other institutions. In 2021, Dia Art Foundation, New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston made the historic joint acquisition of Gilliam’s important early work, the monumental installation Double Merge (1968), which was on view 2019–2022 at Dia Beacon in New York. Recent group exhibitions include Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (2024–2025); Edges of Ailey, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2024); Day for Night: New American Realism, organized by the Aïshti Foundation, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy (2024); Abstraction after Modernism: Recent Acquisitions, Menil Collection, Houston, TX (2024); and American Voices and Visions: Modern and Contemporary Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. (2023). His work is included in over fifty permanent collections, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France; Tate Modern, London, England; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; and Art Institute of Chicago, IL. ( Biography courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery).
  • Creator:
    Sam Gilliam (1933, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1985
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 40.25 in (102.24 cm)Width: 47.25 in (120.02 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Minor scratches on gold metal frame.
  • Gallery Location:
    Bryn Mawr, PA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1416216536352

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