Maurice Sullins Art
Legend has it a dream about a water fountain in France first compelled Maurice Sullins to paint at the age of sixty. The year was 1970, and Sullins was an airplane waxer at the municipal airport in Joliet, Illinois. Armed with an insatiable appetite for reading and a vivid imagination, he began to paint obsessively and produced some 1,200 paintings, most of which have never been seen before.
Entirely self-taught, Sullins became a true master of his craft and developed a total command of color, composition and technique. Over the course of his short career spanning 15 years (1970–85), Sullins worked in near isolation and never showed his paintings. He died on March 21, 1995, at 84 years old. Sullins’s family placed the paintings in storage, where they remained out of sight for 22 years.
In 2017, Hana Pietri Gallery became the Sullins estate dealer and presented the artist’s first exhibition since 1995 in Chicago that same year. Produced in partnership with the French Consulate General of Chicago, the show attracted major attention and marked the beginning of a series of events reintroducing his works to the public.
Maurice Sullins was undeniably one of America’s great self-taught artists. He was at the cusp of receiving major attention when he died, leaving behind an exceptional body of work yet to be discovered. After decades away from the public eye, the Maurice Sullins collection is being unveiled by Hana Pietri Gallery through a series of exhibitions, offering an unprecedented opportunity to witness the extent of his strikingly original talent.
Find original Maurice Sullins paintings and other art on 1stDibs.
1970s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1970s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Acrylic
1970s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Acrylic
1970s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Acrylic
1970s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Acrylic
1970s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Acrylic, Canvas
1980s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Wood, Acrylic, Board
1990s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Outsider Art Maurice Sullins Art
Pastel, Acrylic, Pencil
2010s Outsider Art Maurice Sullins Art
Mixed Media, Acrylic, Gouache, Board
2010s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Fabric, Acrylic
2010s Outsider Art Maurice Sullins Art
Acrylic
2010s Maurice Sullins Art
Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Board, Acrylic
Early 2000s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Board, Acrylic
Early 2000s Folk Art Maurice Sullins Art
Acrylic, Canvas
1960s Outsider Art Maurice Sullins Art
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Maurice Sullins Art
Canvas, Acrylic, Oil