SAM GILLIAM

A great innovator in post war American painting

The celebrated and prolific Sam Gilliam redefined the aesthetic boundaries of American painting in a postwar context. Born in Tupelo Mississippi, Gilliam would receive both a B.A. and an M.F.A. from the University of Louisville.

After graduation, he relocated to Washington, D.C. in the early 1960s. Working with massive canvases that often stretched entire gallery walls, Gilliam broke through the conventions of Abstract Expressionism for a larger-than-life effect. His work was political, too: “For an African-American artist in the nation’s capital at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, this was not merely an aesthetic proposition; it was a way of defining art’s role in a society undergoing dramatic change.”

Sam Gilliam passed away in Washington, D.C. in June 2023.