Clyfford Still — vanguardgirl

Clyfford Still at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, unknown photographer, 1959, Clyfford Still Archives. — *Clyfford Still at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery*, unknown photographer, 1959, Clyfford Still Archives.

I am not an action painter. Each painting is an act. The result of action and the fulfilment of action...no painting stops with itself, is complete of itself. It is a continuation of previous paintings and is renewed in successive ones.
- Clyfford Still quoted in gallery notes, Allbright-Knox Art Gallery, Vol.24, Summer 1961, pp.9-14

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST AMERICAN PAINTER.

Born: 30 November 1904, Grandin, North Dakota.
Died: 23 June 1980, Baltimore, Maryland.
Education: Art Students League, Spokane University, Washington State College (now Washington State University).

Clyfford Still was a first generation Abstract Expressionist painter who made huge contributions to the movement, especially the Color-Field painters. Still spent most of his childhood in Spokane, Washington and Bow Island in southern Alberta, Canada. It was in 1925 that Still visited New York and studied at the Art Students League. The following year he went on to study at Spokane University for two years, returning in 1931 with a fellowship and eventually graduating in 1933. By 1935, Still had obtained his Master of Fine Arts degree at Washington State College (now called Washington State University) where he also became a teaching fellow.

In 1937 Still co-founded the Nespelem Art Colony with Worth Griffin producing hundreds of portraits and landscapes depicting Colville Indian Reservation Native American life. Over the course of the late 1930s and early 1940s, Still would shift from representational to abstract, working in an abstract manner far earlier than many other fellow Abstract Expressionists who were still working in figurative-surrealist styles. For this reason, many view Still as one of the pioneers of the movement.

By 1941, Still moved to San Francisco Bay taking up various roles before pursuing a career in painting. The majority of the early 1940s saw Still teaching art at the Richmond Professional Institute (now called the Virginia Commonwealth University) and the California School of Fine Art. The later years of the 1940s was a turning point in Still’s career, where he visited New York on various occasions, building relationships with the Art of this Century and the Betty Parsons gallery through fellow Abstract Expressionist, Mark Rothko. These two institutions would play a huge role in launching Abstract Expressionism in the following decade.

The 1950s saw the height of Abstract Expressionism flourish in New York. During this period, Still had become very critical of the art world and cut ties with many commercial galleries. Over the course of the later 1950s, Still gradually removed himself from the art spotlight and in 1961 he moved to Maryland where he lived until his death in 1980.

Still is regarded as one of the first Color-Field painters alongside the likes of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, however Still’s work was unique in comparison. Still’s large paintings were irregular and appeared like layers of paint had been torn from the painting almost like wallpaper from a wall; Rothko and Newman’s styles were very much more organised and structured in contrast. Still’s techniques were also very different to the way that both Rothko and Newman applied their paint to the canvas in relatively thin layers - Still used a thick impasto which caused much more texture. Instead of using paintbrushes, Still often used palette knives to apply heavy layers of paint, often using dark shades.

Clyfford Still, Erwin Blumenfeld, date unknown, photograph, Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, Colorado. — *Clyfford Still*, Erwin Blumenfeld, date unknown, photograph, Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, Colorado.