Clyfford Still was an American ‘Abstract Expressionism’ artist, noted for bringing ‘American Abstract Expressionism’ into the spotlight and putting New York City at the forefront of the art world, a recognition previously given to Paris. Born on November 30, 1904, in Grandin, North Dakota, Clyfford spent his childhood in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from the University of Spokane, Washington, from 1931 to 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression. In 1935, Still received his Master of Fine Arts from Washington State University, Washington, followed by his teaching period there, from 1935 to 1941. During this period, his paintings primarily depicted people, machinery, and life. agricultural.
Between 1938 and 1942, Still’s art form graduated to ‘Abstract Painting’ with spontaneous ‘Surrealism’ as its cardinal point. In 1941, the artist moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and during 1946-50 he had an important teaching period at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). Meanwhile, Clyfford Still exhibited his work at the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1943, where he first met Mark Rothko. During this period, the artist dabbled in ‘American Abstract Expressionism’, which characterizes the use of bold brushwork and favors texture over colour. This style of painting emphasizes the cycles of life, versus birth, hardship, and death, commonly described as the “Human Condition.” Such depiction became increasingly relevant after World War II and was widely accepted and praised by critics. Clyfford spent much of the late 1940s and the entire 1950s in New York City.
Later, the artist adopted a new painting technique known as “Color Field Painting”. This style boldly portrays an irregular use of solid colors on the canvas. Indeed, his paintings gave the impression of a multifaceted canvas of colours. This attribute mainly gave them a genuine, mysterious and resourceful look. Despite the fact that most of his contemporaries, such as Mark Rothko, used a thin color palette, Clyfford Still was brave enough to use a wide variety of colors. He was once quoted as saying, “I never wanted color to be color. I never wanted texture to be texture, or images to become shapes. He wanted them all to merge into one living spirit.”
In 1957, Clyfford Still created his masterpiece, “1957-D No 1”, showing juxtaposed colors with a sharp scheme of black and yellow, punctuated by small flecks of white and red. Different people interpreted the painting differently. The art critics’ relentless search for meaning in his paintings bothered Clyfford Still, because he believed that each of his paintings was a personal experience and beyond interpretation. In 1961, the artist moved to Maryland with his second wife, Patricia. In 1964, Clyfford painted another untitled masterpiece, which makes heavy use of the color red. The method used in this painting is called ‘Serigraphy’, which consists of the manual application of numerous colors on the canvas. His other notable works include an untitled painting of “1953”, “1949 No. 1 (PH-385)”, “PH 77”, and “1957 J No. 2 (PH 401)”.
Even after his death on June 23, 1980 in Maryland, Clyfford Still’s paintings continue to receive high praise in art galleries, including the Albright-Knox Gallery of Art in Buffalo, New York, the Museum of Modern Art in St. Francis, the Hirschhorn Sculpture and Museum. Garden and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. His paintings fetched one of the highest auction prices, to the tune of $21.296 million, in the year 2006. Clyfford Still is highly respected among art critics, art students, and historians due to his remarkable innovations in ‘Expressionism. American Abstract’ and the ‘Color Field Painting’. The famous quote from him “A great free joy surges through me when I work…with tense cuts and a few jostles the fair white fields are given their color and the job is done in a few minutes” describes Clyfford’s genuine fervor. for art.
