Aritst: Sam Gilliam
Title: Six Works
Year: c. 1990s
Medium: Original Mixed Media on Paper
Size: Each: 10.875" × 8.5" (28 × 22 cm)
Inscription: Signed lower edge on two works "Sam", and "Sam Gilliam", and signed verso on one work "Sam"
Documentation: Includes Gallery Certificate of Authenticity from Modern Artifact
"Six Works", is an appropriately titled collection of 6 individual mixed media works by Sam Gilliam. The collection features a cohesive palette dominated by teal backgrounds. Each piece measures 10.875 × 8.5 inches (28 × 22 cm), with two bearing the artist's signature along the lower edge and one additionally signed on the verso. Together, the six works illustrate Gilliam's sustained exploration of abstraction through color, gesture, and compositional layering, reflecting his ongoing interest in the interplay between surface, hue, and spatial perception.
The works reveal Gilliam's signature approach to mixed media on paper, employing layers of pigment and mark-making to create depth and visual rhythm within a compact format. These pieces are representative of his post-Drape Painting practice, in which he translated the dynamic qualities of his larger, three-dimensional canvases into more intimate, portable works. The consistent teal backgrounds unify the series while allowing for variations in tone, texture, and linear movement, demonstrating Gilliam's capacity to generate complexity within apparent simplicity.
Gilliam's work is represented in prominent collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the Tate Modern, London; and the Art Institute of Chicago. These institutions confirm the significance of his contributions to postwar American abstraction and underscore his influence as a leading figure in the Washington Color School and the broader field of contemporary abstract painting.
Sam Gilliam's "Six Works" comes from the collection of a close personal friend of the artist and is accompanied by a gallery Certificate of Authenticity from Modern Artifact.
About Sam Gilliam
Sam Gilliam was a pioneering American painter whose career redefined the boundaries of abstraction through his innovative use of color, form, and unconventional supports. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1933 and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Gilliam earned both his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Louisville before relocating to Washington, D.C. in 1962. There, he became associated with the Washington Color School, a group of artists who emphasized pure color and optical experimentation, though Gilliam soon expanded the movement's possibilities by radically rethinking the canvas itself.
In the mid-1960s, Gilliam began producing his celebrated Drape Paintings, unstretched canvases stained with layers of acrylic pigment and suspended from walls, ceilings, or architectural spaces. By freeing the canvas from its stretcher, he introduced sculptural and environmental qualities into painting, challenging traditional distinctions between painting, sculpture, and installation. This breakthrough positioned Gilliam as a leading figure in postwar American abstraction, and his work has often been described as a response to both modernist formalism and the social transformations of the Civil Rights era.
Gilliam's explorations did not stop with draped canvases. Over subsequent decades, he developed richly textured works that combined staining, layering, and geometric structuring, from beveled-edge canvases to collaged and quilt-like surfaces. His practice remained dynamic and experimental throughout his career, demonstrating a lifelong commitment to expanding abstraction's expressive range.
Gilliam's art has been exhibited internationally in major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Tate Modern in London. In 1972, he became the first African American artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale, a milestone that underscored his critical importance. Today, Gilliam is recognized as one of the most influential abstract painters of his generation, celebrated for transforming the language of painting and expanding the possibilities of color, space, and form.
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