Description

In the late 1940s, Clyfford Still, along with Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, originated the type of Abstract Expressionism known as Field Painting, a term used to describe large canvases dominated by one uniform color or a few colors closely related in hue and value. In contrast to Newman and Rothko, who usually applied paint thinly and uniformly, Still used a palette knife, creating textural effects that give the surface a complex, nearly sculptural sense of materiality. Named after the years of its creation, 1951–52 is a rare, nearly all-black work in the artist’s oeuvre. A vertical white line to the right of center and a thin streak of red-orange along the left side provide the sole interruptions in the black field. The subtle modulations of texture and finish support the artist’s claim that "I do not oversimplify—in fact, I revel in the extra complex."

Provenance

The artist; John and Ruth Stephan, New York, by Dec. 1954 {email from Molly Warnock, the Clyfford Still Museum, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, Dec. 11, 1962

PH-246

Clyfford Still

1951/52

Accession Number

15569

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

301.8 × 396.2 cm (118 3/4 × 156 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Wirt D. Walker Fund; gift of John Stephan

Background & Context

Background Story

Clyfford Stills PH-246 from 1951-52 is a large-scale abstract painting that exemplifies the artists revolutionary approach to color and format. Stills canvases are distinguished by their vertical orientation, their enormous scale, and their use of color as a physical and metaphysical force rather than a descriptive or decorative element. In PH-246, a field of deep color is interrupted by jagged vertical forms that rise from the bottom edge like geological formations, their edges ragged and torn rather than cleanly defined, suggesting that the form has been ripped from the color field rather than painted upon it. Still removed his work from commercial galleries in 1951 and refused to allow it to be sold or reproduced, a decision that kept his paintings out of public view for decades and contributed to the myth of his intransigence. The PH numbering system, which Still used for all his works, refuses descriptive titles and replaces them with archival codes that locate the paintings in a sequence of creation rather than a hierarchy of significance. The years 1951-52 marked the period when Still was consolidating the mature format that would distinguish his work from that of Rothko and Newman, his two closest peers in Abstract Expressionism. Where Rothko favored horizontal formats and Newman emphasized the vertical zip, Still developed a vocabulary of jagged, interlocking color fields that resist the stability of either orientation.

Cultural Impact

Stills decision to withdraw from the art market in 1951 and restrict access to his work created one of the most significant bodies of withheld art in American history. The eventual donation of his estate to the city of Denver, with the stipulation that it be housed in its own museum, resulted in the Clyfford Still Museum, which opened in 2011 and made his revolutionary paintings accessible to the public for the first time in decades.

Why It Matters

A monumental abstract painting by Still featuring jagged vertical color forms rising through a deep color field, exemplifying the artists distinctive vocabulary of torn edges and metaphysical color that distinguished him from his Abstract Expressionist peers.

Related Artworks

PH-774