Sam Gilliam, Groundbreaking Abstractionist, Dies at 88

  • Artnet obit

    Painter Sam Gilliam, Celebrated for His Boldly Colored Draped Canvases, Has Died at 88

    The abstract painter died at his home in Washington, D.C.

  • Sam Gilliam – November 30, 1933 – June 25, 2022


  • (Dogon V, 2005 – Intaglio Lithograph)

  • Artforum obit


  • (Sam Gilliam’s work Yves Klein Blue at the Venice Biennale in 2017.)

    Sam Gilliam loved Yves Klein.

    I first encountered Yves Klein while stationed with the army in Japan. There was a Klein exhibition in Tokyo. The Gutai group was being born, and I was in the army, and I thought nothing about whether I would be an artist or not. In fact, I probably thought that I would never be an artist. But Klein had an effect on me, and I thought about making art beyond the interiors that it is usually presented in, about making art more in the outside world.