Clyfford Still
American, 1904-1980

© City and County of Denver / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.
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© City and County of Denver / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© City and County of Denver / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.
1941-2-C, 1941-1942
Artwork Details
Materials
oil on canvas
Measurements
support: 42 3/4 x 32 1/2 inches (108.59 x 82.55 cm); framed: 45 1/8 x 34 3/4 x 2 5/8 inches (114.6175 x 88.265 x 6.6675 cm)
Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Credit
Gift of the artist, 1964
Accession ID
1964:5.2
Inscriptions:
Provenance:
the artist;
donated by the artist to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, April 27, 1964
Class:
Work Type:
Information may change due to ongoing research. Glossary of Terms
As early as 1941, when most of his peers were still making figurative or semi-figurative paintings, Clyfford Still created this nearly monochromatic black canvas. PH-154 (1941-2-C) is one of scores of predominantly black works he would paint over the course of his career. While Still was not the only Abstract Expressionist to extensively use black, his mastery of it was nevertheless extraordinary.
Still’s layered black and near-black tones are enveloping and provocative, charged with drama. He rejected the common interpretation of black as a somber tone that lacked the dynamism or energy of brightly colored abstractions, and he famously said, “Black was never a color of death or terror for me. I think of it as warm—and generative. But color is what you choose to make it.”
Label from Shade: Clyfford Still / Mark Bradford, May 26–October 2, 2016