. . . [Still's] is a kind of pure painting, and the effort
and the paintings that were created reached a really high level,
in a certain sense almost effortlessly, and with a kind
of originality that you can't duplicate. . . .
~ Artist Frank Stella
For those who might have missed the news, the Clyfford Still Museum opened in Denver, Colorado, November 18. The 28,500-square-foot museum, now home to more than 90 percent of the artist's life work — some 2,400 artworks, including more than 800 paintings and 1,500 works on paper created between 1920 and 1980 — is devoted exclusively to Still's work, a rigid condition imposed by Still in his will, in addition to the requirement that none of the works ever "be sold, given, or exchanged" but "retained. . . in perpetuity for exhibition and study". No other artist's work may ever be exhibited alongside Still's own.
Here is a video preview about the museum first shown at 5280 magazine:
Still (1904-1980) also is the subject of a new one-hour documentary by Amie Knox and Chad Herschberger: Still* (A bar K Productions/Milkhaus). (The documentary premiered at Starz Denver Film Festival on November 10 and aired on Rocky Mountain PBS on November 14.) Following is a preview of the documentary, which includes commentary by artist Frank Stella:
* The documentary earlier had the title Clyfford Still: A Life in Paintings.
A great many words about Still and his work have been published in the run-up to and following the opening of the museum. A list of what I consider among the best of the posts follows:
Deborah Barlow, "Still On His Own Terms (But Not Mine)", Slow Muse, November 19, 2011
Judith H. Dobrzynski, "Still's Stalwart", The Wall Street Journal, October 11, 2011
Tyler Green, Parts I, "Clyfford Still: A Cantankerous Painter"; II, "Clyfford Still: The Birth of AbEx?" and III, "Clyfford Still: Beware the Commissars", Modern Art Notes, ArtInfo, October 2011
Carol Kino, "Abstract Expressionist Made Whole", The New York Times, November 17, 2011
Peter Plagens, "Still the One", ArtNet, September 15, 2011
Geoff Van Dyke, "Clyfford Still's Unyielding Will" and "What Would Clyfford Still Think About Having His Own Museum?", 5280, November 2011
Also Of Interest
Abstract Expressionism Explained at The Art Story
Christopher Knight, "Art Review: Denver's Clyfford Still Museum", Los Angeles Times, November 20, 2011
Clyfford Still Profile at The Art Story (Be sure to check the links in the side bar.)
Clyfford Still: Paintings, 1944-1960 at GoogleBooks (This book is available through resellers at Amazon.)
"Denver Opens a New Home to Clyfford Still" (with Photo Essay), News Hour Art Beat, November 17, 2011
Video Still Standing: Inside the New Clyfford Still Museum, The New York Times
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3 comments:
To be able to paint with such, Frank Stella calls it, 'remarkable ease' is a gift.
Thank you for sharing this gift.
it would have been nice to meet him.
i think the museum would be worth a visit.
A most intriguing fellow.
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