Sam Gilliam, the renowned painter who revolutionized abstraction and whose work is currently the subject of a solo exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum, died at his D.C. home June 25. The cause of death was kidney disease, according to the Washington Post. He was 88.
Gilliam was born Tupelo, Mississippi and lived and worked in D.C. since the early 1960s. He was the last surviving artist associated with D.C.’s influential Washington Color School, an art movement that focused on the qualities of pigment and hue.
Gilliam is perhaps the District’s best-known visual artist and considered by many to be one of the most under-recognized artists of his generation. His signature was his draped canvases, which he stained with bright pigments and hung in interesting formations, liberating paintings from canvas stretchers and the confines of a rectangle. He was still working in his studio as recently as the beginning of this year, and opened the career-capping exhibit of his recent work titled “Full Circle” at the Hirshhorn last month.
News of Gilliam’s passing reverberated through the art world and beyond, but held special significance in his chosen hometown of D.C. He taught art at McKinley High School and showed his work extensively in galleries around the city.
Hirshhorn Head Curator Evelyn Hankins recently worked with Gilliam on “Full Circle.” “To have the opportunity to spend time with Sam in his studio, not three miles from the Hirshhorn, and to share the significance and magic, even, of his art with museum visitors will always be a foundation of my work in Washington,” she said in a statement. “His passing marks a huge loss for the D.C. arts community and the broader arc of contemporary abstraction.”
The Hirshhorn is collecting condolence notes that will be sent to Gilliam’s family. According to the Post obituary, Gilliam is survived by his wife, art dealer Annie Gawlak, as well as three daughters from a previous marriage, Stephanie Gilliam, Melissa Gilliam and Leah Franklin Gilliam; three sisters and three grandchildren.
Gilliam held his first solo exhibit at the Phillips Collection, and the museum was an early booster of his career. They were the first institution to acquire one of his paintings, “Red Petals,” and hold over a dozen of his works in their collection.
“We mourn the passing of the legendary artist and person Sam Gilliam,” Dorothy Kosinski, Vradenburg Director and CEO of the Phillips Collection, said in a statement. “From the moment Marjorie Phillips invited him to host his first museum exhibition in 1967 to today, The Phillips Collection has cherished our special relationship with him. I deeply admire and celebrate his powerful impact.”
The local art world also recognized Gilliam’s benevolence and willingness to guide other artists in the community. “Beyond his immense contributions to the visual arts, Sam Gilliam was a beloved mentor who cultivated the talent and spirit of District artists with an immense generosity of heart,” Heran Sereke-Brhan, Executive Director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, said in a statement.
Local artist Robin Bell, known for his projection-based art, shared an animation honoring the artist on Instagram. “Sam lived to be 88 years old, and was continuing to grow as an artist and make new work until the end of his physical life,” he wrote in a caption. “I am thankful he was able to live a long productive life and was able to see how much he was appreciated in the city and around the world.”
Gilliam’s death echoed beyond the art world, demonstrating his deep impact on the District.Mayor Muriel Bowser expressed the loss for the city in a statement, calling out his time as an art teacher and his enrichment of the local D.C. arts community. Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George gave remembrances on Twitter, saying “Sam was one of the greatest artists to come from D.C. and a Ward 4 resident.” Metro celebrated the artist’s mosaic “From Model to Rainbow,” which hangs at the Takoma Park station on Metro’s Red Line..
In addition to the Hirshhorn and the Takoma Park Metro Station, there are several other places in D.C. where visitors will be able to take in the artist’s work now or in the coming months. “Carousel Light Depth” anchors the lobby of the REACH at Kennedy Center.
On Thursday, the Phillips Collection will unveil “Red Petals,” a work they acquired the same year they hosted Gilliam’s first solo exhibition.
When the National Gallery of Art reopens the East Building following renovations, also on Thursday, Gilliam’s painting “Shoot Six” will once again be on view. In addition, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities holds “Ship,” a massive 1967 painting in the city’s Art Bank collection, and will display the work at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library beginning in September as part of a new partnership that brings artworks out of the vaults and into public libraries.
