Clyfford Still
A fiercely independent painter whose monumental, jagged fields of color sought to evoke nothing less than the raw drama of human consciousness.
1904–1980 (age 76)·American painter·Birthday: November 30·The Greatest Generation
Biography
Clyfford Still was the brooding philosopher-king of Abstract Expressionism, a man who distrusted the New York art scene even as he helped invent it. His journey began with figurative works depicting the stark, struggling figures of the American frontier, a thematic rawness he never abandoned. By the early 1940s, before Pollock's drips or Rothko's soft rectangles, Still had arrived at his mature style: vast canvases dominated by sharp, tearing shapes of color that seemed to be locked in geological conflict. He called them 'life and death merging in fearful union.' Unlike his peers, he refused to title his works, seeing them as unique, transcendent events. His relationship with the commercial art world was famously combative; he severed ties with the Betty Parsons Gallery, controlled the sale of his paintings fiercely, and in a monumental act of defiance, bequeathed the vast majority of his life's work not to a museum, but to an American city that would build a museum solely for it. Denver accepted the challenge. The resulting Clyfford Still Museum stands as a testament to his uncompromising belief that art was a spiritual encounter, not a commodity.
The Greatest Generation
1901–1927
Grew up during the Depression, fought World War II, and built the postwar economic boom. Defined by shared sacrifice, institutional trust, and a belief that hard work and loyalty would be rewarded.
Clyfford was born in 1904, placing them squarely in The Greatest Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Clyfford Was Born
The biggest hits of 1904
Clyfford's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1904Born
New York City opens its first subway line
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1909Started school
Robert Peary claims to reach the North Pole
President: William Howard Taft
1917Became a teenager
Russian Revolution overthrows the tsar; US enters WWI
President: Woodrow Wilson
1920Could drive
Women gain the right to vote in the US
Home: $3,395President: Woodrow Wilson"Swanee" — Al Jolson
1922Could vote
King Tut's tomb discovered in Egypt
President: Warren G. Harding"April Showers" — Al Jolson
1925Turned 21
The Scopes Trial debates evolution in schools
Home: $4,366President: Calvin Coolidge"Sweet Georgia Brown" — Ben Bernie
1934Turned 30
Gas: $0.19/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stars Fell on Alabama" — Jack TeagardenBest Picture: It Happened One Night
1944Turned 40
D-Day: Allied forces land at Normandy
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,400Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Swinging on a Star" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Going My Way
1954Turned 50
Brown v. Board of Education desegregates US schools
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $8,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Little Things Mean a Lot" — Kitty KallenBest Picture: On the Waterfront
1964Turned 60
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1974Turned 70
Nixon resigns the presidency
Gas: $0.53/galHome: $22,600Min wage: $2.00/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"The Way We Were" — Barbra StreisandBest Picture: The Godfather Part II
1980Died at 76
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
Key Achievements
- Pioneered the shift to large-scale, non-representational painting in the early 1940s, influencing the development of Abstract Expressionism.
- His estate donation of nearly 3,000 works formed the core collection of the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, which opened in 2011.
- Had a major retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1979, one of the few solo shows the Met had given to a living artist.
- His 1944 painting '1944-N No. 2' is considered a landmark early work of the color field branch of Abstract Expressionism.
Did You Know?
He taught at the California School of Fine Arts (now SFAI) and influenced a generation of West Coast artists, including Richard Diebenkorn.
He was known to use palette knives and even his hands to apply paint, creating thick, craggy surfaces.
In a legendary 1951 studio visit, he reportedly destroyed several paintings in front of critic Clement Greenberg to make a point about artistic integrity.
He turned down a prestigious award from the President of the United States in 1964.
“I never wanted color to be color. I never wanted texture to be texture, or images to become shapes. I wanted them all to fuse into a living spirit.”
