Clyfford Still

American, 1904-1980. Clyfford Still was a force in the American Abstract Expressionism movement, creating large canvases of few colors in craggy formations with a pallet knife instead of a brush. Still combined the principles of color field and expressive strokes of paint to create his own unique style within Abstract Expressionism. He spent most of the 1940s teaching at various institutions and traveling between California and New York. Still lived primarily in New York through the 1950s but became disillusioned with the New York art scene and desired more control over his work.

By 1960, he decided to abandon New York and retreated to a farm in Maryland. Still only exhibited a few more times but those were completely curated by him and he would not allow any other artist to exhibit with his work. Still's last exertion of control came in his will, when he insisted the remaining artwork in his estate, over 1000 works, be bequeathed to a city that would create a separate space to house and exhibit only his works and never be allowed to "sold, give, or exchanged" at any time. It took many years to find a city that met the criteria but finally Denver opened the Clyfford Still Muesum in 2011.