PRESENTATION: Sam Gilliam-Sewing Fields

Sam Gilliam emerged from the Washington, D.C. scene in the mid-1960s with works that elaborated upon and disrupted the ethos of Color School painting. A series of formal breakthroughs would soon result in his canonical Drape paintings, which expanded upon the tenets of Abstract Expressionism in entirely new ways. Suspending stretcherless lengths of painted canvas from the walls or ceilings of exhibition spaces, Gilliam transformed his medium and the contexts in which it was viewed.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Irish Museum of Modern Art Archive

For Sam Gilliam—an African American artist working in Washington, D.C. during the height of the Civil Rights Movement—art was never a purely aesthetic endeavor. Rather, it was a profound response to a society in flux, a means of redefining art’s function in an era marked by political upheaval and cultural transformation. In this charged context, Gilliam charted a pioneering and experimental path where change itself became the only constant. Deeply influenced by the improvisational rhythms of jazz, Gilliam’s lyrical abstractions evolved into a dynamic language of color, form, and material. His approach to painting embraced spontaneity and innovation, dissolving the traditional boundaries between painting and sculpture. His practice continued to expand in breadth and depth over the decades, continually absorbing new influences and reflecting fresh contexts. The exhibition “Sewing Fields”, Gilliam’s first solo museum show in Ireland, explores a pivotal chapter in his artistic journey: his residency at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in the 1990s. This period marked a turning point in Gilliam’s career, catalyzing a shift in both technique and sensibility. In the rugged coastal landscape of County Mayo, Gilliam engaged with new materials, notably using pre-stained fabrics shipped from the United States, which he cut, layered, and assembled into sculptural forms. Collaborating with a local dressmaker, Gilliam integrated textile techniques into his painterly process, further blurring the line between disciplines. The resulting works reflect a deep responsiveness to place—dramatic, undulating compositions that echo the vast, untamed Irish coastline. His use of vibrant, atmospheric hues was shaped by the unique quality of Irish light, lending the works a translucent, ephemeral character. This period also marked Gilliam’s departure from the strict geometry of modernist painting. Instead, he pursued a more intuitive, organic dialogue with his surroundings—creating works that celebrated the physical act of making while invoking the emotional resonance of place. Through abstraction, Gilliam found a language to express presence, memory, and the spirit of landscape.

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1933, Sam Gilliam was the seventh of eight children. His family relocated to Louisville, Kentucky, shortly after his birth. His father worked on the railroad; his mother was a homemaker. Gilliam’s early talent for art was nurtured by supportive teachers, including an influential fifth-grade art instructor and a dedicated program at Madison Junior High. He graduated from Central High School in 1951 and earned both a B.A. (1955) and M.A. (1961) in Fine Arts from the University of Louisville, with a stint in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1958. In 1962, Gilliam married Dorothy Butler, a journalist, and moved to Washington, D.C., where he would live and work for the rest of his life. When Gilliam arrived in Washington, the city was a hotbed for new directions in abstraction. Though his early education lacked direct exposure to New York-based Abstract Expressionism, Gilliam was deeply influenced by the emotional intensity of German Expressionism—particularly the works of Emil Nolde, Paul Klee, and the Die Brücke group. His early paintings bore the marks of these traditions: moody, figural abstractions in dark, somber palettes. His trajectory changed dramatically in Washington, where he encountered the artists of the Washington Color School, including Thomas Downing, Morris Louis, and Kenneth Noland. Encouraged by Downing, Gilliam shifted from figural expressionism to nonrepresentational art, adopting the school’s hallmarks of flat, luminous color and clean geometry. Yet Gilliam quickly moved beyond these formal confines. His experiments with staining, folding, taping, and pouring paint led to increasingly bold and unorthodox methods. Around 1965, he made a breakthrough: removing the canvas from the stretcher, he began to drape and suspend painted fabric in space. Inspired in part by the sight of laundry hanging on clotheslines near his studio, these unstretched canvases transformed painting into an immersive, sculptural experience.

This innovation—hailed as revolutionary—earned Gilliam the moniker “father of the draped canvas.” These works were notable not only for their scale and visual power but also for their radical redefinition of what a painting could be. They could be reinstalled in different configurations, and many were embellished with found materials—metal, rocks, wooden beams—further emphasizing their three-dimensionality. One of the most monumental examples, “Seahorses” (1975), was commissioned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and spanned several hundred feet. In a surprising turn, Gilliam ceased making draped canvases in 1975 and pivoted toward geometric collages influenced by jazz legends like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. By the late 1970s, he explored darker tonalities in his “Black Paintings” and introduced quilt-like patterns in his “Wild Goose Chase” series, echoing African American textile traditions. Throughout the 1980s, Gilliam’s technique grew more sculptural and tactile. He abandoned staining for dense impasto surfaces, layering acrylic gels and paint in vibrant, textured compositions. His “quilted” works—assembled from cut, encrusted pieces of canvas—paid homage to the patchwork quilts of his childhood, reinterpreted through a contemporary, painterly lens. By the 1990s and into the 21st century, Gilliam’s work embraced even greater material diversity. He incorporated metals, enamels, awnings, and industrial fabrics, often combining painting with sculptural elements like aluminum forms. The D series of the early 1980s, which featured metal “D” shapes affixed to the canvas, exemplifies this hybrid approach. Gilliam’s career stands as a testament to fearless innovation, sustained over more than five decades. From his origins in the segregated South to his ascension as a leading voice in American abstraction, Sam Gilliam consistently redefined what painting could be—bridging color, space, material, and music in ways that remain profoundly influential.

Photo: Sam Gilliam, Silhouette on Template, 1994 Painted fabric collage, stitched Installation Dimensions: 120 x 402 x 36 cm (47 x 158 x 14 inches) 2006.04.0020. Courtesy Irish Museum of Modern Art

Info; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Military Rd, Kilmainham, Dublin 8, Ireland, Duration: 13/62025-25/1/2026, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-17:30, Sun 12:00-17:30, https://imma.ie/