Clyfford Still (1904-1980), best known for his compelling abstract works with jagged fields and powerful expanses of color, stands among the giants of post-World War II art. Together with his peers Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman, Still helped shape the new vision of art that came to be called Abstract Expressionism. This vividly illustrated book presents more than thirty of Still's greatest works, paintings that represent the full flowering of his style. 
The contributors to this volume explore various aspects of Still's art, his accomplishments, and the Abstract Expressionism movement. David Anfam presents an overview of Still's career from the 1930s through 1950s. Brooks Adams examines Still's artistic legacy and influence on succeeding generations of artists. And Neal Benezra's chapter focuses on a provocative, unexplored element of Still's studio practice: his habit of painting replicas of many of his own works. 
This book accompanies an exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., from 21 June through 16 September, 2001. The exhibition will offer an unprecedented opportunity to view outstanding examples of Still's work, many of which have not been on public display for decades.

Clyfford Still: Paintings, 1944 - 1960

Arts & Photography

Neal Benezra

David Anfam

Brooks Adams

History & Criticism

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

This thematic selection of recent work from nine established and emerging international sculptors--the eldest born in 1947 and the youngest in 1974--collects the ways they are giving shape to the fleeting, ephemeral, theoretical and difficult-to-explain. From Charles Long's delicate, poetic and personal debris assemblages to Bjorn Dahlem's quirky, elegant models of black holes and Andrea Cohen's styrofoam and packing-peanut networks, their works are inspired by and address the history of their medium, as they explore how it can continue to challenge and expand our ways of seeing. The Uncertainty of Objects and Ideas is not only a look at current trends, but a tool in placing this new work within the history of Modern sculpture. It notes responses to the formal and material concerns of groundbreaking twentieth-century experiments such as Cubist collage, Dada and Fluxus, from 1960s California's "junk" sculptures to Robert Rauschenberg's postmodern Combines. Includes work from Isa Genzken, Mark Handforth, Rachel Harrison, Evan Holloway, Mindy Shapero, Franz West, as well as Cohen, Dahlem and Long.

The Uncertainty of Objects and Ideas: Recent Sculpture

Burton, Johanna

Ellegood, Anne

In a bold effort to redefine the public exhibition space, the Hirshhorn Museum has commissioned Doug Aitken’s most ambitious work to date. Song 1 is an unprecedented 360-degree moving-image work, requiring 11 high-definition projectors, that seamlessly blends imagery to illuminate the façade of the museum’s iconic cylindrical building--transforming it into “liquid architecture”--and create an urban soundscape. The scope of the artwork is large, yet at its core is a basic concept. Based around a single song, “I Only Have Eyes for You,” the piece explores the idea of pure communication through the perfect pop song. This distinctive book, designed by the artist and shaped to emulate the form of the Hirshhorn itself, visually interprets the work and places the work in a broader art historical and cultural context.

Doug Aitken: Song 1

Individual Artists

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