Fire

Sam GilliamWW-1972-113116

1972·Color lithograph on white Japanese paper·61 × 48 cm (24 1/16 × 18 15/16 in.)

Sam Gilliam’s Fire is among the artist’s first engagements with printmaking, which became an ongoing part of his artistic practice. The work, a color lithograph, departed from the majority of contemporary printmaking, which primarily focused on political commentary. Here, instead, Gilliam created a visually lush, abstract image printed in thin areas of color layered over one another. The title offers one interpretation of the work: a vertical red ember of a flame whose heat lessens as it moves out toward the edges of the sheet to become a cool blue. Gilliam produced Fire in collaboration with the printer at Impressions Workshop in Boston.

Catalogue

Year: 1972
Medium: Color lithograph on white Japanese paper
Dimensions: 61 × 48 cm (24 1/16 × 18 15/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Sam Gilliam

Artist

Sam Gilliam

Painting

Sam Gilliam was an American abstract painter, sculptor, and arts educator. Born in Mississippi and raised in Kentucky, Gilliam spent his entire adult life in Washington, D.C., eventually being described as the "dean" of the city's arts community. Originally associated with the Washington Color School, a group of Washington-area artists that developed a form of abstract art from color field painting in the 1950s and 1960s, Gilliam moved beyond the group's core aesthetics of flat fields of color in the mid-60s by introducing both process and sculptural elements to his paintings.

Tupelo, United States

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