1933 Born in Tupelo, Mississippi
2022 Died in Washington, DC
EDUCATION
1955 University of Louisville, Kentucky, BA
1961 University of Louisville, Kentucky, MFA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Full Circle, curated by Evelyn Hankins, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,
Washington, DC
Off the Wall: Sam Gilliam, Untitled, 2018, Pace Gallery (online)
2021 Moving West Again, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (catalogue)
Sam Gilliam, The Ringling, Sarasota, FL
Color-Field Interior, curated by Andria Hickey, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY (catalogue)
Sam Gilliam, Pace Gallery, Seoul, Korea (catalogue)
Sam Gilliam: Selections, The Ringling, Museum of Art Searing Galleries, Sarasota, FL
Sam Gilliam: Watercolors, Pace Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
2020 Sam Gilliam: Watercolors, Pace Gallery, Palm Beach, FL
Sam Gilliam: Existed Existing, Pace Gallery, 540 West 25th Street and 510 West 25th Street,
New York, NY (catalogue)
2019 Sam Gilliam, Dia Beacon, New York, NY
Sam Gilliam: New Works on Paper, Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY
Starting: Works on Paper 1967–1970, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 The Music of Color, Sam Gilliam 1967-1973, organized by Josef Helfenstein, Kunstmuseum Basel,
Basel, Switzerland (catalogue)
2017 Sam Gilliam: 1967–1973, Mnuchin Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue)
Spirit of Collaboration: Sam Gilliam and Lou Stovall, Griots’ Art Gallery, Center for Haitian
Studies, Miami, FL
Sam Gilliam, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
2016 Green April, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (catalogue)
2013 Sam Gilliam: Hard-Edge Paintings 1963-1966, curated by Rashid Johnson, David Kordansky
Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2012 Sam Gilliam: Contingencies, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, FL
2011 Sam Gilliam: Recent Drapes, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
Sam Gilliam: Close to Trees, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center,
Washington, DC
Sam Gilliam: Flour Mill, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Sam Gilliam: New Paintings, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
2009 Sam Gilliam: New Paintings, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
2007 Sam Gilliam: A Retrospective, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX (catalogue)
Sam Gilliam: New Paintings and Prints, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
Sam Gilliam, Scarfone/Hartley Galleries, University of Tampa, FL
Sam Gilliam, Imago Gallery, Desert Springs, CA
Sam Gilliam, Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France
2006 Sam Gilliam: A Retrospective, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; Museum of Art, Savannah, GA
Sam Gilliam: Prints from the Artist’s Collection, Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, George Washington University, Washington, DC; Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA (catalogue)
2005 Sunlight: New Paintings, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
Sam Gilliam: A Retrospective, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (catalogue)
Fixed between Painting & Sculpture, Angie Newman Johnson Gallery, Episcopal High School, Alexandria, VA
2004 3, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
Sam Gilliam, Folded & Hinged, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Baton Rouge, LA. Traveled to: the
Lauren Rogers Museum, Laurel, MS (catalogue)
Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2002 Slats, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
2001 From Shiraz, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
Imago Gallery, Palm Desert, CA
2000 Georgetown Gallery, Georgetown, KY1
1999 Works ’99, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
Sam Gilliam, Klein Gallery, Chicago, IL
1998 Sam Gilliam in 3-D, Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC
1997 Of Fireflies and Ferris Wheels: Monastery Parallel, an installation, Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser
Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg, Germany
The Three Musketeers, Baumgartner Galleries, Washington, DC
1996 Construction, an installation, J.B. Speed Memorial Museum, Louisville, KY
A Still on the Potomac, Baumgartner Galleries, Washington, DC
1994 Sam Gilliam, Baumgartner Gallery, Washington, DC
1993 Golden Windows Inside Gold, an installation, Whitney Museum of American Art,
Philip Morris Branch, NY
1992 USIA, an installation, Helsinki, Finland
1991 American Craft Museum, an installation, New York, NY
Walker Hill Arts Center, Seoul, Korea, (catalogue)
Galerie Darthea Speyers, Paris, France
1990 Sam Gilliam: 1969–1975, Klein Art Works, Chicago, IL (catalogue)
Small Drape Paintings, Middendorf Gallery, Washington, DC (catalogue)
1987 Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
1986 Davis/McClain Gallery, Houston, TX
1985 Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York, NY
1984 Recent Paintings, Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
1983 Modern Painters at the Corcoran: Sam Gilliam, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (catalogue)
Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France
Middendorf/Lane Gallery, Washington, DC
McIntosh-Drysdale Gallery, Houston, TX
1982 Red & Black to “D”: Paintings by Sam Gilliam, The Studio Museum, Harlem, NY (catalogue)
1981 Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
Nexus, Atlanta, Georgia
Dart Gallery, Chicago, IL
1979 Middendorf/Lane Gallery, Washington, DC
Dart Gallery, Chicago, IL
Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1978 Sam Gilliam: Indoor & Outdoor Paintings, University Gallery, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst, MA (catalogue)
Gallerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France
Carl Solway Gallery, New York, NY
1977 Artpark, Lewiston, NY
Oliver Dowling Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Dart Gallery, Chicago, IL
1976 Sam Gilliam: An Exhibition of Painting, Rutgers University Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ (catalogue)
Sam Gilliam: Paintings and Works on Paper, J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY (catalogue)
Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France
1975 Sam Gilliam: Paintings 1970-75, Fendrick Gallery, Washington, DC (catalogue)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Linda Ferris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1974 Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
Linda Ferris Gallery, Seattle, WA
1973 Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France
Greenberg Gallery, St. Louis, MO
University of California, Irvine, CA
Maison de la Culture, Rennes, France
1972 Jefferson Place Gallery, Washington, DC
1971 Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1970 Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris, France
1969 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
1968 Jefferson Place Gallery, Washington, DC
Byron Gallery, New York, NY
1967 Paintings by Sam Gilliam, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (catalogue)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 A Form of Magic, curated by Benjamin Godsill, Móran Móran, Mexico City, Mexico
Homecoming, The Stanley Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA
We Gotta Get Out of This Place – Transportive Art, curated by Tirzah Frank and Cecily Hughes,
University Museum of Contemporary Art, Fine Arts Center, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst, MA
Guarding The Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Color as Program, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany
La couleur en fugue, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
Epistrophy: Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam, William T. Williams, Pace Gallery, New York, NY
Prints from the Brandywine Workshop and Archives: Creative Communities, Harvard Art Museums,
Cambridge, MA
RAM Showcase: Abstraction, Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
A Decade of Acquisitions of Works on Paper, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
To Begin, Again: A Prehistory of the Wex, 1968-89, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
Shared Visions, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR
The Cultivators: Highlights from the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection, curated by Khalil
Kinsey and Larry Earl, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA
2021 Modal Painting: Sam Gilliam, Frank Bowling, Reginald Sylvester II, John Hoyland & John Golding,
Maximillian William, London, England
Artists and the Rothko Chapel: 50 Years of Inspiration, Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University,
Houston, TX (catalogue)
American Painting: The Eighties Revisited, curated by Kate Bonansinga, Cincinnati Art Museum,
Cincinnati, OH
Multiples, Inc.: 1965-1992, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, NY
Under Construction: Collage from the Mint Museum, Hunter Museum of American Art,
Chattanooga, TN; Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
Expanded Painting in the 1960s and 1970s, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Promise, Witness, Remembrance, curated by Allison Glenn, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
Collecting Black Studies: The Exhibition, Art Galleries at Black Studies, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Curators’ Choice, Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA
Creating Community: Cinque Gallery Artists, The Art Students League of New York, New York, NY
Memories & Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art, Lyman Allyn
Art Museum, New London, CT; The David Owsley Museum of Art, Muncie, IN
Hiding in Plain Sight, Pace Gallery, New York, NY
Minted, Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Georgetown, DC
The De Luxe Show, Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Karma, New York, NY
DeAccession, Benjaman Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Coloring, University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, KY
African American Art in the 20th Century, Wichita Art Museum in Wichita, KS; Hudson River Museum,
Yonkers, NY
Colliding with History: Works by African American Artists on Paper from the Collection of Wes and Missy
Cochran, Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design, Atlanta, GA
Afro-American Images 1971: The Vision of Percy Ricks, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE (catalogue)
American Modernisms at the Rollins Museum of Art, Rollins Museum of Art, Winter Park, FL
Primacy: The Washington Color School, curated by Dexter Wimberly, Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery,
New York, NY
Convergent Evolutions: The Conscious of Body Work, curated by Christiana Ine-Kimba Boyle,
Pace Gallery, New York, NY
A Passion for Collecting: The Vision of Louis Allan Ford (1942-2020), Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD
Exhibiting Culture: Highlights from the Hammonds House Museum Collection, Hammonds House Museum,
Atlanta, GA
2020 Soul of A Nation: Art in The Age of Black Power, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (catalogue)
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Smith College Museum of Art,
Northampton, MA; traveled to Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Utah Museum of Fine Arts,
Salt Lake City, UT (catalogue)
With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972-1985, curated by Anna Katz, CCS Bard Hessel
Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Presence: African American Artists from the Museum’s Collection, curated by Katherine Love,
Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
Allied with Power: African and African Diaspora Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, curated by Maria
Elena Ortiz, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL
History Takes Place: African American Art from the Tom Burrell Collection, curated by Horace Brockington,
Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York, NY
Shapeshifters: Transformations in Contemporary Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
The Silence Perpetuates, Mark Borghi Fine Art, Sag Harbor, NY
Bloom of Joy, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
Remix, Hollis Taggart, Southport, CT
Connecting Currents: Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston, TX
Color into Light, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
African American Art in the 20th Century, Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA
2019 With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972-1985, The Museum of Contemporary
Art, Los Angeles, CA (catalogue)
Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
The REACH Opening Festival, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
A Time for Action: Washington Artists Circa 1989, Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, George Washington
University, Washington, DC
Postwar Abstraction: Variations, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, OK
Count of Three, Alexander Gray Associates, New York, NY
Spilling Over: Painting Color in the 1960s, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Mapping Black Identities, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum of the African Diaspora,
San Francisco, CA. Traveled to: Gibbes Museum of Charleston, SC; Kalamazoo Institute of
Arts, MI; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA;
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (catalogue)
2018 The Gift of Art: Permanent Collection Exhibition in Celebration of Its 35th Anniversary, Pérez Art
Museum, Miami, FL
Pattern, Decoration and Crime, Musée d’Art moderne et contemporain (MAMCO), Geneva, Switzerland
American Abstract, Charles Riva Collection, Brussels, Belgium
Abstraction, Color, and Politics in the Early 1970s, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
The Fabricators, Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
Second Look, Twice: Selections from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation,
Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA
Remember to React: 60 Years of Collecting, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Alma Thomas: The Light of the Whole Universe, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
Public Artworks of Rockne Krebs and Sam Gilliam, Built and Unbuilt, The Washington Studio School,
Washington, DC (catalogue)
One Shot: Featuring Works by Color Field Artists, UTA Artist Space, Beverly Hills, CA
Painting: Now and Forever, Part III, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, NY
Summer 2018, Mnuchin Gallery, New York, NY
Sam Gilliam in Dialogue: The Topographies of Color, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
Inherent Structure, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
Collecting Contemporaries: Recent Acquisitions from The Koch And Wolf Collections, Indianapolis
Museum of Art, Newfields, IN
Sam Gilliam in Dialogue: Form, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
Expanding Narratives: The Figure and the Ground, Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, IL
Problem Solving: Highlights from the Experimental Printmaking Institute, Mechanical Hall Gallery at the
University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Reclamation! Pan-African Works from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Taubman Museum of
Art, Roanoke, VA
Indulge, Art Movement, Los Angeles, CA
Hopes Springing High: Gifts of Art by African American Artists, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Sam Gilliam in Dialogue: Race + Representation, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA.
The New Art: A Milestone Collection Fifty Years Later, The Oklahoma City Museum of Art, OK
The Conscientious Objector, The Schindler House at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture,
West Hollywood, CA (catalogue)
Experiments in Form: Sam Gilliam, Alan Shields, Frank Stella, The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern
University, Evanston, IL
2017 Washington Color School: 50 Years Later, Bethesda Fine Art, Washington, DC
Picturing Mississippi, 1817–2017: Land of Plenty, Pain, and Promise, Mississippi Museum of Art,
Jackson, MS (catalogue)
Solidary and Solitary, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA. Traveled to The Nasher
Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, NC; Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame,
South Bend, IN; David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, IL; Baltimore
Museum of Art, MD; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at the University of
California; and Pérez Art Museum Miami, FL (catalogue)
Disorderly Conduct: American Painting and Sculpture, 1960 -1990, Nasher Museum of Art, Duke
University, Durham, NC
Start at Home: Art from the Frank W. Hale, Jr. Black Cultural Center Collection, Various venues,
Columbus, OH
The New Art, A Controversial Collection Fifty Years Later, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK
Dimensions of Black, organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in collaboration with the
San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art, Jan Shrem and Maria manettie Shrem Museum
of Art, University of California, Davis, CA
Art of Rebellion: Black Art of the Civil Rights Movement, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit MI
Simple Passion, Comblex Vision: The Darryl Atwell Collection, Harvey B. Gantt Center for
African-American Arts + Culture, Charlotte, NC
Experiments in Form; Sam Gilliam, Alan Shields, Frank Stella, organized by Janet Dees, Mary and
Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Color People, curated by Rashid Johnson, Rental Gallery, East Hampton, NY
The Evolution of Mark-Making, Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, organized by Mark Godfrey and Zoe Whitley,
Tate Modern, London, UK
Please Fasten Your Seat Belt as We are Experiencing Some Turbulence, Leo Xu Projects,
Shanghai, China
Approaching Abstraction: African American Art from the Permanent Collection, La Selle University
Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Investigating Identity: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Art, Maier Museum of Art,
Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA
Black History Month at VMFA, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Revelations: Masterworks by African American Artists, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
Colour Is, Waggington Custot, London, UK
VIVA ARTE VIVA, curated by Christine Macel, 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
AfroFantastic: Black Imagination and Agency in the American Experience, Cornell Fine Art
Museum, Rollins College Winter Park, FL
2016 Circa 1970, organized by Lauren Haynes, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Dimensions of Black: A Collaboration with the San Diego African American Museum, The Museum
of Contmemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA
Visual Art and the American Experience, National Museum of African American History and
Culture, Washington, DC
Passages in Modern Art: 1946-1996, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Complex Uncertainties: Artists in Postwar America, Jepson Center, Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA
Three American Painters: David Diao, Sam Gilliam, Sal Sirugo, organized by Betty Jarvis and Donna
Gustafson, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers New Brunswick, NJ
Close Readings: American Abstract Art from the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Landmark: A Decade of Collection at the Jepson Centre, Jepson Center for the Arts, Savannah, GA
A Celebration of the Speed Collection, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
African American Art Since 1950: Perspectives from the David C. Driskill Center, curated by Dr.
Robert E. Steele and Dorit Aaron, Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA
Repurposed Realities, Goya Contemporary Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Not New Now, Marrakech Biennale 6, curated by Reem Fadda, Marrakech, Morocco
2015 Black: Color, Material, Concept, organized by Lauren Haynes, Dtudio Museum Harlem, New York, NY
On Paper, Howard Hodgkins, Sam Gilliam, Gene Davis, Sheila Rotner, Andrea Way, Athena Tacha,
Anges Denes, Kathleen Kucka, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washington, DC
Surface Matters, curated by Jen Mergel, Edward H. Linde Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Affecting Presence and the Pursuit of Delicious Experiences, The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Great Impressions IV: An Exhibition of Contemporary Prints, Dean Jensen Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
Represent: 200 Years of African American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Pretty Raw: After and Around Helen Frankenthaler, curated by katy Siegel, The Rose Art Museum,
Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties, Blanton Museum of art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Make It New: Abstract Painting from the Nationa Gallery of Art 1950-1975, The Clark Institute,
Williamstown, MA
African American Art Since 1950: Perspectives from the David C. Driskell Center, Figge Art Museum
Davenport IA; Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL
2014 Sense of Place II: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Ogden Museum of Southern Art,
New Orleans, LA
Marsha Mateyka Gallery, Washingtion, DC
Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Hood Museum, Dartmouth
College, Hanover, NH
African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond, curated by Virginia Mecklenburg,
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga TN; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento CA;
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
African American Art Since 1950: Perspectives from the David C. Driskell Center, The Harvey B. Gantt
Center for African-American Arts, Charlotte, NC
2013 African American Art, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Assembly Required: Selections from the Permanent Collection, curated by Naima J. Keith, The Studio
Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
The Force of Color, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI
2012 African American Art Since 1950: Perspectives from the David C. Driskell Center, The David C.
Driskell Center, University of Maryland, MD
A Bigger Splash: Painting after Performance, Tate Modern, London, UK
Drip, Drape, Draft, curated by Rashid Johnson, South London Gallery, London, UK
The Spirit Level, curated by Ugo Rondinone, Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY
The Constant Artist, Katzen Arts Center, American University, Washington, DC
2011 Washington Color and Light, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
The 100th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art: The Vision Endures, Maier Museum of Art,
Lynchburg, VA
2010 Colorscape: Abstract Painting, 1960-1979, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
2009 Intrinsic Trio: Sanford Biggers, Sam Gilliam & Joyce J. Scott, Goya Contemporary, Baltimore, MD
2008 Three American Masters: Gene Davis, Sam Gilliam, Nathan Oliveira, Marsha Mateyka Gallery,
Washington, DC
2007 5 X 5: Five Artists choose Five Artists to Watch, Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery, Washington District
of Columbia Jewish Community Center, Washington, DC
2006 Generations, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, VA
2005 The Shape of Color, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
Resurfaced, Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, MA
The Chemistry of Color: African American Artists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2003 Abstract Notions: Selections for the Permanent Collection, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst, MA
2001 Imago Gallery, Palm Desert, CA
1999 Klein Gallery, Chicago, IL
1997 Seeing Jazz, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
After the Fall: Aspects of Abstract Painting since 1970, Newhouse Center of
Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, N
1996 Klein Gallery, Chicago, IL
Galerie Simmone Stern, New Orleans, LA
1995 44th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Corcoran Gallery of Art,
Washington, DC
Richard Artschwager, Sam Gilliam, Jim Hyde, Baumgartner Gallery, Washington, DC
1994 Galerie Simmone Stern, New Orleans, LA
1992 Smith Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
Michael H. Lord Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
1991 Abstraction: The 90’s, Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY
Gallery Simone Stern, New Orleans, LA
Fendrick Gallery, New York, NY
Nancy Drysdale/ de Andino Fine Arts, Washington, DC
1989 The Blues Aesthetic, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC
Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, NC (catalogue)
California Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
1986 Abstraction/Abstraction, Carnegie-Mellon University Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA (catalogue)
1982 American Abstraction Now, Institute of Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Art,
Richmond, VA (catalogue)
Painterly Abstraction, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN (catalogue)
1981 Installations: Stephen Antonakos, Sam Gilliam, Rockne Krebs, Middendorf/Lane Gallery,
Washington, DC
Sam Gilliam and Auste, Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1980 Alternatives by Black Artists, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC
Afro-American Abstraction, P.S. 1, Queens, New York, NY
1979 Art of the Eighties, The Grey Gallery, New York University, New York, NY
Color and Structure, Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1978 American Artists’ Work in Private French Collections, Museum of Modern Art, Lyon, France
1977 Le Peinture et le Tissu, Museum of Modern Art, Lyon, France
12th International Biennial of Graphic Art, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia
1976 Handmade Paper, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (catalogue)
Le Festival Internationale le Peinture, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France (catalogue)
30 Years of American Printmaking, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (catalogue)
72nd American Exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1975 34th Biennial of Contemporary American Painting, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
1974 Cut, Bend, Spindle, Fold, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Expo ’74 Spokane, Washington, DC (catalogue)
1972 Gilliam/Edwards/Williams: Extensions, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT (catalogue)
Works for Spaces: Antonakos, Bladen, Gilliam, Irwin and Rockburn, San Francisco Museum
of Art, San Francisco, CA (catalogue)
XXXVI Venice Biennale, American Pavilion, Venice, Italy
1971 The Deluxe Show, Deluxe Theater Exhibit, The Menil Foundation, Houston, TX (catalogue)
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC
Works for New Spaces, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Kid Stuff, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
II Indian Triennale: American Exhibit, Lalit Kala Adademi, New Delhi, India (catalogue)
1970 Two Generations of Color Painting, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA (catalogue)
Dimensions of Art, La Jolla Museum of Art, La Jolla, CA (catalogue)
Work on Paper, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Washington: Twenty Years, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (catalogue)
69th American Exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1969 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art,
New York, NY
X to the Fourth Power, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Gilliam, Krebs, McGowin, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Other Ideas, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI (catalogue)
The Washington Painters, Ringling Museum, Sarasota, FL (catalogue)
1968 Tribute to Martin Luther King, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Inaugural Show, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
1966 The Negro in American Art, UCLA Art Galleries, University of California, Los Angeles, CA (catalogue)
Artists in Washington, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Washington, DC
Ten Negro Artists from the U.S., First World Festival of Negro Arts, Dakar, Senegal (catalogue)
1964 Nine Contemporary Painters, USA, Pan American Union, Washington, DC
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2020 Sam Gilliam: Existed Existing (exhibition catalogue). Interview by Hans Ulrich
Obrist. Texts by Courtney J. Martin and Fred Moten. New York: Pace Gallery, 2020.
2019 Jones, Kellie and Choi, Connie H. Black Refractions, Highlights from The Studio Museum in
Harlem, New York: Rizzoli, 2019.
2018 The Music of Color: Sam Gilliam 1967-1973 (exhibition catalogue). Cologne: Verlag der
Buchhandlung Walter Konig, 2018.
2017 Sam Gilliam. Texts by Jonathan P. Binstock, Jenelle Porter, and Peter Halley. Los Angeles:
David Kordansky Gallery, 2017.
Sam Gilliam, 1967-1973 (exhibition catalogue). Text by Adrienne Edwards. New York: Mnuchin
Gallery, 2017.
2016 Four Generations: The Joyner/Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art Collection. Edited by Courtney J. Martin,
texts by Mary Schmidt Campbell, Chris Bedford, Joost Boosland, Mark Bradford, Alexis Clark,
Nicholas Cullinan, Mark Godfrey, Norman L. Kleeblatt, et al., New York: Gregoy R. Miller & Co., 2016.
Indiana University Eskenazi Museum of Art Guide. Edited by Mariah Keller. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2016.
2015 Relyea, Lane. “1960s: Color Field & Its Influence.” In The Heroine Paint: After Frankenthaler. Edited by
Katy Siegel. New York: Gagosian Gallery, 2015: 102–135.
2014 Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties (exhibition catalogue). Texts by Teresa A. Carbone, Kellie
Jones, Connie H. Choi, Dalila Scruggs, and Cynthia A. Young. New York: The Monacelli
Press and The Brooklyn Museum, 2014.
2012 African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond. Texts by Richard J. Powell
and Virginia Mecklenburg. Washington, D.C. and New York: Smithsonian American
Art Museum and Rizzoli, 2012: 105–109.
Wood, Catherine, ed. A Bigger Splash: Painting after Performance. London: Tate Modern, 2012: 67.
2011 Cooks, Bridget R. Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and The American Art Museum.
Amherst & Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2011.
2005 The Chemistry of Color: African American Artists in Philadelphia, 1970-1990. Texts by Kim Sajet
and Howardena Pindell. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2005.
Sam Gilliam: A Retrospective. Texts by Jonathan P. Binstock, Walter Hopps, and Jacquelyn
D. Serwer. Washington D.C.: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 2005.
The Shape of Color. Edited by David Moos. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2005.
2004 Berger, Maurice. White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art. Baltimore: Center for Art and
Visual Culture, 2004.
Binstock, Jonathan P. Sam Gilliam: Folded & Hinged (exhibition catalogue). Baton Rouge and Laurel:
Louisiana Art And Science Museum and Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, 2004.
2000 Batchelor, David. Chromophobia. London: Reaktion Books, 2000.
American Watercolors at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (exhibition catalogue). Texts by
Jonathan P. Binstock and Kathleen A. Foster. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the
Fine Arts, 2000.
1999 Works ’99, Washington D.C.: Marsha Mateyka Gallery, 1999
1997 Gellner, Uwe Jens Gellner, Sam Gilliam: Of Fireflies and Ferris Wheels; Monastery Parallel, Magdeburg,
Germany, 1997
1996 African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 1996
1991 “Solids and Veils,” Art Journal, 1991, pp. 10-11
1987 The Afro-American Artist in the Age of Cultural Pluralism, Montclair: Montclair Art Museum, 1987
1986 “About Abstraction,” Abstraction Abstraction, edited by Elaine A. King, Pittsburg: Carnegie Mellon
University Press, 1986
“The Transformation of Nature Through Nature,” Theories and documents of Contemporary Art: A
Sourcebook of Artists’ Writings, edited by Kristen Stiles and Peter Selz, Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1996
1983 Through Their Eyes: The Art of Lou and Di Stovall, Washington, D.C.: Anacostia Neighborhood
Museum, 1983
1979 Rose, Barbara, American Painting: The Eighties, New York, 1979
1971 Dowell, John, Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam, Richard Hunt, Daniel Johnson, Joe Overstreet, and William T.
Williams, “Letter to the Editor,” Artforum, May 1971, pp. 3
1968 “In Seconds,” Art in Washington: 1969 Calendar and Diary, edited by Leslie Judd Ahlander,
Washington D.C, 1968
1967 Paintings by Sam Gilliam, Washington, D.C.: Phillips Collection, 1967
AWARDS
2015 U.S. State Department Medal of Arts
2007 Mississippi Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Visual Arts, MS
1997 Honorary Doctor of Arts & Letters, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
1993 Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Corcoran Gallery and School of Art, Washington, DC
1992 Honorary Doctor of Arts & Letters, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
1990 Honorary Doctor of Arts & Letters, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
1989 Individual Artist Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1987 Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA
1986 Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN
1980 Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
1975 Workshop Activities Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1974 Workshop Activities Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1973 Workshop Activities Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1971 Solomon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
1969 Norman W. Harris Prize, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1967 Individual Artist Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
SELECTED PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2002 Stage sets for Journey Home, The Washington Ballet, premiered at The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
2000 Library Stars/Library Obelisk, Juanita E. Thornton Library, Washington, DC
1999 The Three Muses, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
The Real Blue, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
1997 Construction Aviation Potomac, Reagan National Airport, Washington, DC
1996 Color of Medals, Veterans Administration, Philadelphia, PA
Federal Building, Philadelphia, PA
1995 untitled, U.S. Customs House, New Orleans, LA
92-96 Dihedral, LaGuardia Airport, Queens, NY
1991 Washington Colors, The Kaempfer Company, Washington, DC
1990 Blue Riders, New York Metropolitan Transit Authority, Archer St., Jamaica Queens, NY
Circles, Circuits, Squares”, Contel Federal Systems, Chantilly, VA
1989 CAAM Hues, California Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
unitled, Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC
1988 Solar Canopy, York College, Jamaica Queens, NY
1983 Sculpture with a ‘D’, Boston Subway, Davis Square stop, Massachusetts
Transportation Authority/Cambridge Arts Council, MA
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland
Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio
Allen Art Museum at Oberlin College, Ohio
Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
Asheville Art Museum, North Carolina
Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas
The Block Museum, Evanston, Illinois
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia
Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
The Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire
Dallas Museum of Art, Texas
Dayton Art Institute, Ohio
DePaul Art Museum, Chicago
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California
The George Washington University Art Museum, Washington, DC
Guilford College Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
Howard University Art Collection, Washington, DC
The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, New York
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana
The Jacobs Gallery, Georgetown College, Kentucky
Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York
Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, Oklahoma
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin
The Maier Museum of Art, Lynchburg, Virginia
The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, Mississippi
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
National Gallery of Art, Corcoran Collection, Washington DC
National Museum of African American History & Culture, Washington DC
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma
Palmer Museum of Art of The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Perez Art Museum Miami, Florida
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California
Seattle Art Museum, Washington
The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington, Indiana
Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, Illinois
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Stanley Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa
Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
Tate Modern, London
Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia
Tubman Museum, Macon, Georgia
Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford, Massachusetts
University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts
TEACHING
1958-67 Washington, DC Public School System
1964-67 Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC
1967-82 Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, MD
1982-85 University of Maryland, Professor of Art
1985-89 Carnegie Mellon University, Professor of Art
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