Inlana
Date1969 - 1971
Mediumoil and acrylic on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 45 × 70 × 2 inches (114.3 × 177.8 × 5.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Jerome W. Canter.
Object number2006.42
Copyright© Sam Gilliam.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextAcid greens, hot pinks, and teal blues are just a few of the vibrant colors that saturate the canvas of Sam Gilliam’s painting Inlana. The explosively colorful stained canvas projects from the wall through Gilliam’s distinctive use of beveled-edge stretcher bars. Telfair Museums holds three works by Gilliam in the collection, each piece revealing another aspect of Gilliam’s relentless experimentation and innovation. Gilliam was initially acknowledged by the art world for his draped, folded, and soaked canvases freed from their stretcher supports, which were inspired by the sight of women hanging laundry on a clothesline. These pieces were first exhibited in 1969 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. An artist known for experimentation, Gilliam’s biggest constant has been change. He often works in series and devises certain structures and systems of order to work within. It has been argued that his most significant contribution to art history has been the erasure of easy definitions that dictate traditional definitions of painting and sculpture. In creating objects that act as both artforms, the artist erases the need for such boundaries. After his arrival in Washington, D.C. in 1961 and his association with artists such as Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland, Sam Gilliam was often heralded as a second-generation member of the Washington Color Field school and was notably the only African American artist associated with that school; however, his work went beyond their investigations into abstraction and questioning the structures of painting itself. His artistic practice continues to stimulate viewers who experience the electric pull of his works―provoked through his use of texture and color and his willingness to experiment.
