Sam Gilliam
American painter (1933-2022) · United States · On the map · Artists · Died at 88
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.
Sam Gilliam is read about 44 times a day, in 5 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 13 June 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?People around Sam
Family
Sam GilliamPartners
Is this everyone?
Only relatives with a profile here are drawn, so a family can be larger than this. A line here can also be wrong. A marriage is drawn as ended only where its end is recorded, so a spouse drawn here may be a former one.
Correct this familyAlso in Deutsch
Media & music
Awards
About this person
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.
