The painter Clyfford Still (1904-1980) was one of the 'founders' of Abstract Expressionism. Born in Grandin, North Dakota, he grew up in Washington State and in Alberta, Canada. He influenced many others, including Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman. When visiting New York in 1945, Rothko introduced him to Peggy Guggenheim, who shortly thereafter, hosted Still's first one-man show. Still was considered a member of the 'New York School', that also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Willem deKooning. However, Still always tried not to be ascribed to any movement, and disliked verbal explanations of his art: "The paintings should be permitted to speak for themselves". Still was mostly a loner and aloof. In 1961, he moved to a small town near Baltimore to escape the New York art scene and focus on his art.

Today, many of Still's paintings can be viewed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (30+), the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. The MoMA in NYC has '1944-N' on display. A book (ISBN 0-87099-213-9) by Clyfford Still and John P. O'Neill (Ed.), published in 1979, is a catalog from an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nov. 17, 1979 - Feb. 3, 1980. It contains all paintings from the large exhibition in color together with notes and letters by the painter. Recently, Denver has been chosen to receive Still's much desired 2,000+ piece private collection under the premise to create and maintain a museum devoted exclusively to his art.

Other Links:
Examples of Paintings
Clyfford Still: Short Biography


Snippets:
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Ecce Homo: When Pontius Pilate presented Jesus to the Jews demanding his Crucifixion, Pilate cried 'Ecce homo' (Behold the man). The words Ecce Homo have come to signify a type of devotional image that depicts Jesus after the scourging, crowned with a wreath of thorns, and with his face typically gaunt and drawn as he goes to his death. Also a famous writing by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, and paintings by Lovis Corinth and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
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DVD: Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004): Directed by Quentin Tarantino. w/ Uma Thurman, David Carradine. The bride gets her revenge. More story than in Vol. 1, but some scenes are too sluggish. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Music: Ravi Shankar: Sitar player. CDs: India's Master Musician (1963), Ragas and Talas (1964). Indian Classical music. Shankar has also collaborated with George Harrison in the 60s. John Coltrane was influenced by Shankar. Shankar's idea was to introduce the Western world to traditional Indian Music. The sitar is a plucked string instrument with 20 movable frets. It is retuned with different intervals for each piece. It has six or seven main strings and 13 symapthetic strings. The tamboura is another instument with 4-5 strings which are plucked witout stopping the strings in a constant drone. The tabla is a pair of drums played by hand. A raga is not a tune, melody, scale, mode, or any concept for which an English word exists. It is instead a combination of different characteristics, including a certain number of notes, modal structure, ascending or descending struture, and certain importance of notes. A tala is a recurring time-measure or rhythmic cycle.
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Music: Sitar player: Roop Verma. From the web site: "A world-renowned Indian musician; a master of the healing sounds of the Indian Sitar, a brilliant concert performer, teacher, and composer." He cannot be found in the AllMusic Guide though.
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Literature: Talbot Mundy was the bestselling writer of adventure stories during the 1920's and 1930's. His novels include King of the Khyber Rifles, Caves of Terror, Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley, Black Light, and The Nine Unknown.
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Shopping: CNET Shopper for electronics. Reviews, recommendations, price comparisons.
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Life: The best thing about carrying home a large pizza take-out in the winter time is that it will keep your hands warm.
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Art: Abstract-Art.com. Impressive collection of modern art. Especially the 'Grandfathers and Influences Gallery' and the 'More Artists Galley'. Navigation buttons allow an easy 'walk-through'. Site design could be more imaginative, though.
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Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski (b. 1941), the director of the trilogy Trois Coleurs, has previously made Polish movies and a TV series called 'Dekalog'. Among them, 'A Short Film About Love ' (Krotki film o milosci), and 'A Short Film About Killing' (Dekalog, piec), both from 1988.
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Art: Photographer: Wolfgang Volz, Exhibition: ManMade Planet, Jan 28 – Mar 1, 2005, at the Chelsea Art Museum, Chelsea, NYC. Gallery opening 1/28/05; saw Christo & Jeanne-Claude there. Volz is the designated photographer of their art. Will also cover their project 'The Gates' in Central Park (Feb. 12 -29, 2005).
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Art: Chelsea Museum of Art also has a permant collection of Jean Miotte (b. 1926). 'L'Arte Informel' is the European equivalent to the American 'Abstract Expressionism'. Main artists: Jean Miotte, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Emil Schumacher and Kazuo Shiraga and others. Miotte reminds of Clyfford Still.
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Language: An epitome (Greek epitemnein = to cut short) is a summary or miniature form; it is also used as a synonym for embodiment. Many lost documents from the Ancient Greek and Roman world survive only now 'in epitome' referring to the practice of some later authors (epitomators) who would write distilled versions of now lost larger works (Wikipedia).
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