of Abstract Expressionism
Clyfford Still (November 30, 1904 - June 23, 1980) was an American artist, a painter, and one of the leading figures in Abstract Expressionism. Still was one of the foremost "color field" painters - his paintings are non-objective, and largely concerned with arranging a variety of colors in different formations. However, while Mark Rothko or Barnett Newman organized their colors in a relatively simple way (Rothko in the form of nebulous rectangles, Newman in thin lines on vast fields of color), Still's arrangements are less regular. His jagged flashes of color give the impression that one layer of color has been "torn" off the painting, revealing the colors underneath. Read more detail in the biography.