Detail View: Art Collection:

UNIQUE ID: 
1.2011.577_2
Work Type: 
paintings (visual works)
Title: 
PH-247
Title Notes: 
preferred
Title: 
no title
Title: 
1951-B
Title: 
Big Blue
Title Notes: 
nickname
Creation Date: 
1951
Work Creator Name: 
Still, Clyfford
Work Display Measurement: 
117 x 192 inches (297.2 x 487.7 cm)
Work Material Name: 
oil paint (paint)
Work Material Support Name: 
canvas
Work Technique Name: 
palette knives (painting equipment)
Work Style Period: 
Abstract Expressionist
Current Work Location Name: 
Clyfford Still Museum
Creation Location: 
New York, New York (48 Cooper Square)
Work Relation: 
First version of PH-31, 1951 (CSM)
Work Description: 
This monumental horizontally-oriented painting is filled with a rich cobalt blue pigment from top to bottom and edge to edge. A tall narrow matte black columnar form divides the composition just left of center, running from top to bottom. A barely there, neon orange "zip" or line runs parallel to the black form about a foot to its left. Lastly, a thin strip along the left edge from the bottom edge almost up to the top left corner has been left unpainted, and thus reads as a white counterpart to the black totem near center. The all-over blue pigment has sunk and become more transparent in some areas, and therefore infuses the entire surface with a dynamic, glowing presence that seems to simultaneously recede and come forward towards the viewer.
Citation: 
Clyfford Still, PH-247, 1951. Oil on canvas, 117 x 92 inches (297.2 x 487.7 cm). Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO.
Work Rights Statement: 
© City and County of Denver / ARS, NY
Image Holding Institution: 
Clyfford Still Museum
Image Collection Name: 
CSM Art Collection: Objects
Image Rights Statement: 
Photo: Gary Regester, courtesy the Clyfford Still Museum