Clyfford Still (American, 1904-1980) 1957-D, No. 1, 1957 Oil on canvas, 113 x 159" Gift of Seymour H. Knox, 1959

If you have ever kept a journal, you will understand how Clyfford Still felt about his paintings. He said, "Each painting is an episode in a personal history, an entry in a journal." As a result, he liked his paintings to be shown together in a group, without other artists' work nearby. In the same way, if people were to read your diary, the writing would make more sense to them if they were able to read the whole thing and not just one or two pages. And it would be easier to read it if the television were turned off!

Mr. Still's paintings are most often completely abstract. This means that although they may remind you of things, the artist painted nothing from the real world. Most of them are large—wall-sized! His paintings have reminded some people of the Great Plains, mountains, lakes, fire, ice, caves, or even figures of people. Mr. Still denied that they were any of these things. He got angry at people in the art world who tried to explain what his paintings were about, since they are very personal and come from within his mind and body.

Clyfford Still fought hard for control over his life and his own creations. At the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, his paintings are all exhibited together in one room, as he insisted at the time he gave them to the Gallery. They are never loaned to other museums--another of his rules. Mr. Still felt that his art was more important than money, and people who asked to buy his paintings were often turned away unless he felt they wanted them for the right reasons.