George Stillman (February 25, 1921 – March 12, 1997) was an American

abstract expressionist Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

artist and member of the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

group known as the "Sausalito Six".

Biography

George Stillman was born in

Laramie, Wyoming Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was estimated 32,711 in 2019, making it the third-largest city in Wyoming after Cheyenne and Casper. Located on the Laramie River in southeastern ...

, but was raised in

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County in the U.S. state of California, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, ...

. He began working with photography while still a teenager and at the age of 17 or 18 won first prize for creative photography in the

Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...

. He got an

associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

Chaffey College Chaffey College is a public community college in Rancho Cucamonga, California. The college serves students in Chino, Chino Hills, Fontana, Montclair, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland. It is the oldest community college in California. History ...

(1941) and then enrolled at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, but in 1942 he was drafted to serve in the military in World War II. After the war ended, he studied painting at the

California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

(CSFA, now the San Francisco Art Institute), where he got to know a number of other emerging first-generation Bay Area Abstract Expressionist artists. With some of them, he formed a group that became known as the "Sausalito Six" because most lived in the waterfront town of

Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's p ...

just north of San Francisco. The group consisted of

Richard Diebenkorn Richard Diebenkorn (April 22, 1922 – March 30, 1993) was an American painter and printmaker. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s he bega ...

John Hultberg John Hultberg (February 8, 1922 – April 15, 2005) was an American Abstract expressionist and Abstract realist painter. Early in his career he was related to the Bay Area Figurative Movement; he was also a lecturer and playwright. Early life a ...

Frank Lobdell Frank Lobdell (1921 - 2013) was an American painter, often associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement and Bay Area Abstract Expressionism. Life and career Frank Lobdell was born on August 23, 1921 in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Mi ...

Walter Kuhlman Walter Kuhlman (1918–2009) was a 20th-century American painter and printmaker. In the late 1940s and 1950s, he was a core member of the San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism. He later worked in a representational style related to Ame ...

, James Budd Dixon, and Stillman, who was one of the youngest members. Stillman lived in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, where he had a photography studio, but he had close ties with the rest of the group and often visited them and exhibited with them. The late 1940s were very active years for Stillman, who produced over 1000 paintings, prints, and other artworks in this period. His work ranged from pure abstraction to figurative subjects treated expressionistically; one writer refers to it as hailing from the "quietest branch of Abstract Expressionism, which preferred to transport the imagination rather than jolt the senses". During this period, he collaborated with other members of the Sausalito Six to create a portfolio of 17 lithographs entitled ''Drawings'' (1948) that is considered a landmark in the history of Abstract Expressionist printmaking. In 1949, the

San Francisco Museum of Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary a ...

honored him with the Ann Bremer Award. However, in the 1950s, when he went to Mexico to study and later take up a teaching job at the University of Guadalajara, he hauled most of his work to the dump. As a consequence, only a few dozen works survive from this phase of his career. In the 1960s, Stillman went back to school, earning a B.F.A. (1968) and then an M.F.A. (1970) from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. He subsequently taught art at

Columbus College Columbus State University is a public university in Columbus, Georgia. Founded as Columbus College in 1958, the university was established and is administered by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. History The university w ...

in Georgia (1970–72) and at

Central Washington University Central Washington University (CWU) is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington. Founded in 1891, the university consists of four divisions: the President's Division, Business and Financial Affairs, Operations, and Academic and Student Life ...

(1972–88), where he was chair of the Art Department. He died in

Ellensburg, Washington Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 and Interstate 82 Interstate 82 (I-82) is an Interstate Highway in th ...

. Stillman's work is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Oakland Museum (California), the British Museum (London), and numerous other art institutions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stillman, George 1921 births 1997 deaths Abstract expressionist artists American abstract artists People from Laramie, Wyoming 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American printmakers Modern artists Chaffey College alumni San Francisco Art Institute alumni Arizona State University alumni Columbus State University faculty Central Washington University faculty Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area American expatriates in Canada 20th-century American male artists