<I>April 4</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1972
name: label: Created by
content: Sam Gilliam, American, 1933 - 2022
label: Subject of
content: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
notes: label: Caption
content: Abstract artist Sam Gilliam began his professional career in 1962 when he moved to Washington, D.C. He soon joined a group of D.C.-based painters, the Washington Color School, who used various techniques to explore color and spatial relationships on large-format canvases. Although Gilliam has worked in a wide variety of artistic styles, he is best known for developing the groundbreaking technique of painting on large sheets of unstretched canvas draped from walls and ceilings.
label: Caption
content: Gilliam painted April 4 to commemorate the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. It reveals Gilliam’s deep social and political engagement achieved through abstraction.
label: Description
content: This is an abstract painting from the Martin Luther King series. Done with a thick layer of color, the painting field is made up of splashes of color in a variety of shades of pinks, yellows, blues, greens, and reds. There is a larger, more continuous field of blue at the bottom left hand side of the painting. There is a thin stripe of the same splash pattern down the center running from top to bottom.
place: label: Place made
content: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Abstraction
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Civil Rights
label: Topic
content: Local and regional
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Portfolio/Series
content: Martin Luther King Series
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Movement
content: Civil Rights Movement
label: Movement
content: BAM (Black Arts Movement 1965-1976)
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2011.37.1
objectType: label: Type
content: acrylic paintings
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Sam Gilliam
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: acrylic paint on canvas
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (unframed): 72 1/2 × 48 in. (184.2 × 121.9 cm)