The Clyfford Still Museum is situated in Denver, Colorado, at the foot of the Rockies at an elevation that makes those unused to this altitude gasp. When we ascend to the top of a ridge and look out at the vast expanse, we might enjoy a sense of achievement at scaling that terrain or revel at the expanse that spreads before us, but we may also experience the smallness of our own individual existence. This experience might be tinged with a fear of tumbling, being engulfed, or disappearing in the face of such grandeur. Generations of Western artists and intellectuals, especially beginning in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, have described this feeling as the experience of the sublime.
Photo by Brien Hollowell
Clyfford Still spent his childhood and adolescence in the West and saw how the boundless plains could offer generous bounty in times of plenty or pitilessly starve in dust and wind. In an interview, he referred to that experience as one that taught him to respect the “awful bigness of the land, the men and the machines.” In subsequent years, he worked on an enormous scale, and each time, he had to confront the awful bigness of the vast expanse of blank canvas.
Organized by the Museum’s curator of collections, Bailey Placzek, in collaboration with CSM’s director, Joyce Tsai, Awful Bigness fills the Museum’s largest, skylit galleries and celebrates Still’s biggest, most ambitious works. This installation follows a chronological display of Still’s works in CSM’s first four rooms, which overviews Still’s groundbreaking path to abstraction.
Clyfford Still, PH-685, 1969. Oil on canvas, 113 3/8 x 158 5/8 in. Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO. © City and County of Denver / ARS, NY
Digital Guide + Audio Content
Enjoy more ways to connect to the collection and our Museum with the Clyfford Still Museum free digital guide, available online on Bloomberg Connects. Explore Awful Bigness on Clyfford Still Online and hear a variety of perspectives on the exhibition’s themes. Audio guide speakers include Dr. Danielle Ignace, assistant professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver; Dr. Rob Landis of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA headquarters in Washington D.C.; Susannah Drake, architect, landscape architect, and CSM’s president of the board of directors; and a student from Denver School of the Arts.
Explore the audio clips:
Awful Bigness Audio Experience Introduction – Hear an introduction to our Awful Bigness audio experience by Susannah Drake, CSM board president.
Magnitude, An Architect’s Perspective – Hear from architect and landscape architect Susannah Drake on the idea of magnitude and the immersive nature of Still’s work. Drake recalls Leonardo da Vinci’s universal figure, the Vitruvian Man, when thinking about how Still’s massive paintings relate to our bodies in space.
“Sila: The Breath of the World” by John Luther Adams – Adams spent much of his life as a conservationist, so his mystical, contemplative works are meant to highlight both the wondrous and the terrifying aspects of our environment. Listen to an excerpt online.
BIG ideas, BIG feelings, BIG experiences – Hear middle school student from Denver School of the Arts, Maitri, recall a BIG experience in her life. Then, move to the nearby Making Space to see short films that Maitri and other DSA students made about their own BIG ideas, feelings, and emotions.
Art and Infrasound: A Conversation with Astronomer Rob Landis – Infrasound is a powerful phenomenon that causes intense reactions in our physical world, though its low frequencies are below human hearing ability. Hear NASA scientist Rob Landis discuss how astronomers use infrasound detection to anticipate meteor impacts within the Earth’s atmosphere and discover ways we might connect infrasound with our experiences of art, like with Frederic Church’s Aurora Borealis.
“Yam Almost May” by Phil Nilbock – As you observe PHX-71’s velvety surface, listen to this example of drone music by American artist and composer Phil Nilbock. Drone is a music genre known for lengthy, sustained tones. How does this compare to PHX-71, with its limited variation in color and form? Do the boundless tones you see and hear feel more like deep nothingness—or a mysterious something? What else do these works make you wonder?
Too Big: Conversation with Climate Scientist Dr. Danielle Ignace – What does PH-893 have in common with an Arizona haboob (giant dust storm)? Clyfford Still’s abstract, monumental paintings offer an opportunity to explore ideas that feel too big or complex to fully grasp—like global warming. Listen as we chat with ecophysiologist and professor of Indigenous Natural Sciences Dr. Danielle Ignace about her work to help people grasp and contend with climate change’s massive impacts in our communities and why she thinks it’s related to abstract art.
Awful Bigness Exhibition Tour
Join CSM director Joyce Tsai and curator of collections Bailey Placzek in a look through Awful Bigness, with additional insight from Susannah Drake (architect and CSM board president), Dr. Danielle Ignace (Ecophysiologist and Asst. Professor of Indigenous Natural Sciences at the University of British Columbia), and Aspen (Denver School of the Arts student).
Explore Art in the Exhibition
Clyfford Still, PH-1077, 1956 (detail). Oil on canvas, 113 x 148 in. Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO. © City and County of Denver / ARS, NY
Clyfford Still, PH-897, 1973 (detail). Oil on canvas, 159 x 113 in. Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO. © City and County of Denver / ARS, NY
Clyfford Still, PH-685, 1969 (detail). Oil on canvas, 113 3/8 x 158 5/8 in. Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO. © City and County of Denver / ARS, NY
Collection Highlights
Collection Highlights were on view in galleries 1–4, and Awful Bigness began in Gallery 5.