Abbott Stillman
By Barry Schwabsky

The first publication of the paintings by the American contemporary artistThe book is the first publication of the contemporary American artist’s paintings. It represents a compendium of the multiple modes of painting the artist utilises, following the numerous paths and approaches he has utilised over the course of the many years of his studio practice – always with his very recognizable voice and distinct style. The works depicted in this catalogue are concentrated in the 21st century, though Stillman has been painting privately since the 1980’s. This represents the first publication of any of his paintings, which he did not even agree to show publicly until 2023.Abbott Stillman attended MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning and after graduating from MIT he built an award-winning and highly respected career. He started painting in the 1980s, never intending to show his work beyond family and friends. The artist had a successful career in real estate development and all the while maintained a studio practice that, over the course of these many years, has produced a remarkable depth and breadth of work. If there is a through line to his collected paintings it consists of some combination of ambiguity, exuberance, balance, and harmony all in service to his central, and optimistic, beliefs about the human condition.His paintings are compositions of rich color, often in abstracted grounds and spaces that evoke deep emotional responses.