A breathtaking masterwork that is explosive yet elegant, raw yet regal, stark yet stately and majestic, PH-568 stands as irrefutable test.mes nt to the radical innovation and profound brilliance of Clyfford Still’s visionary painterly oeuvre. Floating against an expansive ground of nuanced cream are craggy passages of pitch-black ebony, deep purple, incendiary crimson, electrifying yellow and scorching white; in its presentation of a highly specific formal elegance within its abstract forms, PH-568 is searing in its restraint, and exhilarating in its steely sense of purpose. Painted in 1965, a few years after Still retreated from the New York art scene and relocated to the quiet countryside of Winchester, Maryland, PH-568 belongs to the artist’s late paintings from the final two decades of his life. Paintings such as PH-568 demonstrate Still’s intent to more intimately commune with both nature and his artistic practice, and a new sense of exuberance, sweep and power in his canvases speaks of the confidence and liberation of the mature artist in his prime. Notably, PH-568 was exhibited at the landmark exhibition at Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1969 – the only t.mes in Still’s lifet.mes that his works entered the commercial market following his dissociation with his gallerists in 1951. Of the 35 paintings in the exhibition, seven were from his Maryland period, with the present painting being one of the seven; other paintings from this group belong in the collects ion of the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; the Kreeger Museum, Washington D.C.; and the New York State collects ion in Albany. PH-568 joins only an extremely small group of Still paintings in private hands; in its holistic union of form, space and line, the sheer graphic power of PH-568 is as compelling and undeniable as a force of nature, serving as a powerful test.mes nt to Still’s singular and unparalleled importance within the mythic narrative of postwar painting.

Clyfford Still’s significant place at the forefront of the art history of the Twentieth Century is unquestioned. From his earliest explorations into Surrealist-tinged abstraction of the late 1930s/early 1940s to the landmark abstract creations of the late 1940s and ending with the majesty of the paintings of the 1960s and 1970s, each seminal stage in Still’s career is marked by extraordinary innovation. Even amongst the foremost figures of American Abstract Expressionism, Still’s influential role within that movement cannot be overstated. In the 1940s, Still realized his distinctive vision years before Motherwell’s first Elegy or de Kooning’s first Woman. The limitless ground, rugged silhouettes, and saturated hues of the artist’s mature production were already expressed; while during the same period, the paintings of Still’s contemporaries within the New York school offer only tantalizing glimpses of the aesthetic choices that would eventually define their mature and revolutionary styles. In his essay for the 1990 exhibition of Still’s work at the Mary Boone Gallery, Ben Heller eloquently and concisely summarized the essential qualities of Still’s work that allowed him to be among the first to create paintings free of depiction, narrative and symbolism. “Color, surface, edge, scale, shape, verticality, pressure, tension, relaxation, movement, grandeur – these are the painter’s tools. To speak of them as subjects for paintings is but a way to draw attention to Still’s ingenious and highly personal manipulations of these tools, to his fusion of technique, image and power, the means by which he acts upon our feelings, the essence of his mystery and greatness” (Exh. Cat., New York, Mary Boone Gallery, Clyfford Still: Dark Hues/Close Values, 1990, n. p.).

Exemplary of Heller’s apt summation, Still’s most compelling canvases – while resolutely abstract – present suggestive forms that project a narrative based not on figural representation, but on a spellbinding synthesis of color, contour and painterly dynamism. As with the greatest examples of Rothko’s exquisite hovering forms, or of Barnett Newman’s precise yet profound linear zips, Still’s fields of unfettered expression elicit deep and instantaneous emotions. While Rothko and Newman’s iconic canvases draw immense power from their saturated hues, the purest intention – and ultimate power – of Still’s abstractions lie in his compelling contours, or, in Heller’s words, “edge”. Heller describes: “The subject of these paintings: Edge. Not the edge of the canvas, but the torn, jagged, moving edge which defines shape. Still’s edge is his particular, his singular trademark. It is line, it is form, but it is also more than simply line, does more than just traverse. It is his carrier of movement; it creates direction, speed, and activity. It is rough and even; it upsets and soothes. It sets pace by creeping or swiftly thrusting, by penetrating and bisecting. It is irregular; it twists and turns. It can be smooth and clean as a knife” (Ben Heller in Ibid., n.p.). Juxtaposing his stygian crags against a creamy ground, Still achieves a riveting tension between light and dark, aperture and expanse, action and stillness, his jagged perimeters exquisitely defining and anchoring the composition to create an exquisitely balanced whole.

Underscoring Still’s commitment to independent aesthetic evolution, the artist withdrew from the New York art establishment in 1961 in pursuit of a more individualized practice. In December 1963, a letter from Still to the critic Kenneth Sawyer appeared in Artforum, which ended with a summation explaining his move to the rolling hills of the Maryland countryside: “It has always been my hope to create a free place or area of life where an idea can transcend politics, ambition and commerce. It will perhaps always remain a hope. But I must believe that somewhere there may be an exception…The truth is usually hard and somet.mes s bitter, but if man is to live, it must live” (excerpted from Exh. Cat., New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Clyfford Still, 1979, p. 54). Dean Sobel, director of the Clyfford Still Museum, noted: “[Still’s] work underwent many significant changes during this period. … The paintings of the 1960s and 1970s are marked by a lighter palette and touch, and what could be described as an openness and economy of imagery. While Still began to exploit the qualities of bare canvas in the late 1940s, his use of emptiness and void as expressive devices reached its fullest potential in these late paintings….thereby implanting a sense of ethereality into his previously densely painted fields” (Dean Sobel and David Anfam, Clyfford Still: The Artist’s Museum, New York, 2012, pp. 29-30). In 1940s paintings that incorporated unpainted or white canvases, Still’s vertical painterly forms still remain unified, grounded and centralized in the center of the composition, while the bare canvas of 1965 fully inhabits the composition, playing the same role as the painted color forms; all harmoniously relate spatially and chromatically with one another and equally extend beyond the outer boundaries of the painting.

As summarized by Katherine Kuh, an influential curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, who visited Still’s studio in the 1960s: “To visit Still’s studio in Maryland and see his chronological progression is to recognize uncompromising growth…Here in comparative isolation, his work has noticeably changed. The recent paintings, vast in scale and totally liberated from any fixed focus, sweep upward with frank exuberance. Measured and disciplined as always, these surging open canvases bear witness to a new optimism, to an escalating power” (Exh. Cat., Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Clyfford Still: Thirty-three Paintings in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1966, p. 11). In PH-568 we encounter the Still who broke all rules and boldly created his own type of art, unique even in the company of other revolutionary stylists such as Pollock, Rothko and Newman. Still’s credo, as it applied to the viewer and to his conception of the role of the artist, is perhaps best summed up in his own words, “I want the spectator to be reassured that something that he values within himself has been touched and found a kind of correspondence. That being alive, having the courage, not just to be different but to go your own way, accepting responsibility for what you do best, has value, is worth the labor” (excerpted in Dean Sobel and David Anfam, Ibid., p. 101).

充滿爆發力而不失優雅、粗曠原始卻又沉穩細膩、荒涼而高貴——《PH-568》堪稱克里夫・斯蒂爾最傑出的作品之一。棱角崎嶇的檀黑、深紫、豔紅、鵝黃和純白色懸浮在無盡的米黃平面之上；藝術家以抽象手法表現實在的莊嚴，爆發出剛強的決心。此作出自1965年，在此數年前，斯蒂爾離開了紐約藝術界，移居至較恬靜的馬利蘭州溫徹斯特郊區。因此本作是藝術家生涯最後二十年的作品。《PH-568》這類作品往往呈現出斯蒂爾冀望以藝術接通大自然的想法。而這種強烈渴望與大自然生命連接的表達手法和力量，反襯出當時已達致巔峰的藝術家的自信和造詣。1961至1980年間，斯蒂爾踏入一生最豐盛的藝術時期，共創作了380幅作品。由於藝術家當時極不願意與自己作品分開，甚至連對展出亦有所顧慮，所以這批畫作大部分現仍收藏於克里夫・斯蒂爾博物館內。1969年，斯蒂爾在馬博羅·葛松畫廊售出35幅作品，這是自1951年他和畫廊終止合作關係後，唯一一次有作品流入藝術市場。35幅畫作來自不同時期，而馬里蘭州時期的作品佔7幅。《PH-568》就是當中7幅之一，其餘作品現時分別藏於華盛頓赫希洪博物館和雕塑園、華盛頓克雷格博物館、畢爾包古根海姆美術館，以及奧本尼的紐約州收藏。由此可見，《PH-568》乃極少數仍屬私人收藏的作品。無論是形式上的結合、空間與線的關係、圖像的爆發性，一切都令本畫成為一幅魄力非凡的巨作，牢牢鞏固斯蒂爾在戰後藝術中無可匹敵的大師地位。

克里夫・斯蒂爾在二十世紀藝術史上的先鋒地位無容置疑。從1930年代後期至40年代早期初探富有超現實主義韻味的抽象手法，到四十年代後期標誌性的抽象創作，到最後六十至七十年代的壯麗巨作，斯蒂爾在每個階段都寫下輝煌的新章節。即使在美國抽象表現主義的大師當中，斯蒂爾的地位都不容小覷。在1940年代，早在馬瑟韋爾首幅《輓歌》及德庫寧首幅《女人》之前，斯蒂爾的藝術思想體系已然建立。

正當其他同期屬紐約畫派的藝術家還在剛剛起步，埋首探索一些最終蛻變成革新風格的理念的時候，斯蒂爾早已於一些成熟的畫作中，表現出無盡的平面、崎嶇的輪廓線和滿溢的色彩。1990年，本恩·赫勒（Ben Heller）為瑪麗·布恩畫廊舉辦的斯蒂爾展覽撰寫了一篇文章，概括了斯蒂爾作品中幾個重要的特性，而因著這些特性，斯蒂爾最終擺脫形象、敘述和象徵意義的制肘。「顏色、平面、邊緣、大小、形狀、豎直性、壓力、繃緊、緩和、動態、宏偉，此等皆為這畫家的工具。把它們看作繪畫的題材，只是一個途徑，好讓我們理解斯蒂爾如何以自己別出心裁的方式，運用這些工具去結合技法、圖像和魄力，直駛我們的心靈。這正正就是他的魅力和偉大所在。」（摘自展覽圖錄《Clyfford Still: Dark Hues/Close Values》，紐約瑪麗·布恩畫廊，1990年，出版社不詳）

本恩·赫勒的概括非常適用於斯蒂爾的經典作品。在完全抽象的大前提下，畫面有意無意地反映出不同的姿態，誘發一段段並非根據人像，而是按照色、線、顏料互相交織而成的節奏。如同羅斯科最引人入性的懸浮形狀，或巴尼特·紐曼精準而又凌厲的垂直「拉鍊」（Zips）一樣 ，斯蒂爾超脫的色塊除了可刺激人們的本能反應之外，甚至能發人深省。相對於羅斯科和紐曼經典作品中的飽和色系，斯蒂爾的抽象藝術中最純粹、最根本的意念，皆來自他作品中的輪廓。赫勒將這些輪廓形容為「邊緣」：「邊緣為這些畫作的主題。留意不是畫布的邊緣，而是那些看似被撕破、充滿缺口、躍動中的形狀的邊緣。這些邊緣為斯蒂爾的個人標誌。它是線，又是形。但它又非純粹的線，不會單單在畫面上遊走。它是藝術家的流動載體；它帶來方向、速度和動力。它既粗糙又平滑；既能刺激又能安撫。它能決定步態；既會敏捷地爬行、躍動，又會穿越，甚至會一分為二。它非對稱；它扭動並旋轉。它有如刀片般光滑、鋒利」（同上）。斯蒂爾將一塊塊看似不可觸碰的崎嶇形狀，置於米黃畫面之上，為作品注入光與影、隙縫與廣域、多變與不變等的對立元素。這些大大小小的缺口反而令整體構圖達致均衡，可謂這幅傑作的靈魂。

斯蒂爾堅持自己美學演進的原則，於1961年毅然從紐約藝壇抽身離去，為的是追求更自我的藝術方式。1963年12月，斯蒂爾致函《藝術論壇》藝評人肯尼斯·賽亞（Kenneth Sawyer），闡明自己為何要移居到山巒延綿的馬利蘭州外郊：「我一直希望能建構一個自由的場所或生命空間。在那裡，意念可超越政治、野心和商業。這或許一直只會是個夢，但我深信在某處會有一個可容納這想法的例外……真相往往難以令人接受，有時甚至殘酷萬分，但如果一個人要活下去，『這』一定要活著。」（摘自展覽圖錄《克里夫・斯蒂爾》，紐約大都會藝術博物館， 1979年，頁54）。克里夫・斯蒂爾博物館館長丹·索貝爾（Dean Sobel）道：「（斯蒂爾）這時期的作品經歷了不少劇變……1960、70年代的畫作使用較淺色調和筆觸，可講成是一種開明、簡約的意象。雖然斯蒂爾早於1940年代後期已開始探索空白畫布本身的特質，但其實這透過空靈作為表達媒介的意念要到後期作品中才達致頂峰……這些後期作品蘊含前期塗滿的畫面中所無的非凡氣質」（丹·索貝爾及大衛·安凡著，《克里夫・斯蒂爾：藝術家的博物館》，紐約，2012年，頁29至30）。四十年代的作品中，不論是留白及塗白的畫布，斯蒂爾的垂直形狀仍然呈統一效果，貼服於畫布中央。相反，《PH-568》畫布的留白空間完全侵佔了構圖，並扮演與顏色、形狀一樣的角色；它們彼此組成緊密的色調空間，然後一同延伸至超越畫面外緣。

在六十年代，一位當時任職芝加哥藝術博物館、影響力頗大的策展人凱瑟琳・庫（Katherine Kuh）曾到過斯蒂爾的工作室。她說：「造訪斯蒂爾於馬利蘭州的工作室，目睹藝術家隨時間的演化，好比認清他那不屈不撓的精神……在這個相對與外界隔絕的空間裡，他的作品明顯有所改變。近年大型的畫作都完全從單一焦點中解脫，好似一股洶湧而上的氣勢，配合一如既往的精密秩序，這些坦蕩蕩的作品蘊含躍升的動力，印證新的光明」（展覽圖錄《克里夫・斯蒂爾：奧爾布賴特・諾克斯美術館藏33幅作品》，奧爾布賴特-諾克斯美術館，水牛城，1966年，頁11）。由此可見，《PH-568》是一件不可多得的大作，見證斯蒂爾破舊立新的態度，絕不下於波拉克、羅斯科、紐曼等同期的藝術大師。關於藝術家同時適用於觀者和創造者的藝術理念，我們不妨引用他本人的話語作結：「我希望令觀者放心知道他們心中所珍重的已被接通，並尋找到某種共鳴。生而為人，要有膽色，不但要與眾不同，還要秉持原則，接受自己所長所帶來的責任，明白這一切是有價值的、值得付上每一滴汗水。」（摘自丹·索貝爾及大衛·安凡，同上，頁101）