Repeat/Recreate: Clyfford Still’s “Replicas”

“Making additional versions is an act I consider necessary when I believe the importance of the idea or break-through merits survival on more than one stretch of canvas.” —Clyfford Still |

An exhibition of closely related compositions that Still called “replicas,” Repeat/Recreate features major works by Clyfford Still exhibited in pairings. Uncanny and often darkly magnetic, they provide a new and greater understanding of Still’s process and methods, while challenging the popular understanding of Abstract Expressionism as an outpouring of impulsive creativity.

The exhibition brings together works of art from some of the world’s most renowned collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Smithsonian American Art Museum. At least nineteen works featured in Repeat/Recreate have never been shown publicly, and only one of the exhibition’s pairings has previously been exhibited in tandem.