Clyfford Still Museum: Allied Works Architecture

The Clyfford Still Museum in Denver was created as a home for the artistic vision of American painter Clyfford Still (1904–1980), who helped spearhead the Abstract Expressionist movement. Though acknowledged as one of the country’s most significant twentieth-century artists, his work has long been difficult to access, and much of it has never been publicly exhibited. Opening its doors to the public in November 2011, the two-story museum--one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world--houses the vast majority of Still’s creative output: 2,400 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures spanning over 60 years. Designed by the leading architectural practice Allied Works and its founder, Brad Cloepfil, the museum draws inspiration from the work of Still and from its monumental surroundings: an intersection of prairie and mountains within an urban district of major cultural buildings, vacant lots, historic housing and new development. The building looks to the earth as a source of silence and evocation of the elemental forces that the artist explored in his painting. This publication presents the initial conception of the museum to its ultimate realization as what The New Republic has declared to be “everything a museum goer could hope for.” A rich collection of stories, artifacts, documents and conversations trace the evolution of the building and Allied Works’ unique creative process, with new essays and photographs that examine its particular significance within contemporary architectural discourse.