Stanley Whitney

Stanley Whitney was born in 1946 in Philadelphia, USA. His blocks of high-key colours have made Whitney America’s greatest Black abstract artist.

Sometimes it takes fifty years of work to become an overnight success.

Stanley Whitney was born in Philadelphia in 1946. Like many artists of that era, he moved to New York in the 60s. He struggled finding his place as an abstract painter. The artworld only had room for representational work by Black artists.

Disenchanted, he moved to Rome in the 90s and this reinvigorated his painting style.

Rows of bright colourful rectangles

Bootylicious, 2007

Rows of bright colourful rectangles

Untitled, 2014

Rome, I would say, was the beginning of my mature period. Especially the ancient Rome, the ancient buildings, the scale of that and how human they were.

Colour grids became his signature. Like the jazz he grew up loving, he finds freedom within the constraints – riffing with the canvas as he moves from block to block.

At 77, Stanley’s work is finally getting the recognition it deserves

Success came late, but the stars line up when they line up – and if it happens when you’re alive, you’re lucky.

A black and white drawing of a box with scribbles in surrounded by handwritten text reading "2020 Always running from Police"

Untitled (Always Running from the Police 2020), 2020

A colourful drawing of boxes with scribbles in surrounded by handwritten text reading "No to Prison Life"

Untitled (No to Prison Life), 2020


More in this series

See all

Insightful?

Insightful?

Subscribe to the Avant Arte newsletter for the art world in your inbox.

By continuing, you’re agreeing to our terms & conditions and privacy policy.

Discover more insights

See all