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Sam Middleton

Sam Middleton’s paintings are lyrical and inventive – a complex of precise, rhythmical improvisations around his main forms. In this, the artist is involved, in a unique way, with methods employed by our great jazz musicians. It is interesting that Mr. Middleton, who came to Europe a decade ago and who has lived, for most part, in a city whose people and locales were depicted so well by Rembrandt, still retains at the core of his art a way common to his origins.

Romare Bearden, Poems to Life, Museum Voor Moderne Kunst 1972

Painter, printmaker, mixed media. Born in 1927 in New York City. Studied at the Instituto Allende at San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Lives and works in Amsterdam.


Middleton continues to bridge the living to legends of twentieth century American classics while taking risks in paths of his own. His relationships with American classical musicians Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker are just a few of Middleton’s early influences that continue to inspire his present works. Duke Ellington said that Middleton was “A Painter of Sound,” to which Middleton replied, “Ellington has great colors, blues and reds, and the geometric orchestration.” [John Williams, “Painting in Sound”, Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 19 No. 1 (Spring 1985), p.9]


Growing up in Harlem during the sunset of the Harlem Renaissance brought a zeal to Mr. Middleton’s influences and quest to blossom as an artist. He also experienced the evolution of American Abstract Expressionism in New York. He joined the Merchant Marine as an under aged enlistee, and later lived in Mexico, Spain and Sweden. He chose ex-patriot status in the late fifties leaving behind the challenges of racial tension to liberate his perspective. He eventually settled in the Netherlands in the early 1960s due not only to the free atmosphere and space . . . but the enthralling blue skies.

Exhibited:


Galerie Excelsior, Mexico City, 1957(I-man); Assoc. Artists Studio, New Orleans, 1957, 1959; Sunken Meadow Foundation, NY, 1958; Contemporary Arts, NY, 1958, 1960, 1962; Galerie Silo, Madrid, 1960; Galerie Passepartout, Copehhagen, 1961; SveaGaleriet, Stockholm, 1961; Galerie Parnass,Wupperta, 1962; Galerie Delta, Rotterdam, 1962; Galerie Arta, The Hague, 1963, 1964; De Beyerd, Breda, 1963; Groninger Museum, Groningen, 1963; De Blauwe Hand, Harlingen, 1963; Galerie Les Contemporains, Brussels, 1964; Schiedam, 1964; Magdalene Sothman, Amsterdam, 1964, 1966; Galerie Cauberg, Valkenburg, 1964; Kunstzaal Barteljoris, Haarlem, 1964; Bas Grafiek, Amsterdam, 1965; Galerie Modern, Silkborg, 1965; De Knipscheer, laren, 1965; Court Gallery, Copehagen, 1965; Galerie De Jong Bergers, Maastricht, 1966; Galerie Falazik, Bochu, 1966; Kunstcentrum ‘t Venster, Rotterdam, 1966; Galerie Westing, Odense, 1966; Leids Academisch Kunstcentrum, Leiden, 1966; Galerie 14, Aarhus, Denmark, 1966; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1966; Galeria El Patio, San Maguel, Mexico, 1957; Maarino Art Gallery, NY, 1957; Art USA ’58, NY, 1958; National Arts Club, NY, 1958; Artists Gallery, NY, 1958; Whitney Museum of Amer. Art, NY, 1958 –62; Brooklyn Museum, NY, 1959-61; Univ. of Illinois Biennial, 1959; Sunken Meadow foundation, NY, 1959; Morse Gallery of Art, Winter park, FL, 1959; Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, 1960; Young Americans, 1960; Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1960; Art Center, Summit, NJ, 1961; Collectie Sanberg, Amsterdam, 1962; Amer. Art Gallery, Copenhagen, 1963-64; Galerie Pijnenborg, Eindhoven, 1963; 10 Americans, Copenhagen, 1964; Galerie Al-veka, The Hague, 1965; Prent 190 Amsterdam, 1965; Galerie Pictural Groningen, 1966; Fodor Museum, Amsterdam, 1966; Galerie Modern, Sllikeborg, Denmark, 1966; 11 Moderne Kunstenaars, Horsens, Denmark, 1966; 7 Kkunstenaars, Kasteel Zwaulwenburh, 1966; Amer. Center for Students & Artists Paris, 1969; Univ. of Texas Art Museum, 1970; James A. Porter Gallery, 1970.

Collections:


Bache & Co. Rockefeller Center, NY; Besjakov Collection, Copenhagen; Boarenstein Collection, New Orleans; Buchsbaum Collection, The Hague; Sandberg Collection, Stdelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Stuyvesant Collection; Klev Collection, Dortmund; De Beyerd Collection, Breda; Groninger Museum, Groningen; Dr. Groot Collection, Groningen; Hammerstrand Collection, Stockholm; Hellwig Collection, Stockholm; Howard Univ.; Prof. Kurt Herberts, Wuppertal; Igell Collection, Stockholm; Mr. Rolf Jahrling, Wuppertal; John Hay Whitney Foundation, NY; National Gallery of South Australia; Omme Collection, Silkeborg, Denmark; Museum of Modern Arts, Haifa; Pijnenborg Collection, Eindhoven; Benno Premsela, Amsterdam; Mre. Vincent Price, Chicago; Sonnenberg Collection, Rotterdam; Springhornhof Falazik, Neuenkirchen; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Swedish-Amer. Line, Stockholm; Whitney Museum of Amer. Art, NY; Univ. of Texas.

Awards:


Scholarship, Koinonia Foundation, 1957; John Hay Whitney Foundation Fellowship, 1959; Ford Foundation Purchase Award, 1961; Instituto Allende, Mexico, 1956.

Publications:


Dover. American Negro Art; Indiana Univ. Fine Arts & the Black American; Art Museum, Univ. of Texas. Afro-American Artists Abroad; Houward Univ. James A. Porter Gallery of African American Art, 1970; 10 American Negro Artists Living Y Working in Europe, catalog, 1964; “Exhibition at the Excelsior Gallery, Mexico City, “ Pictures on Exhibit, Feb. 1957, p. 57; Harley, Ralph, Jr. “A Checklist of Afro-Amer. Art & Artists,” The Serif, Dec. 1970; “Samuel Middleton: Painter-Printmaker,” Material on Negro Achievement; Grillo, Jean B. “Elma Lewis: A new Show A new Showplace,” Boston After Dark, Aug. 16, 1970; Brown, Marion. “The Negro in Fine Arts,” The Negro Heritage Library, Vol. 2; Myers, Carol. Black Power in the Arts, Flint, MI., 1970; Driskell, David C. Sam Middleton & Richard Hunt, Fisk Univ., 1968; Whitney Museum. Fifteen under Forty, NY, 1962; Walker, Roslyn. A Resource Guide to the Visual Arts of Afro-Americans, South Bend, IN, 1971.