Middleton Sam
Born in 1927, Sam Middleton emerged as a hidden yet influential figure in the modernist art movement. Raised in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance, Middleton was deeply immersed in the cultural and musical vibrancy of the era. His frequent visits to legendary venues like the Savoy Ballroom introduced him to jazz, a genre that profoundly influenced his art throughout his life.
In 1944, at the young age of 17, Middleton left New York to join the Merchant Marines during World War II. After the war, he returned to New York in the early 1950s and became an integral part of the city’s burgeoning artistic scene. He developed close relationships with prominent New York School artists such as Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, and Robert Motherwell. His artistic circle soon expanded to include jazz legends like Cecil Taylor, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker, whose performances at The Five Spot Café left a lasting impact on his work. These experiences fueled his desire to “paint sounds,” a theme that became central to his art.
In 1955, Middleton embarked on his first significant artistic journey outside New York, seeking a more open-minded environment than what was available in the pre-Civil Rights era United States. He briefly settled in Mexico City with the help of a grant from the John Hay Whitney Museum, secured with Franz Kline’s assistance. In Mexico, Middleton transitioned from social realism to expressionism and began experimenting with collage. His first solo exhibition took place in Mexico City in 1957.
By 1959, Middleton had permanently left the United States, living in Spain, Sweden, and Denmark before finally settling in Schagen, the Netherlands, in January 1962. There, he taught at Atelier 63 and the Royal Academy of Art in Hertogenbosch, while regularly exhibiting his work across Scandinavia and later in major retrospectives, including one at the Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst in 2003.
Middleton’s European life was enriched by friendships with fellow African American expatriates, including Herbert Gentry, James Baldwin, and Ted Joans. While he never returned to live in New York, his work remained deeply informed by the memories of his formative years in Harlem and Greenwich Village. Over time, he incorporated elements of his Dutch surroundings and broadened his musical influences.
His work is celebrated in prestigious collections worldwide, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Columbia Museum Of Art, The St Louis Museum of Art, and many others. Notably, his collages were featured in the groundbreaking 1962 Whitney Museum exhibition “Forty Artists Under Forty” and the 1983 Studio Museum’s “An Ocean Apart: American Artists Abroad.” His art continues to be showcased in significant exhibitions, such as the Whitney Museum’s 2015 “America Is Hard to See.” Sam Middleton’s lyrical collages remain essential references in the scholarly study of post-war African American art.
