Sidewalk Sam staving off a light rain with an umbrella as he finishes his artwork (c. 1976-1978)Robert C. Guillemin uses acrylic paint to copy a detail of The Reader by French painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Sidewalk Sam is the pseudonym of Robert Charles Guillemin (May 4, 1939 – January 26, 2015), a Boston-based artist who resided in Newton, Massachusetts. He is best recognized for his reproductions of European masterpieces, chalked or painted on the sidewalk. Following an accident in 1994 that left him paralyzed, Guillemin increased his focus on large participatory art projects for communities and businesses. His motto, on a sticky note at the top of his computer, was "Entertain, Inspire, Empower and Unite".[citation needed]
History
Guillemin first took to the streets of Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts in the summer of 1973, drawing famous artworks on crowded street corners where passersby filled a bucket with change.[1] By the early 1980s, Guillemin found business sponsors for his street artworks and shifted to longer-lasting acrylic paints. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Guillemin also organized chalk-drawing festivals, open-air art exhibits, and public art events that engaged participants in the creation of large mosaics, murals, and banners. In 1990 and 1991, Guillemin organized the Boston Artists’ Summer Festival.[2]
In 1994 Guillemin fell 30 feet (9.1 m) from the roof of his home[3] which paralyzed him from the chest down and made him into a wheelchair user.[4] After his accident, Guillemin returned to street painting and continued to organize participatory art events in Boston and internationally. He appeared on the Today show and Good Morning America, and was featured in People magazine, the New York Times, Carnegie magazine, and a high school social studies textbook.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
Mr. Guillemin died in his sleep at his home in Newton, on Monday, January 26, 2015, at age 75.[12]
After graduation from Boston University he traveled to Paris and attended courses at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Starting in 1965, Guillemin studied for his master's degree in painting at Boston University, where Walter Tandy Murch (1907–1967) was the chief graduate painting faculty. Guillemin received his MFA in 1967.
Flush with the Walls, June 15, 1971, Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Guillemin worked with a group of five artists (Kristin Johnson, Todd McKie, Martin Mull, David Raymond, and Jo Sandman) to stage a protest event/exhibition in a men's restroom located in the museum's lower level.[14]
Awards and recognitions
Official Screever of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1984[citation needed]
^Banks, James (1992). The World Past and Present. Glencoe Secondary Long. p. 45. ISBN 9780021460106.
^Marquard, Bryan (January 27, 2015). "Sidewalk Sam, artist who turned streets into canvas, dies at 75". The Boston Globe.
^Giuliano, Charles (April 10, 1971). "Art Bog: Squeeze at Brandeis Hits Rose Museum Exhibit". Boston Herald Traveler.
^Rosenfield Lafo, Rachel; Capasso, Nicholas; Uhrhane, Jennifer, eds. (2002). Painting in Boston: 1950-2000 (exhibition catalogue). distributed by University of Massachusetts Press. Lincoln, MA: DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park. pp. 34–36.
^"Victor Guillemin Receives 2003 AMS Steele Prize". News, Events and Announcements. American Mathematical Society (Press release). Retrieved January 2, 2024.
External links
Official website
Sidewalk Sam's answer to the question, "What is a failed poet?", Somerville News, 2008
Further reading
The Improper Bostonian, 29 August–11 Sept 2007, p. 28
Sayings for Sidewalk Sam, compiled and calligraphed by F. N. Wombat (ebook pending through Art Street Inc website)
Time, 4 Nov 1985, p. 70: photo of Sidewalk Sam (left) with Garrison Keillor