YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio –  An art masterpiece by Sam Gilliam, recently rediscovered in The Butler Institute of American Art’s extensive storage area, will be the centerpiece of an exhibition that will open Feb. 22 at the museum.

The Butler’s interim executive director said the piece will draw industrywide attention to the Youngstown museum.

The Gilliam piece, “Mars at Angles,” is a massive 232 inches by 186 inches and is considered to be one of the artist’s finest.

It was recently rediscovered in the museum’s climate-controlled basement storage area, where it sat untouched for approximately 30 years.

“We are thrilled to be able to showcase some of the great works of African American art from the

permanent collection of The Butler,” said Larry Jones, interim director. “We are especially excited for people to see the Sam Gilliam [1933-2022] piece, which is incredibly impressive by its size but also because of its importance. We will be the envy of every major museum in the U.S.”

Born in Mississippi and raised in Kentucky, Gilliam was part of a new school of artists creating wildly colorful abstract pieces.

The Gilliam piece will be part of an exhibition titled “Spark of Genius: Legacy & Lineage, African American Art from the Butler.”

The exhibition will showcase pieces by Black artists drawn from the museum’s permanent collection. Curated by Dee Banks, museum trustee, the exhibition explores historic and postwar American art from the Black perspective.

In addition to the Gilliam piece, featured art will include “Fall Fisherman” by Robert Scott Duncanson (1821-1872), the first

Black artist to achieve international recognition in the fine arts.

Also included are works by Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt, who is one of the most prolific public sculptors in the country, and Boston’s John Wilson and Elizabeth Catlett, whose activist work was personal and political.

Other significant artists include popular portraitist D. Norman Tilllman; Horace Pippin, whose works would one day inspire Jackson Pollock; and Romare Bearden, whose art was inspired by his life in Harlem.

Works by the late, and nationally known, northeastern Ohio artists Alfred Bright (Youngstown), Bill Dotson (Akron) and Maple Turner III (Youngstown) will also be featured,  along with many major visual artists.

On Feb. 22, Banks will deliver a free lecture at 2 p.m. in the museum’s Zona Auditorium as part of the opening day events, highlighting the work of the featured artists, including Gilliam, Bright, Elizabeth Catlett, Martin Puryear, Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence.

In celebration of the show’s opening, The Butler has commissioned a limited-edition Jacob Lawrence T-shirt, which will be available to purchase in the museum store.