Vivian Springford was an Abstract Expressionist artist, most famous for her Black Paintings done in the late 1950s and early 1960s. She born in Milwaukee, WI, and educated at the Spence School in New York City, and then at the Art Students League. Originally a portrait artist, she illustrated Albert Carr’s 1938 book Juggernaut with portraits of 20 political dictators from the Napoleonic era to the early 20th century. She was championed in the late 1950s by Howard DeVree, art critic for The New York Times, and Harold Rosenberg helped Springford get her first show at Great Jones Gallery in 1960.