Vivian Springford (American, 1914–2003) 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 Napoleanic 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. The show generated much excitement, and was featured in the movie Bowl of Cherries, in the film library of The Museum of Modern Art. Prominent collectors such as Leon Mnuchin purchased paintings from the exhibition.

Springford shared studio space with the Asian American artist Walasse Ting (American/Chinese, 1929–2010) for 10 years, and helped him with the translations of his poetry. Through her association with Ting, Springford developed close contacts with artists such as Pierre Alechinsky (Belgian, b.1927), Sam Francis (American, 1923–1994), and Karel Appel (Dutch, 1921–2006).

Springford also had a solo show at Preston Gallery in New York City in 1963, but became a reclusive artist after that, only showing in a few group exhibitions at the request of fellow artists and friends. She otherwise refused to sell or promote her own works. She worked in her New York studio through the mid-1980s until macular degeneration rendered her blind.

Having no immediate family, she was unable to leave her small New York Midtown apartment. In 1998, a volunteer from United-Neighbors-of-the-East-Side, which works with New York City's elderly "shut-ins," was visiting with Springford and learned about a storage room in Chelsea that held her life's work. They visited the room and found more than 40 years' worth of paintings and drawings covered in plastic and a decades worth of dust. The volunteer brought samples of Springford's work to Gary Snyder, an art dealer known for his revisionist exhibitions of historically rooted art and artists. Snyder immediately recognized its importance, and began the process of cleaning, restoring, and showing her work. Snyder's first exhibition of Springford's work in 1998 was nearly sold out before its opening.

Vivian Springford died in 2003.