Elizabeth Thompson (painter)

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Elizabeth Abrams Thompson (born 1954 in New York City, died 2023) was an American painter whose works have been described by writer and art historian Bonnie Clearwater as "a call to action for the reclamation of Paradise". She has painted the Florida Everglades as "de-peopled visions of a primordial Eden." [1] [2] Thompson lived in Florida and New York City. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Thompson grew up in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in nearby Englewood. [3] Thompson received a BA from Mount Holyoke College and graduated magna cum laude in 1975. Pratt Institute awarded her a BFA in 1977. [3] She attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris from 1976 to 1977.

Career

Thompson began her career by winning a competition to paint 135 oil storage tanks on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. She then went to Paris and had her first exhibit on the Rue Seine in 1978. She has an extensive list of site specific murals that were commissioned by corporations and collectors. She also painted series that include subjects such as Paris monuments and sphinxes, swimming pools at night, African landscapes, the Everglades and impending environmental events. [4] Bruce Helander, in the introduction to the book that accompanied her exhibition at the Coral Springs Museum of Art, [5] says "Thompson's a visual storyteller whose canvases are filled with plot-twists." [6] Thompson has had 17 solo exhibitions and has participated in 16 group exhibitions. She co-curated an exhibition "Pools" that toured gallery and museum venues worldwide, including at a Gallery in Moscow, Russia in 1989. This exhibition was the first independent show in a nongovernment gallery in Moscow since 1917. At an exhibition of her Africa paintings, [7] some visitors commented that the landscapes reminded them of the Everglades. After floating through a tunnel of mangroves, she was hooked. Critic Jon Thomasson wrote of her palette, "you discover shades of green you didn't know existed". [8]

Style

Thompson used both the traditional method of oil and canvas, but beginning in 2017 began experimenting with acrylics on unprimed canvas. She painted on the floor and allowed the "accidents" created by pouring paint directly on the canvas to dictate the eventual subject and composition of the work.

Personal life

Thompson married Richard Thompson in 1978 and was widowed in 2006. She lived with her partner, Guerrino De Luca, until her death in 2023. She has two daughters, Victoria Thompson and Antonia Thompson Weisman.

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Awards and honors

Commissions

Collections

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Bonnie Clearwater: "Elizabeth Thompson's Enchated Forest", Elizabeth Thompson Forty Years of Painting, Coral Springs Museum of Art
  2. ↑ Helander, Bruce (2017). "Ever-Present, Effervescent, Everglades". No. 23. Art Hive. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Coutros, Evonne E. "Image, duality, and reflection", The Record , March 10, 1993. Accessed April 27, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "When Elizabeth Abrams Thompson painted 'Loose Quilts Over The Farm', a mural for one wall that houses the indoor swimming pool of Robert Wood Johnson IV's Bedminster estate, her primary concern was how to safeguard it from mildew.... Thompson, who was raised in Englewood Cliffs and now lives in New York City and Ocean Ridge, Fla., said that many of her 15 commissioned artworks over the years - including pieces for Tom Wolfe, Prince Michael of Yugoslavia, and the headquarters of a Zimbabwe gold mine in London - have been creative challenges.... 'I first saw 'Pinocchio' in this theater,' said the 38-year-old mother of two who attended Englewood Cliffs Upper School and Dwight Morrow High in Englewood School and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree from Mount Holyoke College."
  4. ↑ "Paris". Elizabeth Thompson Art. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Thompson, Elizabeth. "40 Years of Painting". Coral Springs Museum of Art. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  6. ↑ Bruce Helander,"Every Picture Tells a Story", Elizabeth Thompson Forty Years of Painting, Coral Springs Museum of Art
  7. ↑ "Africa". Elizabeth Thompson Art. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  8. ↑ John Thomasson, "Where the Wild Things Are:An Elizabeth Thompson Retrospective" Boca Magazine, Feb 1, 2019
  9. ↑ "Stories from the Everglades". Leila Heller Gallery. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Pools". Elizabeth Thompson Art. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  11. ↑ Thompson, Elizabeth. "Murals - "Oil Tanks"". elizabeththompsonart.com. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  12. ↑ Thompson, Elizabeth. "Murals - " Let It Shine"". elizabeththompsonart.com. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  13. ↑ Thompson, Elizabeth. "Murals - "El Angel de Mexico"". elizabeththompsonart.com. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Elizabeth Thompson – Murals". elizabeththompsonart.com. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  15. ↑ Thompson, Elizabeth. "Murals - " Shanghai Tang"". elizabeththompsonart.com. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  16. ↑ Thompson, Elizabeth. "Murals - " New York University Hospital Oncology Entrance"". elizabeththompsonart.com. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Stories from the Everglades — Exhibitions". Leila Heller Gallery. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  18. ↑ Colimore, Edward (July 31, 1996). "Ferry fare gets passengers a frigate trip, too". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  19. ↑ Schwan, Gary (1990). "Norton hopes pool art will make a splash". Palm Beach Post.
  20. ↑ Sheffield, Skip (1990). "Artists make collective splash with pool settings". Palm Beach Post.
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