Tom Blackwell

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Thomas Leo Blackwell (1938 – April 8, 2020) [1] was an American hyperrealist of the original first generation of Photorealists, represented by Louis K. Meisel Gallery. Blackwell is one of the Photorealists most associated with the style. He produced a significant body of work based on the motorcycle, as well as other vehicles including airplanes. [2] In the 1980s, he also began to produce a body of work focused on storefront windows, replete with reflections and mannequins. [3] By 2012, Blackwell had produced 153 Photorealist works. [3]

Blackwell was born in Chicago, Illinois. He started out his career as an abstract-expressionist, but was moved to try his hand at the Pop art movement of the 1960s. [4] It was with his Post-Pop paintings that Blackwell garnered early success; in 1969, his painting "Gook", which was a reaction to the horrors of the Vietnam War, was included in "Human Concern Personal Torment" at the Whitney Museum of American Art. [5] As the artist recounted for the Currier Museum in 2015, "[i]n the late 1960s, I was still finding my voice as an artist. At that point, I was doing Post-Pop paintings, combining imagery from photo-derived sources. One of these included a section of chrome tailpipes, and as I worked on this painting I realized that the rest of the imagery felt extraneous." [6]

By the 1970s, Blackwell had abandoned his earlier Pop sensibilities and was painting in the newly emerging Photorealist style. [7] His early large-scale paintings of motorcycles and engines, highlighted reflective chrome surfaces. [8] His later works continued to build upon this series, and expanded to include a series of storefront windows scenes, which capture layered imagery reflecting from the glass. [9]

Blackwell's paintings are in many prestigious museum collections, including the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, the Museum of Modern Art, [10] the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, [11] and the Parrish Art Museum, [12] amongst others. [13]

Blackwell died on April 8, 2020, as a result of complications from COVID-19. He was 82 years old. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 Martelli, A. J. "Coronavirus claims life of Tom Blackwell, Rhinebeck artist". Poughkeepsie Journal.
  2. ↑ Photo-realism by Louis K. Meisel. Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY (1980).
  3. 1 2 Meisel, Louis (2013). Photorealism in the Digital Age. New York: Abrams. p. 19. ISBN   978-1-4197-0828-2.
  4. ↑ Smart, Paul (April 16, 2020). "Renowned Photorealist Painter Tom Blackwell Dies from Complications of Covid-19". Hudson Valley One. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Tom Blackwell, pioneering Photorealist painter, dies at 82". ArtDaily. April 14, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  6. ↑ Blackwell, Tom (January 24, 2015). "Tom Blackwell's Photorealism: Making a Masterpiece". Currier Museum of Art. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  7. ↑ Meisel, Louis (1980). Photorealism. New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 83. ISBN   0-8109-1464-6.
  8. ↑ Meisel, Louis (1980). Photorealism. New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 84. ISBN   0-8109-1464-6.
  9. ↑ Tom Blackwell - Artist, Art - Tom Leo Blackwell
  10. ↑ "Art and Artists". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  11. ↑ Buoys, Gabriel (February 6, 2012). "Visitors Look at "Little Roy's Gold Wing"". Getty Images. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Picture (Recent Acquisitions)". Parrish Art Museum. November 11, 2018. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Tom Blackwell - Biography" (PDF). Louis K. Meisel Gallery. January 15, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.


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