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