Bradley Walker Tomlin (August 19, 1899 – May 11, 1953) belonged to the generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists. He participated in the famous ‘’Ninth Street Show.’’ According to John I. H. Baur,[1] Curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tomlin’s "life and his work were marked by a persistent, restless striving toward perfection, in a truly classical sense of the word, towards that “inner logic” of form which would produce a total harmony, an unalterable rightness, a sense of miraculous completion...It was only during the last five years of his life that the goal was fully reached, and his art flowered with a sure strength and authority."
Quick Facts Born, Died ...
Bradley Walker Tomlin |
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| Born | (1899-08-19)August 19, 1899
Syracuse, NY |
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| Died | May 11, 1953(1953-05-11) (aged 53)
St. Vincent’s Hospital, New York City |
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| Occupation | Abstract expressionist painter. |
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Born in Syracuse, New York, Tomlin was the youngest of four children. Beginning in high school he wanted to be an artist. His art teachers were Cornelia Moses, a former pupil of Arthur Wesley Dow, Hugo Gari Wagner for modeling, and Frank London, his mentor and teacher.[citation needed]
Tomlin attended Syracuse University, College of Fine Arts, New York from 1917-1921, studying under Dr. Jeannette Scott and Professor Carl T. Hawley. He then attended Académie Colarossi and the Grande Chaumiѐre, in Paris from 1923–1924. He returned to New York in the late 1924. He began exhibiting in 1925 at the Whitney Studio Club. In 1926 Tomlin returned to Europe, visiting England, Italy and Switzerland, though staying mainly in Paris. He returned to the United States in July 1927. He also discovered Woodstock, New York where he spent his summers.[citation needed]
During the depression Tomlin worked in teaching positions at Sarah Lawrence College from 1932 - 1941, at Buckley School from 1932–1933, and at Dalton School from 1933–1934.[citation needed]
On Sunday, May 10, 1953, Tomlin drove with his friends to a party at the Jackson Pollocks’ house on Long Island, from which he returned about midnight, feeling ill.[2] The following day, he was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital where he suffered a heart attack and died at seven that night. Bradley Walker Tomlin died at the age of fifty-three.[3][4]