John Edward Thompson

Often called "the dean of Colorado painters," John Edward Thompson introduced modern art to Denver in 1918, when he and his group of artist followers presented an exhibition at the Colorado Armory. Contemporary critics were not pleased.

Overview

Born in Buffalo, New York, Thompson had begun his formal art studies with noted illustrator Lucius Hitchcock. After studying for two years at the Art Students League of New York, he enrolled in Paris' Academie Julien. Influenced by the tutelage of such renowned figures as Jean-Paul Laurens, he established a European reputation while still in his twenties. Spending a year in Laren, a famous painting village in Holland, Thompson also met Josef Israels and Albert Neuhys. Returning to Paris, he found himself invited to the salon of Gertrude Stein and soon was living in the home of George Sand. In a picturesque French village of Gargilesse-Dampierre, Thompson found himself surrounded by natural light painting landscapes in the style of Paul Cezanne.

Driven back to the United States by World War I, Thompson found himself drawn to depictions of the American West. A railroad agent recommended Pine, Colorado for its fine quality of mountain light, which was enough to send Thompson packing. He soon landed in Denver, drawing friends and artists such as Josef Bakos and Walter Mruk to his own small art colony. Though some soon departed to form the Santa Fe community known as "Los Cinco Pintores," Thompson's leadership introduced modernist European styles to a region long-resistant to nontraditional art forms.

As a member of the Denver Atelier, an exclusive network of leaders in the arts and architecture community, Thompson also used the studio as a social gathering spot. Frederick Law Olmstead Jr, Jacques Benedict, Burnham Hoyt, and other Denver notables interested in the American Beaux-Arts tradition joined him. Their monthly meetings would often feature nude models, enabling members to practice their sketchwork in a supportive environment while enjoying the pleasures of homemade juniper-berry wine.

Thompson's genius led to exhibitions in some of the most prestigious art galleries in the country, including the Art Institute of Chicago, New York World's Fair, Philadelphia Sesqui-Centennial Exhibition, San Francisco's Grand Palace of the Legion of Honor, and the Corcoran Museum in Washington D.C. Donald Baer, the director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, noted “I have never in my life met anyone… who knew so profoundly, so thoroughly and yet so simply and directly what constituted great painting… I have never met anyone either, that could convey what he knew with such clarity.”

ources

*cite news
url=http://www.savageauart.com/bio-thompson.htm
title=Savageau Gallery
work=Biography of John Thompson
accessdate=2007-02-27

*cite news
url=http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/bulletin.aspx?searchtype=DISCUSS&artist=14310
title=AskArt
work=Discussion page on artist John Edward Thompson
accessdate=2007-02-27