Acrylic on canvas, 1972. Signed, Elliott Thompson, dated, 2/72, and inscribed, Eleven Thirteen, on verso and again on stretcher. 1118x1600 mm; 44x63 inches.
Provenance: Estate of the artist; Private collection.
After retiring from his government job as a financial officer in the Supply and Maintenance Agency of the U.S. Army, Thompson embarked on his art career. His studies began while working in Paris. At that time, he worked in an academic setting under André Lhote, creating still life and figurative works. Finding his own paths of exploration, Thompson began painting within a range of gray tones. Upon his retirement, Thompson returned to Washington, DC where he studied, then taught at the Corcoran School of Art. His works from 1967 until 1969 were abstractions in repetitious forms assembled on a grid and working in black and white. In 1971 he introduced color. The mature works of Elliott Thompson are focused on pattern and repetition. They have a flowing tranquility that can be compared to the emotional ranges of music, with the repeating patterns as the rhythm, and the color range that of the melodic voice of each instrument. Thompson's work has been exhibited with Gene Davis, Alma Thomas, Sam Gilliam, and other DC Color Field painters at important galleries including the Jefferson Place Gallery and the Barbara Fiedler Gallery as well as institutions such as The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Ringling Museum of Art, and The Phillips Collection. His works are held by private and museum collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In 1974 The Corcoran Gallery of Art held a retrospective honoring the artistic contributions of Elliott Thompson.
