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Mildred Thompson
Throughlines, Assemblages and Works on Paper from the 1960s to the 1990s, Galerie Lelong Exhibitions, 18 February - 27 March 2021

Mildred Thompson: Throughlines, Assemblages and Works on Paper from the 1960s to the 1990s

Past exhibition
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  • Press Release
    Galerie Lelong & Co., New York, is pleased to present Throughlines: Assemblages and Works on Paper from the 1960s to the 1990s, our second solo exhibition of works by Mildred Thompson and the late artist’s first presentation of this body of work in New York. A selected survey of the artist’s sculptural practice over four decades, Throughlines begins at the moment of Thompson’s first mature body of work. Her Wood Pictures began in New York and further developed in Düren, Germany during Thompson’s self-imposed exile. Thompson’s foray in experimenting with wood continued throughout her life and informed the development of her abstract language, as evinced in her sculptures, works on paper, and paintings.

    After receiving early recognition during her studies in the US and Germany, Thompson returned to New York in 1961, eager to begin her professional practice. However, her encounters with racism and sexism led her to return to Europe three years later. Over the next 13 years, she worked and participated in notable museum and gallery presentations in Aachen, Cologne, and Düren in Germany as well as in France. 


    Thompson’s intimate reliefs of wood and found material soon evolved to two and three-dimensional collages, including elegantly staged outdoor installations of wood assemblages nailed to trees. For the artist, the material’s texture, shape, and form gave Thompson multiple entry points to create metaphorical connections across history and memory, individuality and universality. Some works, such as Stele, c.1963, reveal Thompson’s early use of color in her practice.

    Thompson continued to investigate her body of work in wood during her return to the US in the late 1970s. The minimalist works continued her exploration with found and manipulated wood, yet were more often made in a consistently larger scale than her earlier assemblages. Further pushing the medium, Thompson began experimenting more widely in three dimensions. Simultaneously in the 1990s, Thompson began her Music of the Spheres paintings which endeavored to make visible the sound and vibrational patterns found in planetary orbits and astrophysics. The freestanding wood works on view created during this period resemble the inner bodies of pianos and violins hidden from the musician’s eye, their curves and linearities eliciting an emotional tone.

    Thompson’s works on paper reveal a continuum in her practice through an inquiry of spatial structures. Created in the 1970s, Thompson sought to represent both physical and cosmological spaces in her “architectural studies” etchings, as well as in her silkscreen prints on paper where segmented forms in warm tones of burnt orange, mustard, violet, and forest green parallel the compositions and tonality of her Wood Pictures.

    In a period when African American artists primarily worked in figuration and representation, Thompson championed a dynamic language of abstraction. The artist’s early experimentation in creating complex juxtapositions laid the groundwork for her signature style—from her Wood Pictures of the 60s to the vibrant paintings of the 90s for which she became known. 

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  • Works
    • Mildred Thompson Stele, c. 1963 Acrylic on found wood 38 x 7.75 x 8.5 inches (96.5 x 19.7 x 21.6 cm) (GL12606)
      Mildred Thompson
      Stele, c. 1963
      Acrylic on found wood
      38 x 7.75 x 8.5 inches (96.5 x 19.7 x 21.6 cm)
      (GL12606)
    • Mildred Thompson Wood Picture, c. 1965 Wood 24.4 x 16.5 inches (62 x 42 cm) (GL13331)
      Mildred Thompson
      Wood Picture, c. 1965
      Wood
      24.4 x 16.5 inches (62 x 42 cm)
      (GL13331)
    • Mildred Thompson Wood Picture, c. 1967 Wood, paint, nails 16.25 x 24.75 x 4.25 inches (41.3 x 62.9 x 10.8 cm) (GL12317)
      Mildred Thompson
      Wood Picture, c. 1967
      Wood, paint, nails
      16.25 x 24.75 x 4.25 inches (41.3 x 62.9 x 10.8 cm)
      (GL12317)
    • Mildred Thompson Untitled (No #I), 1973 Signed, numbered, and dated recto Silkscreen print on paper 24.1 x 17.1 inches (61.1 x 43.5 cm) Framed: 29 7/8 x 23 1/4 x 1 5/8 in (76 x 59 x 4 cm) Edition 1 of 10 (#1/10) (GP2311)
      Mildred Thompson
      Untitled (No #I), 1973
      Signed, numbered, and dated recto
      Silkscreen print on paper
      24.1 x 17.1 inches (61.1 x 43.5 cm)
      Framed: 29 7/8 x 23 1/4 x 1 5/8 in (76 x 59 x 4 cm)
      Edition 1 of 10 (#1/10)
      (GP2311)
    • Mildred Thompson Untitled, from the Credo Series, 1989 Wood 55 1/2 x 9 x 10 in (141 x 22.9 x 25.4 cm) (GL13151)
      Mildred Thompson
      Untitled, from the Credo Series, 1989
      Wood
      55 1/2 x 9 x 10 in (141 x 22.9 x 25.4 cm)
      (GL13151)
    • Mildred Thompson Untitled, from the Credo Series, c. 1992-94 Wood 24 x 15.3 x 11 inches (61 x 39 x 28 cm) (GL13146)
      Mildred Thompson
      Untitled, from the Credo Series, c. 1992-94
      Wood
      24 x 15.3 x 11 inches (61 x 39 x 28 cm)
      (GL13146)
    • Mildred Thompson Untitled, from the Vespers Series, c. mid-1990s Wood 71 x 9 1/2 x 8 1/2 in (180.3 x 24.1 x 21.6 cm) (GL13160)
      Mildred Thompson
      Untitled, from the Vespers Series, c. mid-1990s
      Wood
      71 x 9 1/2 x 8 1/2 in (180.3 x 24.1 x 21.6 cm)
      (GL13160)
    • Mildred Thompson Untitled, from the Vespers Series, c. mid-1990s Wood 80 x 13 x 11 inches (203.2 x 33 x 27.9 cm) (GL13158)
      Mildred Thompson
      Untitled, from the Vespers Series, c. mid-1990s
      Wood
      80 x 13 x 11 inches (203.2 x 33 x 27.9 cm)
      (GL13158)
    • Mildred Thompson Zylo-Probe, c. 1975 Signed and dated lower left. Inscribed on reverse, "Wood work I - " Found wood, nails 22 x 23.6 x 1.6 inches (56 x 60 x 4 cm) (GL13132)
      Mildred Thompson
      Zylo-Probe, c. 1975
      Signed and dated lower left. Inscribed on reverse, "Wood work I - "
      Found wood, nails
      22 x 23.6 x 1.6 inches (56 x 60 x 4 cm)
      (GL13132)
    • Mildred Thompson Zylo-Probe, c. 1975 Wood 48 x 35 1/4 x 2 in (121.9 x 89.4 x 5.1 cm) (GL14853)
      Mildred Thompson
      Zylo-Probe, c. 1975
      Wood
      48 x 35 1/4 x 2 in (121.9 x 89.4 x 5.1 cm)
      (GL14853)
    • Mildred Thompson Zylo-Probe, c. 1975 Found wood 33.1 x 23.8 x 1.6 inches (84 x 60.5 x 4 cm) (GL13134)
      Mildred Thompson
      Zylo-Probe, c. 1975
      Found wood
      33.1 x 23.8 x 1.6 inches (84 x 60.5 x 4 cm)
      (GL13134)
    • Mildred Thompson Zylo-Probe, c. 1975 Found wood 48.1 x 42.2 x 1.2 inches (122.2 x 107.2 x 3.1 cm) (GL13138)
      Mildred Thompson
      Zylo-Probe, c. 1975
      Found wood
      48.1 x 42.2 x 1.2 inches (122.2 x 107.2 x 3.1 cm)
      (GL13138)
    • Mildred Thompson Untitled, 1969 Signed and dated recto Paper collage 8.1 x 8.6 inches (20.6 x 21.9 cm) Framed: 13 5/8 x 14 1/8 x 1 5/8 in (34.7 x 36 x 4 cm) (GL12642)
      Mildred Thompson
      Untitled, 1969
      Signed and dated recto
      Paper collage
      8.1 x 8.6 inches (20.6 x 21.9 cm)
      Framed: 13 5/8 x 14 1/8 x 1 5/8 in (34.7 x 36 x 4 cm)
      (GL12642)
    • Mildred Thompson Untitled, 1969 Signed and dated recto Paper collage 9.5 x 8.25 inches (24.1 x 21 cm) Framed: 15 x 13.75 x 1.5 inches (38.1 x 34.9 x 3.8 cm) (GL12589)
      Mildred Thompson
      Untitled, 1969
      Signed and dated recto
      Paper collage
      9.5 x 8.25 inches (24.1 x 21 cm)
      Framed: 15 x 13.75 x 1.5 inches (38.1 x 34.9 x 3.8 cm)
      (GL12589)
    • Mildred Thompson Construction, c. 1973 Signed and titled recto Etching 13 1/4 x 14 1/2 in (33.5 x 36.8 cm) AP (GP2682)
      Mildred Thompson
      Construction, c. 1973
      Signed and titled recto
      Etching
      13 1/4 x 14 1/2 in (33.5 x 36.8 cm)
      AP
      (GP2682)
    • Mildred Thompson Probe, 1973 Signed, titled, and dated recto Etching 7 3/4 x 13 in (19.8 x 33 cm) (GP2684)
      Mildred Thompson
      Probe, 1973
      Signed, titled, and dated recto
      Etching
      7 3/4 x 13 in (19.8 x 33 cm)
      (GP2684)
  • Artist
    • Estate of Mildred Thompson

      Estate of Mildred Thompson

  • News
    • Galerie Lelong: Dialogues

      Galerie Lelong: Dialogues

      Expanding the Legacy of Mildred Thompson March 26, 2021

      Melissa Messina and Valerie Cassel Oliver
      Held on March 26, 2021
      Watch recording here

      View More
    • Galerie Lelong: Dialogues

      Galerie Lelong: Dialogues

      Expanding the Legacy of Mildred Thompson March 3, 2021

      With A'Driane Nieves, Lauren Jackson Harris, Daricia Mia DeMarr moderated by Melissa Messina
      Held on March 3, 2021
      Watch recording here

      View More
  • Press
    • The Brooklyn Rail

      ArtSeen - Mildred Thompson: Throughlines, Assemblages and Works on Paper from the 1960s to the 1990s, March 10, 2021
    • Hyperallergic

      Mildred Thompson’s Confounding, Cosmological Abstractions, March 8, 2021
    • The New York Times

      Art Gallery Shows to See Right Now
      Martha Schwendener, The New York Times, March 3, 2021
    • The New York TImes

      Art Gallery Shows to See Right Now, March 3, 2021
    • Forbes

      Four Exhibitions To See In New York This March Outside The City’s Museums, March 1, 2021
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Galerie Lelong, New York

528 West 26th Street

New York, NY 10001

T +1 212 315 0470

F +1 212 262 0624

art@galerielelong.com

Galerie Lelong, Paris

13, rue de Téhéran

75008 Paris France

T +33 1 45 63 13 19

F +33 1 42 89 34 33

info@galerie-lelong.com

Galerie Lelong, Paris

38, avenue Matignon

75008 Paris France

T +33 1 45 63 13 19

F +33 1 42 89 34 33
info@galerie-lelong.com

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