White Bridge
Artist
Howard Thomas
American, 1899–1971
Date1954–1968
MediumGouache on canvas
Dimensions22 x 32 in. (55.9 x 81.3 cm)
Frame: 32 3/8 x 42 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (82.2 x 108 x 4.4 cm)
Frame: 32 3/8 x 42 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (82.2 x 108 x 4.4 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest)
Object numberG.71.50.1
On View
Not on viewIn White Bridge Howard Thomas reduces his vocabulary of form and color to the bare minimum, unearthing a dynamic equilibrium. The work retains the rhythms of the natural world. For even in his most abstracted compositions, Thomas never moved very far from landscape.
The year before White Bridge was done, Thomas made his first trip to Japan. In an entry on this work in his painting diary, he records the impact that country had on him. His linking of the trip and White Bridge tempts one to compare the pictorial shorthand he employs across the work's surface with Japanese characters. (The all-over pattern of short strokes almost disguises the letters in Thomas's signature; they seem at first like just more marks in the basic design.)
An influential art educator, Thomas spent most of his career in Georgia, though he did teach briefly in North Carolina. Once retired, he lived the rest of his life in this state.
ProvenanceCreated Georgia and/or North Carolina, 1954–1968; collection of the artist; sold to NCMA, 1971.
Published ReferencesRaleigh, NC: News and Observer (April 26, 1970).
Thirty-Fourth Annual North Carolina Artists Exhibition (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1971), cat. no. 143, illus. (b-w).
Howard Thomas: The Later Paintings, 1958 to 1971 (exhibition catalogue) (University of Iowa Museum of Art, 1972), cat. no. 33, illus. (b-w).
34th Annual North Carolina Artist Exhibition (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1972), cat. no. 143, illus. (b-w) 29.
"Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 12, nos. 1 and 2 (December 1973), listed 46, illus. (b-w) 47.
"34th Annual Award Winners," North Carolina Museum of Art Calendar of Art Events 15, no. 4 (January 1972), illus. (b-w) unnumbered page.
200 Years of the Visual Arts in North Carolina (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1976), cat. no. 52, illus. (b-w).
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Thirty-Fourth Annual North Carolina Artists Exhibition," December 1, 1971-January 23, 1972, cat. no. 143, illus. (b-w).
University of Iowa Museum of Art, "Howard Thomas: The Later Paintings, 1958-71," September 19-October 29, 1972; Milwaukee, University of Wisconsin, Fine Art Gallery, November 6-27, 1972; Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, February 4-March 4, 1973; Athens, GA, University of Georgia Museum of Art, June 17-July 29, 1973, cat. no. 33, illus. (b-w).
Artrain Southeastern Tour: a program of the Michigan Council for the Arts, April 1-September 30, 1974.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "200 Years of the Visual Arts in North Carolina," September 12-October 31, 1976, cat. no. 52, illus. (b-w).
High Point, NC, High Point Arts Council, Special Exhibition, September 1-30, 1977.
Raleigh, NC, Burroughs Wellcome, "Opening Exhibition," April 1-16, 1981.
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