Mildred Thompson, Radiation Explorations 8, 1994.
Estate of Mildred Thompson/Courtesy of Galerie Lelong & Co., New York
Writing for ARTnews, Maximilíano Durón highlights the work of Mildred Thompson and her legacy as a Black woman artist working in abstraction. Known for her sculpture, woodworking, and painting abilities, Thompson worked across a wide range of mediums and captivated audiences with her attention to color, movement, and texture. Despite her many talents, the artist has been widely overlooked until recent exhibitions, such as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' “The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse.”
“With art, there are symbolic things that have to be learned to make work universal … But (first) you have to know yourself. Everything I touch will be part Black and female—all my success and the things I have gotten are part of that.” - Mildred Thompson
