Bradley Walker Tomlin: A Retrospective

Presents new scholarship, images, and primary sources that explore the art and legacy of a critical yet under-recognized figure in Abstract Expressionism and twentieth-century American art.

"The gentleman Abstract Expressionist," in the words of poet John Ashbery, Bradley Walker Tomlin was known for his elegance in both painting style and personal comportment. The book includes over forty paintings, works on paper, and printed materials, charting Tomlin's development from art nouveau illustrations of the 1920s to large-scale Abstract Expressionist paintings of the 1950s. The exhibition explores his formative years in Syracuse, early patronage by Condé Nast, and the important role played by the Woodstock art colony. Tomlin is best known as a key figure in the New York School and had close friendships with Adolph Gottlieb, Philip Guston, and Robert Motherwell. Unlike most of his peers, Tomlin focused on the impersonal possibilities of art. His carefully orchestrated paintings resonate with our time's renewed interest in abstraction and design.