31 Facts About Mildred Thompson

Mildred Jean Thompson was an American artist who worked in painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture and photography.

Mildred Thompson wrote and was an associate editor for the magazine Art Papers.

Mildred Thompson had solo exhibitions at the Goethe-Institut, Agnes Scott College, Howard University, Harvard University, Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, and the Leopold Hoesch Museum, Duren and Hochschule fur Kunst und Design in Halle, Germany, among others.

Mildred Jean Thompson was born on March 12,1936, in Jacksonville, Florida and grew up there.

Mildred Thompson arranged for Thompson to receive a scholarship for summer study at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine.

Mildred Thompson began to exhibit, and her work was accepted for the Art USA '58 exhibition in Madison Square Garden.

Nevertheless, armed with pluck, a strong portfolio, and the help of some brand-new German friends, Mildred Thompson found a room and was immediately accepted into the academy.

Mildred Thompson learned etching, lithography and other printmaking media from Willem Grimm and Paul Wunderlich.

Mildred Thompson met the printmaker Horst Janssen, who introduced her to Galerie Sander in Hamburg, where Thompson had her first solo exhibition.

Mildred Thompson soon realized that because she was a black woman, she was refused the shows and gallery representation that she felt her work deserved.

Two of Mildred Thompson's prints were purchased for the collection on his recommendation.

Mildred Thompson was not alone; other young black artists who chose to leave the US during the 1950s and 1960s include Harvey Cropper, Herbert Gentry, Arthur Hardie, Clifford Jackson, Sam Middleton, Earl Miller, Norma Morgan, Larry Potter and Walter Williams.

Mildred Thompson established herself in the Rhineland town of Duren and began exhibiting and selling her work there and in the German cities of Bensberg, Aachen, and Cologne.

Years later Mildred Thompson defended herself against the charge that because of her years spent in Europe, she was not a true "Black" artist.

Mildred Thompson met writer Audre Lorde in Nigeria in 1977, and the two were briefly romantically involved while Mildred Thompson lived in Washington, DC.

Mildred Thompson moved to Atlanta in 1986, which became "home base" for the remainder of her life.

Mildred Thompson wrote poetry which she would occasionally present with her artwork.

In 1990, Mildred Thompson had a solo exhibition entitled "Concatenation," at Agnes Scott College's Dalton Gallery in Atlanta.

Mildred Thompson was given a solo exhibition in her hometown at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997.

In 1987 Mildred Thompson's show "In and Out of Germany," at the Goethe Institute in Atlanta, contained 42 artworks executed in Germany, France, and the United States.

Mildred Thompson believes that patterns in music are among the purest natural recurrences, providing direct access to something basic.

In 1993, as an artist-in-residence at Littleton Studios in North Carolina, Mildred Thompson created prints in vitreography titled Helio Centric, Particles, and Wave Function.

On being named Artist-in-Residence for the City of Tampa, Mildred Thompson taught classes and workshops in painting, drawing, sculpture, and mural painting to adults and children at the Tampa Bay Art Center and other local venues.

Mildred Thompson had an "open door" policy at her studio on 7th Avenue in Ybor City.

When she lived in Paris, Mildred Thompson gave private lessons at her studio at 4 Rue de Parme from 1981 until her return to the States in 1985.

From 1986 to 2000 Mildred Thompson taught at the Atlanta College of Art.

Mildred Thompson had a sister, Ruth, and a partner, Donna Jackson.

Mildred Thompson sang and played guitar in a band called We Do Blues, which Jackson was in, which played regularly at Daddy D'Z, a barbecue place, and during lunch hours at Woodruff Park.

Mildred Thompson's songs were flavored with humor and beauty but still had a bluesy sound.

Mildred Thompson's work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and Howard University, all in Washington, DC, the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum; the Mott-Warsh Collection, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Georgia Museum of Art, the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Emory University, and the Leopold Hoesch Museum, Duren, and the Hamburg Museum, among others.

Mildred Thompson is posthumously represented by Galerie Lelong in New York City and has an estate established under her name.