Collections
| Back New Search Tips |
Tomkins, Margaret
| Last Name: | Tomkins |
|---|---|
| First Name: | Margaret |
| Dates: |
*1916 (Date of Birth)
*2002 (Date of Death)
|
| Biography/History: | Margaret Tomkins (1916-2002) was one of the leading painters of the Pacific Northwest. She is best known for her Surrealist works of the 1940’s that earned her numerous national and regional awards. In the 1950’s and 60’s her work evolved into an abstract and expressionist style that she maintained in various phases and combinations for the remainder of her life. Tomkins was born in Los Angeles, California and attended the University of Southern California where she received both her B.F.A and M.F.A. Her first important national exhibition was at the 1939 New York Worlds Fair, American Art Today, where she exhibited a regionalist style landscape in watercolor while still a resident of California. Upon her relocation to Seattle, Washington in 1939, she became Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Washington for a brief period of time. In 1940, she married Seattle artist James H. FitzGerald (1910-1973) who would also become a leading painter and sculptor in the Northwest. In 1941, she had her first solo exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum. The same year, Tomkins became involved in the Federal Art Projects, working briefly in Seattle and then becoming an instructor at the Spokane Art Center, one of the leading WPA facilities in the country . (Martin-Zambito Fine Art Gallery website, October, 2012) |
| Related Objects: |
4149.1 (Painting, Untitled, 1942)
|