Background
Tomlin was born in Syracuse, New York, United States, on August 19, 1899; the son and the youngest of four children of Charles Henry and Matilda (Hollier) Tomlin.
200 S Crouse Ave, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Tomlin was a student of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, New York from 1917-1921.
14 Rue de la Grande Chaumière, 75006 Paris, France
Tomlin attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris from 1923 to 1924.
Bradley Walker Tomlin (second row, right) with American artists.
Profile photo of Bradley Walker Tomlin.
Tomlin was born in Syracuse, New York, United States, on August 19, 1899; the son and the youngest of four children of Charles Henry and Matilda (Hollier) Tomlin.
Bradley Tomlin became interested in art in early childhood. In high school he already wanted to be an artist. Among his art teachers were Cornelia Moses, a former pupil of Arthur Wesley Dow, Hugo Gari Wagner for modelling, and Frank London, his teacher and mentor.
Tomlin was a student of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, New York from 1917-1921. There he studied under Dr. Jeannette Scott and Professor Carl T. Hawley. Then he attended Académie Colarossi and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris from 1923 to 1924.
Tomlin left Syracuse for New York 1921, working there for a short time as a magazine illustrator. In 1923 he went for one year to Paris, returning to New York in 1924. There he continued commercial illustration until 1929 and began exhibiting at the Whitney Studio Club.
Bradley Tomlin held his first solo exhibition in 1926. The same year he travelled again to Europe, visiting England, Italy and Switzerland, though staying mainly in Paris. He settled permanently in the United States in July 1927. He also discovered Woodstock, New York, where he spent most of his summers. In 1929 the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts bought Tomlin's artwork; it was his first museum purchase.
During the Depression, Tomlin began teaching for extra income. At first, he worked at preparatory schools in New York, then at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, between 1932 and 1941. Meanwhile, he briefly taught at Buckley School from 1932 to 1933, and at Dalton School during 1933-1934.
His exposure to the Museum of Modern Art's 1936-1937 "Fantastic Art, Dada, and Surrealism" show helped liberate his style, leading him toward surrealist-inspired, less realistic compositions. Between 1939 and 1944 Bradley Tomlin worked in a Cubist mode that had a decorative quality.
In 1945 Tomlin met Adolph Gottlieb, who introduced him to Phillip Guston, Robert Motherwell, and Jackson Pollock. Influenced by their abstract and expressive styles, Tomlin turned away from Cubism. He began experimenting with automatism and eventually adopt a more spontaneous and abstract style. Although Tomlin’s art was greatly inspired by the works of these Abstract Expressionists, the artist managed to develop his own style that was somewhat more subdued and reserved.
Untitled
Number 20
Number 15
Number 1
No. 5
Number 3
Number 12
Number 7
Number 9. In Praise of Gertrude Stein
Number 9: In Praise of Gertrude Stein
Number 13
Maneuver for Position
Number 3
Shapes
Number 2
Number 14
Green
All Souls' Night
Number 13
Number 20
White Horse in a Cityscape
Number 19
Number 2
Still Life
Untitled (Abstract Composition)
Untitled
Abstract composition
Concarneau
Untitled
Untitled
Vase of flowers
Shapes
House with dormer
Tomlin was a member of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors.
Quotes from others about the person
John I. H. Baur: "[Tomlin’s] life and his work were marked by a persistent, restless striving toward perfection, in a truly classical sense of the word, towards that "inner logic" of form which would produce a total harmony, an unalterable rightness, a sense of miraculous completion... It was only during the last five years of his life that the goal was fully reached, and his art flowered with a sure strength and authority."