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219:(1944) show how completely she had moved beyond the Regionalism of her California Watercolor Society days. Tomkin's surrealistic biomorphism of the 1940s transferred creative internal energies into organic, visceral abstractions based on natural forms, a direction she continued to explore through the 1950s. The influence of European Surrealists such as
48:, where she was well known both for her art and her energetic, outspoken art activism. Her Surrealist works of the 1940s earned considerable national attention, and as her work evolved in the 1950s and 1960s, she came to be known as a pioneer in Abstract Expressionism. Tomkins was the driving force behind the first artist-owned gallery in
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while sketching out new directions for her painting. In addition to painting, Tomkins and FitzGerald were both fine craftsmen and sculptors, working in ceramics and even furniture design. Their
Modernist ceramics were mostly utilitarian objects such as bowls, vessels and lamps, done in a unique and
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In the 1960s
Tomkins, having shifted from tempera to oil painting, created the pure Abstract style for which she remains best-known today. Transformation and metamorphosis were common themes, with forms shape-shifting across her canvases, twisting and intertwining with or obscuring each other. She
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After FitzGerald's death
Tomkins stopped exhibiting her work regularly, but continued painting, developing a more geometric, pastel-toned style. She spent most of the last thirty years of her life at her home on Lopez Island. In 1988 she suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak. Her last
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In 1959, a devastating fire at their
Capitol Hill studio destroyed the majority of the works Tomkins and FitzGerald had produced up until that time. Tomkins was in California at the time of the fire, tending to her ailing mother, who died three weeks later.
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generally used a limited palette of grays, whites, and earth tones, with occasional flashes of red, blue, and yellow, developing an intricate symbolic language to express social and environmental concerns or reflect on personal experiences.
60:, she denied any artistic connection to these "mystic" painters, at times deriding their claims of quasi-magical inspiration from nature as "silly". She was similarly dismissive of any categorization based on her gender.
87:, to Percival James and Margaret Quinn Tomkins. She had an older brother named Jack. Her father was in the paint manufacturing business and her mother was a gifted musician. After completing high school she attended the
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for a brief period. 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
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In 1973 FitzGerald died of bone cancer, and
Tomkins took on the job of completing a 6,000-pound, 11-foot-high bronze fountain her husband had been commissioned to build. She saw the piece, called
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Two of
Tomkins' submissions for the Northwest Annuals were purchased by SAM in the 1940s, before her anger over the museum's relationship with the group of artists who would become known as the
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alongside a solo exhibition of prints by surrealist artist
Roderick Mead; these works were also shown at the Seattle Art Museum. At this time, with only a handful of small galleries (such as
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In 1958, Tomkins became the driving force behind the
Artists Gallery, the first gallery in Seattle to be owned by the artists themselves. The co-op of Tomkins, FitzGerald, Louis Bunce,
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at the
Stendahl Gallery in Los Angeles. She was an officer of the California Watercolor Society, but painted in oil as well. Her work was first seen nationally at the
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204:'s and Otto Seligman's) showing modern art in Seattle, Tomkins was looking beyond the confines of the Northwest for both inspiration and reaction.
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in 1993. In 2002 her daughter Miro FitzGerald-Watson had her moved to a care facility near Miro and her husband's home in
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is evident, and - despite her problems with the politics and pretensions of the Northwest School - so is the influence of
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71:. She continued painting until a few days before her death, maintaining a distinctive abstract style in various phases.
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facilities in the country, after her husband was appointed director of the center by Washington FAP head
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Tomkins relocated to Seattle, Washington, in 1939, becoming an Assistant Professor of Art at the
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She returned to the University of Washington as a guest professor in 1962, and again in 1972.
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in Washington, D.C., and in 1947 three of her pieces were selected for inclusion in the
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imaginative style. Works by Tomkins appeared in several annual shows at the
624:(Interview). Interviewed by William Ivey. Seattle: Smithsonian Institution
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managed to keep the gallery at 1705 E. Olive Way going for about a year.
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neighborhood which they had purchased and begun renovating in 1939.
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Independent Spirits: Women Painters of the American West, 1890-1945
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In 1948 Tomkins and FitzGerald purchased several acres of land on
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Margaret Tomkins' work has been included in exhibitions at the
464:"Oral history interview with Margaret Tomkins, 1984 June 6"
618:"Oral history interview with William Ivey, 1983 May 24-31"
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Dungan, H. L.; Howe jr., Thomas Carr (February 23, 1947).
95:. A memorable experience for the young artist was seeing
533:. No. February 23, 1947. Oakland, CA. p. C-3.
284:, through to completion and installation at Seattle's
527:"Art Jurists Pick Outstanding Works for Oakland Show"
472:(Interview). Interviewed by Bruce Guenther. Seattle:
414:"Margaret Tomkins, Seattle artist, dies at age 85"
304:; in March 2002, Margaret Tomkins died at age 85.
211:led her to boycott the Annuals. Paintings such as
652:"Outspoken Seattle painter Margaret Tomkins dies"
56:. Though friends with many of the artists of the
129:. The same year, Tomkins became involved in the
25:Margaret Tomkins. Date and photographer unknown.
40:painter. Though born, raised, and educated in
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79:Tomkins was born on September 11, 1916, in
500:"Martin Zambito Fine Art: Gallery Artists"
502:. Martin Zambito Fine Art. Archived from
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616:Margaret Tomkins (May 24–31, 1983).
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462:Margaret Tomkins (June 6, 1984).
89:University of Southern California
711:University of Washington faculty
578:Autry Museum of Western Heritage
547:. Watson-FitzGerald Studios, LLC
412:Hackett, Regina (May 16, 2002).
117:-style landscape in watercolor.
650:Farr, Sheila (March 22, 2002).
566:Trenton, Patricia, ed. (1995).
113:exhibit, where she displayed a
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574:University of California Press
322:Whitney Museum of American Art
227:and other Northwest painters.
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32:(1916–2002) was an American
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419:Seattle Post-Intelligencer
393:. Woodside Braseth Gallery
314:Metropolitan Museum of Art
107:1939 New York World's Fair
691:Painters from Los Angeles
605:– via Google Books.
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91:and, during summers, the
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622:Archives of American Art
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580:. pp. 120–121.
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318:Museum of Modern Art
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545:"Margaret Tomkins"
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251:Alden Mason
215:(1943) and
202:Zoe Dusanne
173:egg tempera
163:During the
115:Regionalist
81:Los Angeles
680:Categories
628:January 1,
551:January 1,
479:January 1,
397:January 1,
372:References
85:California
54:Washington
34:Surrealist
596:260195632
234:, in the
102:Guernica
302:Arizona
178:Whitney
50:Seattle
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308:Legacy
298:Sedona
272:Autumn
249:, and
169:Boeing
232:Lopez
666:2019
630:2015
603:2019
592:OCLC
582:ISBN
553:2015
512:2019
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399:2015
196:in
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