Featured Artist:
Modernist Artist, Walter Stomps Jr. (1929-2020)
Artist Statement
“My forty-year exploration of abstract forms has been an inner search. The works […] are drawn from my psyche with exuberance and in the spirit of play. However, formalistic choices are never denied. My paintings do not imitate objects but present the essence of both experience and thought. I attempt to create an ideal and to give an experience of enjoyment and comfort. The viewers’ reactions to the rhythm, color, and proportion of non-objective art can be related to the feelings music evokes with its harmonies and dissonances. To further describe my art would defeat its purpose. You can best experience these works if you open yourself to their form and color. They are intended only to give you pleasure. Matisse said:
‘What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter, an art which could be for every mental worker a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair that provides relaxation from physical fatigue.’
I have found inspiration in these words."
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Waterford Crystal Millennium Collection Champagne Bucket Featuring Five Wishes
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Husqvarna YTH 22V46 Riding Mower
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
14K 1.70 CT Sapphire and Diamond Navette Ring
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Stained Glass Window Panel With Floral Motif
Throughout his career, Stomps. Jr. vigorously produced work in the vein of the American Color Field painters and Abstract Expressionists. The Color Field style emerged in New York after WWII as the pulse of contemporary art shifted away from Paris. The large solid fields of color on a flat plane were inspired by European modernism and reminiscent of abstract expressionism. One calls to mind the work of Frank Stella, Ken Noland, Victor Vasarely, or Kandinsky.
After Stomps, Jr. completed his study at the Art Institute of Chicago (1959), he held teaching posts at the Middletown Fine Arts Center, Dayton Arts Institute, and for over 4 decades at Western Kentucky University.
Stomps, Jr. exhibited at numerous institutions in the Midwest throughout his career, including the Cincinnati Art Museum, Dayton Art Institute, Owensboro Museum of Art, and the J.B. Speed Museum of Art.
Click here to shop the rest of this special collection.
Education:
- 1963: Master of Fine Arts (painting), The School of the Art Institue of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
- 1962-1963: Graduate Study, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
- 1959: Bachelor of Fine Art (painting), The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
*1959: Bachelor of Fine Art (advertising design), Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
Public Collections:
- The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
- The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
- The Dayton Art Institue, Dayton, Ohio
- The Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, Evansville, Indiana
- The Firstar Bank, Bowling Green, Kentucky
- Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
- Western Kentucky Univeristy, Bowling Green, Kentucky
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Douglas “Bumo” Johnpeer Landscape Oil Painting, 2024
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Offset Lithograph After Claude Monet "Le Bassin des Nympheas"
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Impasto Style Landscape Offset Lithograph, 21st Century
EBTH Columbus - Hilliard
Coach Mini Crosby Crossbody Carryall In Silver/Blue Black Badlands Flora
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Oil Painting of a Forest Stream, Circa 1900
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Pair of Faux Leather, Brass-Tacked and Ebonized Wood Club Chairs
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Fulper Pottery Earthenware Amphora Vessel With Drip Glaze, Early 20th C.
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Derek Jeter Signed Rawlings Official Major League Baseball with Display
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
PE Rattan Patio Sectional Sofa and Corner Table Storage Box
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Hollywood Regency Style Brass and Blue Velveteen Upholstered Stools
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
W. LeNoury Maritime Oil Painting of Ship at Sea
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Charriol Colvmbvs Diamond Wristwatch
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Mark Whitmarsh Abstract Acrylic Painting "Divine Garden," 2019
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
Southwestern Desert Landscape Oil Painting, 1987
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash
6'11 x 11'1 Hand-Knotted Persian Kashan Area Rug
EBTH Cincinnati - Blue Ash