Hilda Shapiro Thorpe
Untitled, 1959
oil on canvas
60h x 73w in
“Thorpe’s early paintings, large gestural abstractions, are strikingly assured. Already present is the exuberance, strong linear emphasis, and lyrical color that would continue to define her works in all media. At the time (1961), a reviewer compared her paintings to Monet’s late work with waterlilies. Although achieved through purely abstract means of color and gesture, they convey, like impressionism, the effects of changing time and light…”[i]
-Elizabeth Tebow
[i] Tebow, Elizabeth. “Hilda Thorpe, an Introduction” in Hilda Thorpe: Sculpture, Paperwork, Painting 1963 -1988, exh. cat., The Athenaeum, Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association, Alexandria Virginia, November 13 – December 8, 1988, p. 7.
