Tom Boutis
American artist (1922–2018)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Boutis (1922 – 2018) was an American artist, known as an abstract expressionist with a love of color.[1][2][3] He primarily worked in painting, drawing, collage, watercolor, and printmaking.
1922
Tom Boutis | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas Boutis 1922 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | October 29, 2018 (aged 95–96) U.S. |
| Alma mater | Cooper Union |
| Movement | Abstract expressionist |
Biography
Tom Boutis was born in 1922 in New York City to parents from Kastoria, Greece.[4][5] He worked as a Federal Art Project artist.[where?][when?] Boutis was drafted by the United States Army in 1943.[4] Boutis attended Cooper Union and graduated in 1948.[4][6] He was a friend of Vincent DaCosta Smith and in the early 1950s Boutis influenced Smith's early career as an artist.[7] His first solo art show was in January 1955 at Zabriskie Gallery in New York City.[4][8]
In the 1950s, with artists from the E 10th Street co-op movement, he established the Area Gallery in New York City which was in operation from 1958 until 1965.[5] The original members of Area Gallery were Tom Boutis, alongside artists John Ireland Collins, Charles Steven DuBack, Joe Fiore, Bernard Langlais, Ed Moses, Daphne Mumford, and Paul Yakovenko.[5] Alongside many of the artist from Area Gallery, Boutis was a founding member of the artist-run Landmark Gallery at 469 Broome Street in SoHo,[9] in operation from 1972 until 1982.
Boutis was a National Academician and member of the National Academy of Design, joining in 1995.[10][11]
Boutis died on October 29, 2018, at the age of 96.[4]
His work is included in many public museum collections, including Art Institute of Chicago,[12] the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum archives,[13] the Smithsonian Archives of American Art,[14] among others.