Tomma Abts
Born (1967-12-26) 26 December 1967 (age 56)
Kiel, West Germany
NationalityGerman
Known forPainting

Tomma Abts (born 26 December 1967)[1] is a German-born visual artist known for her abstract oil paintings. Abts won the Turner Prize in 2006.[2] She currently lives and works in London, England.[3]

Early life and education

Abts was born in 1967 in Kiel, Germany,[2][4] to a teacher in a primary school and a gynecologist.[5] Between 1989 and 1995 Abts attended the Hochschule der Künste Berlin.[2] She has been living in London since 1995,[6] and maintains a studio in Clerkenwell, which she has occupied since first coming to London on a grant.[5] It was only in 2002 that she was able to live solely from her paintings.[5]

Work

Starting each of her works without a preconceived idea, knowing only the size of the canvas and her materials,[7] Abts works in acrylic and oil, often building up her designs from repetitive geometrical elements. Her style can be classified as abstract, but also in opposition to Germany's Neo-Expressionist figurative painting.[8] None of her paintings are representational. There are no references to nature, the world or any other theme. The abstraction in her paintings is supported by the lack of detail and an overall retro feel. The paintings involve complex shapes that are layered and woven in different ways with added highlights, shadows and sense of depth.[9]

Abts used to work on canvasses of all sizes.[5] Since the early 2000s, all of Abts' paintings are 48 x 38 centimeters and the titles of her paintings are derived from a dictionary of German first names. She has said that this is the size and style that works for her.[10] Each work takes on a color scheme that is rich and somewhat neutral. The colors are not obviously vibrant and work with each other's tones within each work of art.[8] Abts creates a 3D effect by continually and meticulously layering and working up each painting. The works are thickly painted, almost over-painted, which gives a hint of something created by trial and error. It seems as though the layers of paint could be covering up something underneath the finished product. "Abts approaches each canvas without preconception, building up layers of paint until a form crystallizes."[11] Abts takes a long time to produce her works, and she is not prolific.[12] She also has begun to translate her paintings into prints, particularly with the Crown Point Press in San Francisco, California.[13]

Recognition

Abts is the winner of the 2006 Turner Prize, awarded by the Tate in London.[10][14] The Tate Gallery praised "her rigorous and consistent approach to painting" and added "Through her intimate and compelling canvases she builds on and enriches the language of abstract painting."[15] The other artists on the shortlist in 2006 were Rebecca Warren, Phil Collins, and Mark Titchner.[2] Abts was the first female painter to win the award.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

Collections

Abts' work is represented in public collections internationally, including:

Art market

Abts is represented by Galerie Buchholz,[34] Cologne/Berlin/New York, greengrassi, London[35] and by David Zwirner, New York.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Abts, Tomma, (born 26 Dec. 1967), artist; Professor of Painting, Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf, since 2010 | WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO". www.ukwhoswho.com. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U246465. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4.
  2. ^ a b c d "Turner Prize 2006: artists, Tomma Abts", Tate, Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  3. ^ a b "David Zwirner". David Zwirner.
  4. ^ Great Women Artists. Phaidon Press. 2019. p. 20. ISBN 978-0714878775.
  5. ^ a b c d Emma Brockes (6 December 2006), 'I'm sure they were thinking it was time a woman won' The Guardian.
  6. ^ Tom Teodorczuk (5 December 2006), Turner Prize returns to artistic roots London Evening Standard.
  7. ^ a b "Tomma Abts Press Release". New York: David Zwirner. 10 September – 25 October 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  8. ^ a b Esplund, Lance. "Shadw Play", 10 April 2008, The New York Sun, Retrieved 18 August 2014
  9. ^ Johnson, Ken (11 April 2008). "Little Canvases That Contain Worlds". New York Times.
  10. ^ a b "German painter wins Turner Prize". BBC News. 5 December 2006. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  11. ^ "Tomma Abts". Carnegie International. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  12. ^ Ken Johnson (11 April 2008), Little Canvases That Contain Worlds New York Times.
  13. ^ "Tomma Abts | Crown Point Press". www.crownpoint.com. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  14. ^ Sarah Thornton (2 November 2009). Seven Days in the Art World. New York. ISBN 9780393337129. OCLC 489232834.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  15. ^ "Turner Prize 2006". Tate. 2006. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
  16. ^ "Tomma Abts". Kunsthalle Basel. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  17. ^ "Tomma Abts - David Zwirner". David Zwirner.
  18. ^ "New Museum". www.newmuseum.org.
  19. ^ "Tomma Abts - Kunsthalle Düsseldorf". www.xn--kunsthalle-dsseldorf-0ec.de.
  20. ^ "greengrassi: Tomma Abts". greengrassi.com.
  21. ^ "Exhibitions – Galerie Buchholz". www.galeriebuchholz.de.
  22. ^ "Tomma Abts - David Zwirner". David Zwirner.
  23. ^ "Tomma Abts - Aspen Art Museum". Aspen Art Museum.
  24. ^ Kedmey, Karen (21 October 2015). "At Crown Point Press, Tomma Abts Prints Like She Paints". Artsy. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  25. ^ "Tomma Abts - David Zwirner". David Zwirner.
  26. ^ www.artcat.com. "Marc Foxx". www.marcfoxx.com.
  27. ^ "Berlin Biennial".
  28. ^ "Shanghai Biennale". Universes in Universe. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
  29. ^ Clark, Martin; Sturgis, Daniel; Shalgosky, Sarah. "The Indiscipline of Painting: International Abstraction from the 1960s to Now". Tate. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  30. ^ "Tomma Abts - The Art Institute of Chicago". The Art Institute of Chicago. 2 January 1967.
  31. ^ "Tomma Abts. Untitled (gap). 2015 - MoMA". www.moma.org.
  32. ^ "Tomma Abts". SFMOMA.
  33. ^ Tate. "Tomma Abts born 1967 - Tate".
  34. ^ "Tomma Abts, Galerie Buchholz".
  35. ^ "Tomma Abts, greengrassi, London"..

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