Maud Taber-Thomas
Maud Taber-Thomas specializes in oil paintings, charcoal drawings, and clay sculpture. With a background in English literature from Bowdoin College and Oxford University and training in classical techniques at the New York Academy of Art, Taber-Thomas draws inspiration for her evocative portraits from the narratives and characters of classic literature. Given her formal training in Renaissance Tenebrist, French Rococo, Pre-Raphaelite, and Impressionist techniques, her works range in scale from miniature to larger-than-life and capture the vibrant light and color of far-off places and distant time periods. She also creates landscape, cityscape, and meditative floral still-life paintings inspired by her travels.
Based in Silver Spring, MD, Taber-Thomas teaches drawing and painting classes at the National Gallery of Art as well as the Yellow Barn Studio in Glen Echo, MD. Numerous galleries in New York City and the Washington, DC area have exhibited her drawings and paintings.
Taber-Thomas has also received a Paideia Institute Brightheart Fellowship in Selianitika, Greece, a Terra Foundation residency in Giverny, France, two Virginia Center for the Creative Arts residencies in Virginia and Auvillar, France, a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award, and an Attingham Trust Summer School Royal Oak Scholarship. Her illustrations appear in Chance Particulars: A Writer’s Field Notebook by Sara Mansfield Taber and in the Dolphin Editions of Classics texts, published by the Paideia Institute. She has completed numerous portrait commissions, including official portraits for the New York State Supreme Court, Washington Latin School, and Montgomery County Public Libraries. Her work is represented by Calloway Fine Art in Washington, DC and can be viewed on her website, MaudTaber-Thomas.com.
In her most recent show at Calloway Fine Art & Consulting, Taber-Thomas created artworks inspired by such authors as William Shakespeare, Henry James, Stella Gibbons, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Vita Sackville-West, and Oscar Wilde. Her works particularly feature strong women from literature. A selection of miniature paintings on the backs of New York City Metrocards are also available, which feature a range of portraits, landscapes, cityscapes, and still-lifes.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Shakespeare's sonnet, "If music and sweet poetry agree," highlights the beautiful bond between two seemingly separate art forms, music and poetry. In the spirit of Shakespeare, I create luminous drawings and paintings that embody a loving conversation between several different art forms. My paintings tell the stories that I discover in Victorian and Medieval literature, capture the vibrant light and color of far-off places and distant time periods, and weave together symbols in compositions reminiscent of polyphonic music.