Ann Thomson was born in Brisbane in 1933. After studying with Jon Molvig in the mid 1950s, Thomson left Brisbane for Sydney and completed her studies at the National Art School in 1962. With the exception of a three year period spent in Brisbane (1974 – 1977), during which time Thomson completed a 9 metre long mural commissioned for the University of Queensland’s Malley Refectory, the artist has continued to live and work in Sydney.
Thomson’s exhibiting career began in the mid 1960s when she held her first solo exhibition with Watters Gallery in Sydney. Since that time her work has continued to be exhibited widely both in Australia (Gallery A, Sydney; Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne; Coventry Gallery, Sydney; Michael Milburn Gallery, Brisbane; Australian Galleries, Sydney; and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne) and abroad (Walter Bischoff Galerie, Berlin and Arts d’Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris).
Thomson’s work has been curated in numerous institutional exhibitions includingLandscape and Image, Contemporary Australian Art in Indonesia (1978); Musee de l’Art Walloon, Liege, Belgium (1984); Contemporary Australian Art, The Warwick Arts Trust, London & Galleria Lillo, Venice (1985); Surface for Reflexion, AGNSW (1987); Interpretations, Goulburn Regional Gallery, NSW (1992); Lui Hat-su National Art Museum, Shanghai (1998); Icarus, Goulburn Regional Gallery, NSW (1999); Dobell Prize for Drawing, AGNSW (2006); Wynne Prize Exhibition, AGNSW (2006).
In 1977 Thomson’s work was the subject of a major exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane and in 1980 a survey exhibition of the artist’s work was curated by Monash University, Melbourne. Australia Felix, a major sculptural work, was commissioned and exhibited as the centrepiece for the Australian pavilion at the 1992 World Expo in Seville, Spain. This large scale and ambitious work was conceived to take advantage of the site’s soaring eleven metre ceiling. A year later in 1993 Australia Felix was exhibited at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney.
In 1998 Thomson was the recipient of the Wynne Prize, AGNSW. In 2002 she won the Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, and three years later in 2005 was awarded the Kedumba Drawing Award, NSW.
The artist’s work is represented in major collections including the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid, Spain; Villa Haiss, Zell, Germany; National Gallery of Australia; Queensland Art Gallery; University Art Museum, University of Queensland; QUT Art Museum; Art Gallery of New South Wales; Griffith University Art Collection; Newcastle Region Art Gallery; and the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville.
Image: Ann Thomson ‘Crackling air’ (2014) acrylic on linen 93.7×93.7cm
