A Finding Aid to the Tom Wudl Papers, 1918-2021, bulk 1968-2015, in the Archives of American Art

Scope and Contents

The papers of California artist Tom Wudl (1948- ) measure 7.3 linear feet and date from 1918-2021, with the bulk from 1968-2015. Biographical material includes written biographies, curricula vitae,and resumes, award certificates, and immigration paperwork from Wudl's parents' journeys from Vienna and Cochabamba, Bolivia. Correspondence is both professional and personal in nature, including many cards and letters from students, as well as some letters from museums and galleries. Personal business records include exhibition files and documents relating to the functioning of Wudl's studio including, grants, donations, sales and consignments, as well as print production. Writings include artist statements and autiobiographical essays, journals and notebooks, as well as lecture materials and writings by others on Wudl's work, and proposals for exhibitions.

Teaching materials include syllabi and lesson plans, as well as student writing assignments. Also included are planning documents from trips taken with students from Wudl's private teaching practice. Printed material includes announcements, invitations, reviews and catalogs from Wudl's exhibitions, in addition to other artists who Wudl admired, including former students. Also included are artist books inscribed to Wudl and a subject file on Buddhism. Photographic material includes snapshots and other photographs used as source material for Wudl's paintings, as well as photographs of family and friends including Wudl's early childhood in Bolivia. Also included are slides and transparencies of Wudl's artwork, many organized by his gallery LA Louver. Artwork includes a number of sketchbooks and loose drawings, as well as photographs used in artwork by Wudl and photographic artworks by other artists, as well as illustrations for a children's book from 1992, and giclee prints from 2008. Some material is in digital format.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged as eight series:

Biographical / Historical

Tom Wudl (1948- ) is an artist and educator living in Los Angeles, California. Wudl was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia as the son of two industrious Jewish exiles who fled persecution in Vienna and would run several businesses including a textile factory and a dairy company. He dedicated his pursuits to becoming an artist even before the family relocated to Los Angeles with his family at age ten, and was determined to quickly learn English. Wudl received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Chouinard Art Institute, but credits the rest of his art education with extensive travel in Europe and Japan. Wudl is associated with the resurgence of figurative painting in the 1980s, and his subject matter is often inspired by his keen interest in Buddhism. Wudl showed with a number of galleries before finding representation with LA Louver in Venice, CA in the 1980s, a relationship that would endure his entire career. Wudl has exhibited his work in museums and galleries nationally and internationally, including Documenta 5 at Kassel; Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, and Nagoya City Museum in Japan; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Art; Pasadena Art Museum; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He taught painting and art history at various schools in the eighties and nineties including the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena; UCLA; UC Irvine; UC Santa Barbara; Claremont College; and Otis College of Art and Design, and eventually established a private teaching practice operating from his studio. Public collections featuring Wudl's work include Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Related Materials

The Archives of American Art also holds a 2019 November 22-24 oral history interview and a 2020 July 15 oral history interview with Tom Wudl.