Best known for his large, precise paintings of symmetrically arranged spots, Thomas Downing was a key member of the Washington Color School. Downing studied under one of the movement's founding artists, Kenneth Noland, in 1954, and later would share a studio with another core group member, Howard Mehring. All three artists were selected for Clement Greenberg's 1964 exhibition Post-Painterly Abstraction at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Downing taught at the Corcoran School of Art and Design from 1965 to 1968, where he worked with the next generation of Color Field painters, including Sam Gilliam.
Tom would interestingly tell you that {Color Field painting} was only about seeing; and then later he would tell you that it was only about color; or that it was only about the music of color; or the way you could structure color. And then later he would say that it was like Pop art.
Sam Gilliam
