Smithsonian American Art Museum
Lumia: Thomas Wilfred and the Art of Light
October 6, 2017 – January 7, 2018
Lumia: Thomas Wilfred and the Art of Light reveals this groundbreaking artist and his spellbinding light compositions for the first time in nearly fifty years. As early as 1919—well before the advent of consumer television and video technology—Wilfred began experimenting with light as his primary artistic medium, developing a new art form of sophisticated kinetic sculptures that project moving images, which he referred to collectively as lumia.
Thomas Wilfred, Unit #86, from the Clavilux Junior (First Home Clavilux Model) series, 1930. Metal, glass, electrical and lighting elements, and an illustration-board screen in a wood cabinet. Carol and Eugene Epstein Collection
