introduction
Photo of Thomas Wilfred

Thomas Wilfred [Danish-American; 1889 - 1968] was a pioneer in developing what he called Lumia, the art of light.

Conventional artists manipulate materials [stone, pigments, etc.]. These ‘objects’ reflect light into our eyes to form the images they want us to see. If there were no light, we could not experience their art. In contrast, Wilfred ‘sculptured’ light directly.

A Wilfred Lumia work is a composition of light, color, and form which changes slowly with time. It exhibits a very wide range of light intensity and a broad spectrum of delicate colors and shapes. These are extremely difficult to record and impossible to "play back" with fidelity, even using a high quality monitor. Thus you cannot experience the full, almost visceral, impact of his work unless you see it in person.

Unfortunately, there are only approximately 35 of his works in existence and these are rarely displayed publicly. So here we attempt to convey, however feebly, some "feel" for the exquisite beauty of Wilfred's work by presenting a selection of "freeze frame" views from his compositions.

Eugene Epstein