The Traditional and the Modern

Bill Lumpkins worked as both an architect and an abstract painter. During 1932-33 he worked in Peñasco, New Mexico, teaching woodworking and furniture design for the State Education Department. Lumpkins prepared versions of traditional Spanish Colonial furniture using commercial lumber and power tools. At the same time, Lumpkins was experimenting with paintings that did not have referential subject matter. The 1935 watercolor This was a Breakthru was the first non-objective painting that he considered successful.