WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Thomas Wilfred

Thomas Wilfred

Thomas Wilfred

Artist

PaintingAbstract ArtPerformance ArtKinetic Art

Representation

None documented

7

Institutional Exhibitions

7

Works in Collection

14

Assets Indexed

1

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Movements

• Abstract Art
• Performance Art
• Kinetic Art

Related Artists

No edges recorded

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Drawn in America

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1972

No image

Thomas Wilfred: Lumia

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1971

No image

Wilfred: Lumia Suite, Op 158

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1964

No image

Recent Acquisitions

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1961–1962

No image

Photographs from the Museum Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1958–1959

About

Why this artist matters now

Thomas Wilfred was an American artist who invented the Clavilux, an early light-based instrument designed to produce abstract visual compositions in real time. Working from the 1920s onward, he created performative light installations that treated color and luminosity as a malleable medium akin to music. His work anticipated kinetic art and video installation by several decades, establishing light itself as a sculptural and temporal material. Wilfred conceived of his performances as an immersive visual language independent of narrative or representation.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Abstract Art

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York

Canonical record

Artworks (7)

Study for Lumia Suite, Opus #158

Study for Lumia Suite, Opus #158

1964 · Pencil on blueprint

32 1/4 x 31 3/8" (81.8 x 79.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Lumia Suite, Op. 158

Lumia Suite, Op. 158

1963 · Projected light on translucent glass screen

screen 6' x 8' (182.8 x 243.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Lumia, Counterpoint in Space, opus 146

1956 · Projected light on translucent poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) screen

24 5/8 × 20 5/8 × 14 1/4 in. (62.5 × 52.4 × 36.2 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Aspiration, Op. 145

1955 · Projected light on translucent glass screen (duration 42 hours, 14 minutes, 11 seconds)

screen 19 1/4 x 15" (48.9 x 38.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Sequential Development of Three Form Groups

Sequential Development of Three Form Groups

1948 · Colored pencil, ink, and colored ink on paper

19 3/4 x 26 1/2" (49.9 x 67.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Vertical Sequence, Op. 137

1941 · Projected light on translucent glass screen (duration of form cycle: 7 minutes; duration of color cycle: 7 minutes, 17 seconds; the two cycles coincide every 50 hours, 59 minutes)

screen 15 1/4 x 15 3/8" (38.7 x 39 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Unit #167, from the Clavilux Home Instrument (First Home Lumia Instrument) Series

1930 · mixed media

Overall: 85 x 55.8 x 39.6 cm (33 7/16 x 21 15/16 x 15 9/16 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Record

Images

Thomas Wilfred (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia

Distant View of Niagara Falls (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Related artists

Adjacent in the graph

Gerrit Rietveld

Gerrit Rietveld

Shared movement

Shared movement

Shared movement

Shared movement

Shared movement

Shared movement

Adolph Gottlieb

Adolph Gottlieb

Richard Artschwager

Richard Artschwager

Record

Movements and affiliations

Performance Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US