Artist. A leading figure of Abstract Expressionism, he was known for his paintings which prominently displayed graffiti, irregular lines and scribbles. Born Edwin Parker Twombly, Jr. in Lexington, Virginia, the son of former Major League pitcher Cy Twombly (Chicago White Sox), he would also be nicknamed "Cy". He began his studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, before moving on to New York at the Art Students League, where he meets and becomes friends with fellow artist Robert Rauschenberg. After studying for a year at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina, Twombly and Rauschenberg would embark on a journey which took them to such places as South America, North Africa, Spain and Italy. Upon his return to the United States, he served with the Army as a cryptographer and closed out the 1950s residing in Italy, a distinguished artist associated with an elite group from that period which included his good friend Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. In 1977 he began work on his "painting in ten parts" (completed one year later), which was based on Alexander Pope's adaptation of Homer's "Iliad" and in 1989 the Philadelphia Museum of Art devoted a permanent section to his creations titled "Fifty Days at Iliam". In 1995, Houston's Menil Collection dedicated a gallery to his work. In 2010, Twombly was honored with his commission to decorate a portion of ceiling within the Louvre Museum in Paris. He died from cancer.
Artist. A leading figure of Abstract Expressionism, he was known for his paintings which prominently displayed graffiti, irregular lines and scribbles. Born Edwin Parker Twombly, Jr. in Lexington, Virginia, the son of former Major League pitcher Cy Twombly (Chicago White Sox), he would also be nicknamed "Cy". He began his studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, before moving on to New York at the Art Students League, where he meets and becomes friends with fellow artist Robert Rauschenberg. After studying for a year at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina, Twombly and Rauschenberg would embark on a journey which took them to such places as South America, North Africa, Spain and Italy. Upon his return to the United States, he served with the Army as a cryptographer and closed out the 1950s residing in Italy, a distinguished artist associated with an elite group from that period which included his good friend Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. In 1977 he began work on his "painting in ten parts" (completed one year later), which was based on Alexander Pope's adaptation of Homer's "Iliad" and in 1989 the Philadelphia Museum of Art devoted a permanent section to his creations titled "Fifty Days at Iliam". In 1995, Houston's Menil Collection dedicated a gallery to his work. In 2010, Twombly was honored with his commission to decorate a portion of ceiling within the Louvre Museum in Paris. He died from cancer.
Bio by: Find a Grave
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