title: Hilda Thorpe
text: # Hilda Thorpe
  
  Hilda Shapiro Thorpe (1919–2000) was an American sculptor and painter. Thorpe taught a generation of metro Washington, D.C. artists.
  
  ## Life
  
  Thorpe was born Hilda Gottlieb on December 1, 1919, in Baltimore. She was a prolific artist who did not start working professionally until she was nearly 40 and had raised three children.
  
  Thorpe made sculpture from materials such as sheet metal, gauze, balsa wood and handmade paper painted with shimmering fields of color. Thorpe carried on the proud tradition of the Washington Color School.
  
  Thorpe was influenced by her peers of the time, including the six artists in The Washington Color School: Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Gene Davis, Howard Mehring, Thomas "Tom" Downing, Paul Reed. In July 1997 Thorpe was interviewed for a special Creative Vision documentary by Barbara Januszkiewicz.
  
  