Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for use without restrictions.

Use Restrictions

None.

Preferred Citation

Box/folder, Davi Det Hompson Papers, M 251, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University

Acquisition Information

Donated to the department by Mr. Thompson in 1988 and 1991.

Processing Information

Collection processed in May 1989, November 2000 and March 2002.

Biographical/Historical Information

David E. Thompson / Davi Det Hompson (1939-December 8, 1996) was a Richmond artist who exhibited widely in the United States and Europe. His work is included in the collections of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; the Kansas City Art Institute; the New Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and Franklin Furnace in New York City; the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art; the Archive Sohm in Germany; and the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands. He is best known for creating book art, mail art, and text-based paintings based on the principles of the Fluxus and Dada movements. His pen name, Davi Det Hompson, illustrates Thompson's interest in manipulating the structure and meaning of the written word.

David Thompson was born in Sharon, PA. He received his Bachelor's degree from Anderson College in Indiana and his Master's of Fine Arts from Indiana University. He spent the last twenty years of his life as an active member of the Richmond arts community. He was a founding member of Richmond's 1708 East Main Street gallery, served on the Board of Directors of the Richmond Arts Council from 1983-86, and taught at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 1979, Thompson served on a volunteer committee that was instrumental in establishing the Book Art Collection in Special Collections and Archives at Virginia Commonwealth University's James Branch Cabell Library. He was married to Nancy Kunkle Thompson, a professor in Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Crafts.

Scope and Content Information

The bulk of the collection includes correspondence in the form of letters, mail art, and poetry to and from Davi Det Hompson from 1969 through 1988. The inclusion of typed copies of letters from Hompson adds a dimension of exchange to the correspondences in the collection. Notable exchanges are documented between Davi Det Hompson and artists, Anna Banana, Fletcher Copp, David Sucec, and Alice Aycock; and poets, Madeline Gins, Lyn Hejinian, Richard Craven, and Dick Higgins. The content of the correspondences focuses on Hompson's ideas about art, collaborative efforts, exhibitions and other projects. The collection also includes announcements for art shows along with newsletters and fanzines produced by art groups such as General Idea and W.O.R.K.S. Four folders are dedicated to an exhibition of mail art and performance art held at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1973 titled International Cyclopedia of Plans and Occurrences. The exhibition was curated by Davi Det Hompson and included submissions of mail art from over twenty different countries.

The collection also includes two pieces of book art in completed form accompanied by various drafts. One piece is titled, "For breakfast I'll have, oh, two slices of dry toast and a cup of hot water." The second piece is titled, "You know it has to be a hairpiece." Oversize materials include original photography, drawings, posters and other art works by Davi Det Hompson and various artists.

Arrangement

Collection is arranged in three series.

Series I--Correspondence (1969-1988) Series II--Book Art Materials (c. 1977) Series III--Oversize Materials ( 1970-73)