© Tom Judd, My De Chirico.
August 20, 2025
Amie Potsic interviewed renowned Philadelphia painter Tom Judd, about his exhibition Replica at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia on view July 18 - September 19, 2025.
“In the Spring of 2023, I did something that I had been thinking about doing for many years – I began copying a Picasso. I did not want it to be Picasso-esque, but rather an exact copy that would look and feel like the real thing. This was not a new idea of course, reproducing paintings by the masters as a way of learning how to paint is a long tradition and I remember doing that very thing in art school when I painted a Thomas Eakins piece, “Sailing” (which is included in this exhibit). I think what is different now is that I’m not 20 years old anymore.
The process of making exact copies of these paintings at this stage of my “development” was an extraordinary adventure, generating profound insights about these artists and my own creative practice in relationship to them.”
- Tom Judd, on his collection Replica
Tom Judd. Image courtesy of the artist.
Tom Judd grew up in Salt Lake City and attended the University of Utah from 1970 to 1972. He attended the Philadelphia College of Art where he studied with Rafael Ferrer, Bob Kulicke, and Larry Day.
Judd first exhibited his art work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1979, where at 25 he was included in a survey show entitled Contemporary Drawing: Philadelphia curated by Ann Percy and Frank Goodyear. The museum purchased a work from that exhibit for their permanent collection.
Judd has gone onto exhibit his work in distinguished commercial galleries and Museums across the country. He is in major collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of Art and the Birmingham Museum of Art.
Judd works in a variety of medium including painting, collage, photography and installation work. This includes major public art projects such as the Independence Hall subway station in Philadelphia.
His new exhibition Replica is on view at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia through September 19th with a reception on Friday, September 5th from 5 – 7pm.
© Tom Judd, My Picasso.
© Tom Judd, My Thiebaud.
© Tom Judd, My Cezanne.
© Tom Judd, My Guston.
To learn more about Tom Judd visit, https://tomjuddart.com/
To learn more about Judd’s exhibition Replica at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, visit: https://philaathenaeum.org/exhibitions/
Banner Image: © Tom Judd, My Hopper.