Leslie Prince Thompson (American, 1880-1963)

Leslie Prince Thompson was born in 1880 in Medford, Massachusetts. Known for his impressionistic landscapes, portraits and beach scenes, Thompson began his studies at the Boston Normal Art School in 1900 under the instruction of Ernest L. Major (1864-1950) before working at the Boston Museum School from 1901-1904 under Edmund C. Tarbell (1862-1938).

After winning the Paige Travelling Scholarship, Thompson traveled to Europe where he remained until 1906. In 1912 when Tarbell and Frank Benson resigned from the Museum School, Thompson, and fellow Museum School graduate Frederick Bosley (1881-1942) were appointed as replacement teachers. Thompson taught at the Boston Museum School until 1931 and taught summer classes at Ogunquit, Maine. He exhibited widely in the Boston area, including one-artist shows at the Guild of Boston Artists, and shows at the Rhode Island School of Design (1914) and at Rochester (1913). In 1917 he married Margaret Vanderveer Hathaway of Philadelphia.

Leslie Prince Thompson died in 1963 in Boston. He kept a studio at the Fenway Studios building and was a member of the Copley Society, the Guild of Boston Artists, the St. Botolph Club, the Tavern Club, and the National Academy of Design and the Newport Art Association. Thompson’s work can be found in private and public collections, including the Addison Gallery of American Art, the Print Club of Albany, and the Union League Club of Chicago.