Gerard Francis Tempest
American artist (1918-2009)
Gerard Francis Tempest (February 23, 1918 – July 26, 2009) was a painter, sculptor, architect and veteran of World War II. Tempest was the father of Abstract Spiritualism and the protégé of Giorgio de Chirico, the forerunner of Surrealism.
Born in San Donato Val di Comino, Italy in 1918, Tempest immigrated to the United States in 1929. He studied art as a youth at the Boston Museum School, founding his own sign-painting company at the age of 19.
Drafted in 1943 as a private in the United States Army, Tempest eventually became an officer, serving under Omar Bradley in the 82nd Airborne Division. Tempest fought in campaigns in Europe, including Normandy on D-Day, the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, and with the French Underground in the Liberation of Paris. Tempest received the Bronze Star Medal in 1944 and designed the 101st Airborne Division's insignia, the "Screaming Eagle".
Returning to the Boston Museum School in 1945, Tempest studied under abstract expressionists Max Beckmann and Oscar Kokoschka. He later studied under Giorgio de Chirico as his protégé in Rome. There in 1957 he first introduced Abstract Spiritualism. He continued to paint for the rest of his life, with major exhibitions in the United States, France and Italy.
“Gerard Francis Tempest” enters the record as american artist (1918-2009). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Gerard, Francis and Tempest can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5550003. VIAF identifies the subject as 46332640. The Library of Congress control number is no93018034. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918, 2009, 1929 and 1943.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gerard Francis Tempest” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.