Bruce Thurman was born in Chicago on November 9, 1948. He studied Architecture at the University of Illinois and Art at the Beaux-Arts School in Paris. From 1971 to 1981, he worked as an architect in Chicago (Tigerman), Southern France( Prip-Buus), Paris (Andrault-Parat) and New York (Lundquist & Stonehill). In 1981, he moved to Paris and began working full-time as a painter. In addition to his art work, his career includes decorative installations in private and public spaces as well as film posters.