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William Thon Art

American, 1906-2000

William Thon was an American artist noted for his highly abstracted landscape images. He was born in New York City and spent his childhood summers camping on Staten Island. He developed a great love of travel, and in 1933 made an eight-month voyage to Cocos Islands in the Pacific. He debuted as a professional artist in the 1939 Corcoran Gallery Biennial exhibition. He joined the Navy during World War II, and shortly after the war won the Prix de Rome, a fellowship in Rome to the American Academy, for which he later served as a trustee. He received further recognition with his participation in the 1942 '"Artists for Victory" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He held his first one-person show at the Midtown Galleries in New York in 1944. The gallery continued to represent him throughout his career. He had subsequent solo exhibitions at the Smith College Art Museum, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine. He received an honorary Doctor of Arts from the Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, in 1957. He was a member of The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and the National Academy of Design. In 1947, Thon’s year-long study at the American Academy proved pivotal in his career, when he began working in watercolor. Upon his return to America, he submitted a watercolor to the 1949 exhibition of the National Academy of Design, and that year, he was voted into the Academy membership. From thereon, he frequently exhibited at the Academy and won prizes, including the Benjamin Altman Prize in 1951, 1954, 1961, 1967 and 1969. In 1951, Thon received a grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He often traveled to Italy, and in 1955 served in Rome as Artist-in-Residence at the American Academy. Thon chose to live in the relative isolation of Port Clyde, Maine, on a peninsula overlooking the sea, a quiet place, especially in winter. He preferred the company of sailors, craftsmen, lobstermen, a few fellow artists and his beloved wife, Helen. This area is credited as inspiring a stylistic breakthrough for Thon when he discovered an abandoned quarry near his property. There, he created numerous, increasingly abstract paintings of spidery trees with rectilinear slabs of interspersed granite. Each season, Thon would send his paintings off to the prestigious Midtown Galleries in New York City. His works bore the imprint of his vital connection to the raw, natural beauty of rural Maine, its rugged terrain, beautiful virgin forests, intemperate seas, and the human-made scatter of wooden buildings along its rocky shoreline. Thon continued to work even after macular degeneration had left him legally blind. From his estate gift of four million dollars, the Portland Museum of Art, Maine, received the biggest cash donation to that time. Thon was awarded numerous prizes and is represented in over 60 museum collections including, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The Butler Institute of American Art, the Columbus Museum of Art, and in Maine, the Farnsworth Art Museum, the Portland Museum of Art, and the Ogunquit Museum of American Art.

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Artist: William Thon
Alongside
By William Thon
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
William Thon, 'Alongside', watercolor, c. 1990. Signed, lower right; titled verso. A fine, expressionist work, on off-white watercolor paper; the image extending to the sheet edges, ...
Category

1950s American Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Watercolor

Overgrown Quarry-Poster. New York Graphic Society Ltd. Printed in Switzerland
By William Thon
Located in Clinton Township, MI
Overgrown Quarry-Poster. New York Graphic Society Ltd. Printed in Switzerland. Measures 25.5 x 30 inches and is Unframed. Good/Fair Condition-creasing/discoloration primarily in the ...
Category

1970s William Thon Art

Materials

Lithograph

Coastal Autumn-Poster. New York Graphic Society Ltd. Printed in Switzerland
By William Thon
Located in Clinton Township, MI
Poster. New York Graphic Society Ltd. Printed in Switzerland. Measures 25.5 x 30.25 inches and is Unframed. Good/Fair Condition-creasing/discoloration primarily in the white border.
Category

1970s William Thon Art

Materials

Lithograph

The Ruby R
By William Thon
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
William Thon, 'The Ruby R', watercolor, c. 1990. Signed, lower right; titled verso. A fine, expressionist work, on off-white watercolor paper; the image extending to the sheet edges....
Category

1950s American Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Watercolor

"Silvery Day, " William Thon, ink wash, sailboats, coastal, modernist
By William Thon
Located in Wiscasset, ME
William Thon, although born in New York, painted and lived most of his adult life in coastal Maine. Thon studied at the Arts Student League in New York, and exhibited in the 1930s an...
Category

20th Century Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Ink

Upper Tuscany — Mid-century expressionism
By William Thon
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
William Thon, 'Upper Tuscany', a two-sided watercolor, c. 1955. Signed, lower right; titled verso. A fine, expressionist work, with fresh colors, on cream watercolor paper; the image...
Category

1950s American Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Watercolor

"Sailing II, " William Thon, charcoal, modern, 20th century
By William Thon
Located in Wiscasset, ME
William Thon, although born in New York, painted and lived most of his adult life in coastal Maine. Thon studied at the Arts Student League in New York and exhibited in the 1930s and...
Category

20th Century Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Charcoal

"At Sea, " William Thon, ink wash, sailboat, modernist, 20th century
By William Thon
Located in Wiscasset, ME
William Thon, although born in New York, painted and lived most of his adult life in coastal Maine. Thon studied at the Arts Student League in New York, and exhibited in the 1930s an...
Category

20th Century Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Ink

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Previously Available Items
"September Woods" by William Thon. Litho Print New York Graphic Society, 1979.
By William Thon
Located in Clinton Township, MI
"September Woods" by Lithograph by New York Graphic Society Print Measures 25 in x 30.9 in Good condition Printed in 1979.
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20th Century William Thon Art

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Island Fisherman's Houses
By William Thon
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
William Thon, 'Island Fisherman's Houses', watercolor, c. 1950. Signed, lower right; titled verso in pencil. A fine, expressionist work, with fresh colors, on cream watercolor paper;...
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1950s American Modern William Thon Art

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In The Woods
By William Thon
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
William Thon, 'In The Woods', watercolor, c. 1990. Signed, lower right; titled verso. A fine, painterly work, on off-white, wove watercolor paper, the ima...
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1950s American Modern William Thon Art

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UNTITLED
By William Thon
Located in Portland, ME
Thon, William. UNTITLED. Ink on paper, not dated, but 1989. Signed in brown ink, lower right. About 9 x 12 inches, framed to 15 3/8 x 18 3/8 inches. Provenance, collection of Roz and...
Category

1980s William Thon Art

Materials

Ink

Under Way
By William Thon
Located in Wiscasset, ME
William Thon, although born in New York, painted and lived most of his adult life in coastal Maine. Thon studied at the Arts Student League in New York, and exhibited in the 1930s an...
Category

20th Century Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Ink

Under Way
Under Way
H 9.69 in W 12.94 in
"Lobster Boats, Maine Coast, " William Thon, ink wash, nautical, seascape, modern
By William Thon
Located in Wiscasset, ME
William Thon, although born in New York, painted and lived most of his adult life in coastal Maine. Thon studied at the Arts Student League in New York, and exhibited in the 1930s an...
Category

20th Century Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Ink

Homeward Bound
By William Thon
Located in Wiscasset, ME
William Thon, although born in New York, painted and lived most of his adult life in coastal Maine. Thon studied at the Arts Student League in New York, and exhibited in the 1930s an...
Category

20th Century Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Homeward Bound
Homeward Bound
H 7.38 in W 11.44 in
Late Winter
By William Thon
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
William Thon (1906-2000). Late Winter, 1963. Oil on masonite panel, 25 x 42 inches; 30 x 47 inches framed. Signed lower right. Gallery labels affixed en verso. Excellent condition. Biography: Addresses: Brooklyn, NY; Port Clyde, ME Profession: Painter Studied: ASL, 1924-25; Bates College (hon. D.F.A., 1957). Exhibited: Salons of Am., 1934; Corcoran Gal. biennials, 1939-53 (7 times); VMFA, 1939-46; AIC, 1940-46; WMAA, 1941-58; PAFA Ann., 1941-66; Kansas City AI, 1942-46; Albright Art Gal., 1944-46; Pepsi-Cola Exh., 1944-46; BM, 1942 (prize), 1945 (prize); NAD, 1944 (prize), 1969 (Altman Prize); SC, 1942 (prize); Philadelphia WCC, 1968 (Dawson Medal); AWCS, 1970 (Gold Medal of Honor); Midtown Gal., NYC, 1970s. Member: ANA; Salmagundi Club; Brooklyn Soc. Art; Brooklyn P&S; All. Artists Am.; NIAL; Am. Acad. Arts & Letters (fellow) Work: Swope Art Gallery; MMA; Butler Inst. Am. Art; Munson-Williams-Proctor Inst., Utica, NY; CPLH; Bloomington (IL) AA; Farnsworth Gal., Rockland, ME Comments: Positions: trustee, Am. Acad. in Rome. William Thon was an American artist noted for highly abstracted landscape paintings. He debuted as a professional artist in 1939 at the Corcoran Gallery Biennial* exhibition. He was born in New York City in 1906, and spent his childhood summers camping on Staten Island. He also developed a great love of travel, and in 1933 made an eight-month voyage to the Cocos Islands in the Pacific. He joined the Navy during World War II, and shortly after the war won the Prix de Rome*, a fellowship in Rome to the American Academy,* which he later served as trustee. Recognition for him continued with his participation in the 1942 "Artists for Victory" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art*, and in 1944, Midtown Galleries in New York held his first one-person show. This gallery then continued to be his representative throughout his career. He had subsequent solo exhibitions at Smith College Art Museum, Fort Wayne Museum and Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine. He earned an honorary Doctor of Arts from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in 1957, and was a member of The American Academy* and Institute of Arts and Letters, as well as the National Academy of Design*. In 1947, the year-long study at the American Academy proved highly influential on his career, especially with him beginning to paint as much with watercolor as oil. Returning to America, he submitted a watercolor into the 1949 exhibition of the National Academy of Design, and that year was voted into Academy membership. From thereon, he exhibited frequently at the Academy and won prizes including the Benjamin Altman Prize* in 1951, 1954, 1961, 1967 and 1969. In 1951, Thon received a grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He also taught painting at Ohio University, and painted aspects of the Apollo Space Program...
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Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist William Thon Art

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Late Winter
Late Winter
H 25 in W 42 in D 1 in
Full Sail
By William Thon
Located in Wiscasset, ME
Born in New York, William Thon painted and lived most of his adult life in coastal Maine. Thon studied at the Art Students League in New York, and exhibited in the 1930s and 40s at t...
Category

1960s Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Ink

Two Boats
By William Thon
Located in Wiscasset, ME
Born in New York, William Thon painted and lived most of his adult life in coastal Maine. Thon studied at the Arts Student League in New York, and exhibited in the 1930s and 40s at t...
Category

Modern William Thon Art

Materials

Gouache, Watercolor

Two Boats
H 9 in W 11.5 in

William Thon art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic William Thon art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by William Thon in paint, watercolor, ink and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large William Thon art, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Gordon Grant, William Grauer, and Robert Noel Blair. William Thon art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $225 and tops out at $4,400, while the average work can sell for $1,650.

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