Earl Thollander (born April 13, 1923,

Kingsburg, California Kingsburg is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. Kingsburg is located southeast of Selma, California, Selma at an elevation of , on the banks of the Kings River (California), Kings River. The city is from Fresno, California, ...

) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

, illustrator, author and a

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

officer who is best known for his marine scene paintings, sketching, travel book writing and tour leading.

Early life and background

Earl was born in Kingsburg, California in 1923. His father was a school teacher and a building contractor. He was drawn to artistic pursuits from a young age, collecting stamps and making them into books. He grew up in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and attended Mission High School, and City College. Earl earned his bachelor's degree from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

in 1944. He joined the

during the

, and served for two years after graduating as a

Naval Officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...

Career

After the war, Earl returned to his hometown and attended

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...

and the

Academy of Art The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute o ...

. Moving forward he married Janet Behr in 1947, and later on graduated to Landphere & Associates advertising agency as an illustrator. While employed in advertising, Earl started working as a

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

ist and by 1960 he became a freelance artist working from his home studio. Earl had a great interest in traveling and started making artworks related to different parts of the world that he had visited. He became famous for his drawings such as of Mount Saint Helena and scenes from Napa Valley. In his career, Earl had illustrated more than 62 children’s cooking and travel books.

Books

Here are some of the illustrated books authored by Earl Thollander: * ''Back Roads Of California'' * ''Back Roads Of Oregon - 82 Trips On Oregon's Scenic Byways'' *Back Roads of California: 65 Trips on California s Scenic Byways * ''Back Roads Of New England'' * ''Back Roads Of Washington'' * ''Back Roads Of Arizona'' * ''Back Roads Of Texas'' * ''Earl Thollander's Back Roads Of California'' * ''Earl Thollander's San Francisco'' * ''Back Roads Of The Carolinas'' * ''Barns Of California'' * ''Arizona's Scenic Byways'' *''The thousand recipe: Chinese cookbook'' *''On The Shore Of The Sundown Sea''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thollander, Earl Artists from San Francisco San Francisco Art Institute alumni 1923 births 2001 deaths American male artists 20th-century American artists 20th-century American male artists People from Kingsburg, California United States Navy personnel of World War II