Thornton Wilson Willis (May 25, 1936 – June 15, 2025) was an American abstract painter. He contributed to the New York School of painting since the late 1960s. Viewed as a member of the Third Generation of American Abstract Expressionists, his work is associated with

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

Lyrical Abstraction Lyrical abstraction arose from either of two related but distinct art movement, trends in Post-war Modernist painting: * European ''Abstraction Lyrique'': a movement that emerged in Paris, with the French art critic Jean José Marchand being cr ...

Process Art Process art is an artistic movement where the end product of art and craft, the '':wikt:objet d’art, objet d’art'' (work of art/found object), is not the principal focus; the process of its making is one of the most relevant aspects if not th ...

Postminimalism Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971Chilvers, Ian and Glaves-Smith, John, ''A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art'', second edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p ...

, Bio-morphic

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

(a term he coined), and Color Field painting. Willis was a member of

American Abstract Artists American Abstract Artists (AAA) was founded in 1937 in New York City, to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art. American Abstract Artists exhibitions, publications, and lectures helped to establish the organization as a major f ...

Biography

Thornton Wilson Willis was born on May 25, 1936, in

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. His father, Willard Willis, was an evangelical preacher in the Church of Christ. Willis spent formative years in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

, returning to graduate from Tate High School in Pensacola, Florida. After three years in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

Willis studied, under the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

, at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

for one year transferring to the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

where he graduated with a B.A. in 1962. In the summer of 1964, he enrolled at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

, in Tuscaloosa, for graduate studies and received a teaching assistantship, and his M.A. in 1966. While at the University of Alabama he was befriended by the American football quarterback

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943), nicknamed "Broadway Joe", is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seaso ...

, met visiting artist

Theodoros Stamos Theodoros Stamos (Greek: Θεόδωρος Στάμος) (December 31, 1922 – February 2, 1997) was a Greek-American painter. He is one of the youngest painters of the original group of abstract expressionist painters (the so-called " Irasc ...

, and primarily studied painting with Melville Price, a painter who had shown in New York City with

Franz Kline Franz Kline (May 23, 1910 – May 13, 1962) was an American painter. He is associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. Kline, along with other action painters like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Mo ...

and

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning ( , ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a US citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married pa ...

and had been a member of ''The Club'' at the

Cedar Tavern The Cedar Tavern (or Cedar Street Tavern) was a bar and restaurant at the eastern edge of Greenwich Village, New York City. In its heyday, known as a gathering place for avant garde writers and artists, it was located at 24 University Place (Manh ...

. During these years, Willis also participated in the Civil Rights Movement including the march from Selma to Montgomery, led by

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

Throughout his painting studies, Willis became highly influenced by the tenets of

embodied in The New York School of painting, including second generation painters such as

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combine painting, Combines (1954� ...

and

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and ...

. His early work was equally informed by the more reductive paintings of

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...

and

Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (May 12, 1936 – May 4, 2024) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. He lived and worked in New York City for much of his career befor ...

. These two polarities,

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and

were the early foundations of his paintings and continued to inform his work. In 1967 Willis accepted a teaching position at

Wagner College Wagner College is a private university in Staten Island, New York. It was established in 1883 and, as of the 2023–2024 academic year, it enrolled approximately 1,932 students, including 1,592 undergraduates and 340 graduates. Its theatre prog ...

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, and moved to New York City. He established his first studio in the Chelsea district of Manhattan. In 1968, he had his first one-person show at the Henri Gallery in Washington, DC. In New York, Willis met fellow painters,

Dan Christensen Dan Christensen (October 6, 1942 – January 20, 2007) was an American abstract painter He is best known for paintings that relate to Lyrical Abstraction, Color field painting, and Abstract expressionism. Christensen was born in Cozad, Ne ...

Jules Olitski Jevel Demikovski (March 27, 1922 – February 4, 2007), known professionally as Jules Olitski, was an American painter, printmaker, and sculptor. Early life Olitski was born Jevel Demikovsky in Snovsk, in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republ ...

, Ken Showell as well as sculptors and installation artists

Richard Serra Richard Serra (November 2, 1938 – March 26, 2024) was an American artist known for his large-scale Abstract art, abstract sculptures made for Site-specific art, site-specific landscape, urban, and Architecture, architectural settings, a ...

Alan Saret Alan Saret (born 1944, New York City) is an American sculptor, draftsman, and installation artist, best known for his Postminimalism wire sculptures and drawings. He lives and works in Brooklyn. Education Saret graduated from Cornell Universi ...

, and

Gordon Matta-Clark Gordon Matta-Clark (born Gordon Roberto Matta-Echaurren; June 22, 1943 – August 27, 1978) was an American artist best known for site-specific artworks he made in the 1970s. He was also a pioneer in the field of socially engaged food art. ...

, all working out of ''a

process art Process art is an artistic movement where the end product of art and craft, the '':wikt:objet d’art, objet d’art'' (work of art/found object), is not the principal focus; the process of its making is one of the most relevant aspects if not th ...

'' orientation. Willis was married three times. His marriages to Peggy Whisenhant and Jane Miles ended in divorce, and his marriage to fellow painter Vered Lieb lasted until his death, from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

and pneumonia, on June 15, 2025, at the age of 89, at a hospital in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. He had a son from his marriage to Whisenhant and a daughter from his marriage to Lieb.

The Slat Paintings

From 1967 to 1973, Willis worked on a series of paintings now called his
Slat Series
involving a "wet on wet" process working on the floor on large wet unstretched

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...

and using rollers with long extension handles to develop striped bands across the entire

picture plane In painting, photography, graphical perspective and descriptive geometry, a picture plane is an image plane located between the "eye point" (or '' oculus'') and the object being viewed and is usually coextensive to the material surface of the w ...

. In 1970, Willis was included in the exhibition entitled "

" curated by Larry Aldrich, and was represented in ut by the painting "Wall", (1969, acrylic on canvas, 96 inches by 114 inches).The exhibition was originally exhibited at the

Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is located in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The Aldrich has no permanent collection and is the only museum in Connecticut that is dedicated solely to the exhibition of contemporary art. The museum presents the first ...

, in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Some of the other artists connected with Lyrical Abstraction were Victoria Barr,

Jake Berthot Jake Berthot (1939–2014) was an American artist whose abstract paintings contained elements of both the Minimalism, minimalist and Abstract expressionism, expressionist styles. During the first 36 years of his career his paintings were entirel ...

Ronnie Landfield Ronnie Landfield (born January 9, 1947) is an American abstract painter. During his early career from the mid-1960s through the 1970s his paintings were associated with Lyrical Abstraction (related to Postminimalism, Color Field painting, and ...

Pat Lipsky Pat Lipsky is an American painter. Her work is associated with Color Field painting and Lyrical Abstraction . Early life and education Lipsky grew up in New York City. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts BFA from Cornell University in 19 ...

, John Torreano, Phillip Wofford, and Robert Zakanitch. When in 1971, Mr. Aldrich donated this collection to

The Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a modern and contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The institution was founde ...

, John Baur, the museum director, mounted a second ''Lyrical Abstraction'' exhibition and Willis's painting ''Wall'' became part of the Whitney Museum's permanent collection. The "Slat" series also attracted

Bykert Gallery Bykert Gallery was a contemporary art gallery in New York City between 1966 and 1975, run by Klaus Kertess (1940 - 2016) and Jeff Byers who had been classmates at Yale College, class of 1958. The gallery originally was located at 15 West West 57th S ...

director,

Klaus Kertess Klaus Kertess (July 16, 1940, New York City, New York – October 8, 2016, New York City, New York) was an American art gallerist, art critic and curator (including of the 1995 Whitney Biennial). He grew up in Westchester County north of New York ...

, and in 1971 Willis joined the Paley and Lowe Gallery, New York City, as part of its original stable of eight artists including,

Joan Snyder Joan Snyder (born April 16, 1940) is an American painter from New York. She is a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow (1974). Snyder first gained public attention in the early 1970s with her gestur ...

Mary Heilmann Mary Heilmann is an American painter based in New York City and Bridgehampton, NY. She has had solo shows and travelling exhibitions at galleries such as 303 Gallery (NY, NY) and Hauser & Wirth (Zurich) and museums including the Wexner Center for ...

, Peter Pinchbeck, Herbert Schiffrin, Fred Gudziet, Mike Bakaty, Peter Hradley, and Michael Goldberg, who joined later. A "Slat" painting was purchased by

William Paley William Paley (July 174325 May 1805) was an English Anglican clergyman, Christian apologetics, Christian apologist, philosopher, and Utilitarianism, utilitarian. He is best known for his natural theology exposition of the teleological argument ...

, then Chairman of the Board of CBS, and is now housed in The

Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City with a branch office in Los Angeles. It is de ...

in Manhattan. From 1971 to 1972, Willis taught painting at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in New Orleans. He had a one-person show of his "Slat" paintings at the Simonne Stern Gallery, New Orleans in 1970, and at The New Orleans Museum of Fine Art (then The Delgado Museum); which also owns a large slat painting, in 1971. He continued to show with Simonne Stern through 1974.

The Wedge Paintings

After returning to New York City, Willis began his

formalist Formalism may refer to: * Legal formalism, legal positivist view that the substantive justice of a law is a question for the legislature rather than the judiciary * Formalism (linguistics) * Scientific formalism * A rough synonym to the Formal sys ...

compositions exploring Form and Field ambiguity that led to his "Wedge" series, 1974-1982. During this time he co-founded " Review: Artists on Art" with his wife. He showed his work at the

Holly Solomon Gallery Holly Solomon Gallery opened in New York City in 1975 at 392 West Broadway in Soho, Manhattan. Started by Holly Solomon - aspiring actress, style-icon, and collector - and her husband Horace Solomon, the gallery was initially known for launching ...

, NYC, in 1976, and in 1979 Thornton Willis won a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

for painting. In the same year his work was included in the controversial exhibition
American Painting: The Eighties, a critical interpretation
organized and curated by

Barbara Rose Barbara Ellen Rose (June 11, 1936December 25, 2020) was an American art historian, art critic, curator, and college professor. Rose's criticism focused on 20th-century American art, particularly minimalism and abstract expressionism, as well as ...

. The exhibition opened at the

Grey Art Gallery The Grey Art Museum, known until 2023 as the Grey Art Gallery, is New York University's fine art museum. As a university art museum, the Grey Art Gallery functions to collect, preserve, study, document, interpret, and exhibit the evidence of h ...

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

in New York City and traveled first to The

Houston Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follow ...

, then to the American Center in Paris (now defunct) before traveling around the world as a United States Ambassadorial show to over twenty other countries. In 1979, Willis exhibited his "Wedge" Paintings at the 55 Mercer Street Gallery where the work attracted the attention of British collectors, Robin Symes, and Charles and Doris Saatchi. He showed the "Wedge" paintings at the

Sidney Janis Gallery Sidney may refer to: People * Sidney (surname), English surname * Sidney (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Sídney (footballer, born 1963) (Sídney José Tobias), Brazilian football forward * Sidney (footballer, bor ...

in New York City in 1980 in an exhibition titled "Seven Young Americans" curated by Sam Hunter which included his friend and fellow artist

Sean Scully Sean Scully (born 30 June 1945) is an Irish-born American-based artist working as a painter, printmaker, sculptor and photographer. His work is held in museum collections worldwide and he has twice been named a Turner Prize nominee. Moving fro ...

. In 1980 he had a one-person show at the Oscarsson Hood Gallery who would represent the artist until 1986. In 1980 he met the European dealer, Claes Nordenhake, and exhibited his "Wedge" paintings in Malmo, Sweden, Gothenburg, Sweden, Helsinki, Finland, and Geneva, Switzerland. In 1982, Willis began a series of overlapping "wedges' or "double wedges' that allowed exploration of the vertical colored bands created where the edges met. "Striped Suit", 1982, a large double wedge canvas was featured on the cover of ''

Arts Magazine ''Arts Magazine'' was a prominent American monthly magazine devoted to fine art. It was established in 1926 and last published in 1992. History Founding Launched in 1926 and originally titled ''The Art Digest,'' it was printed semi-monthly from ...

'' with an essay by Steven Henry Madoff, ''Looking for Thornton Willis: A Treatise''. With the re-opening of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in Manhattan in 1984, Willis exhibited ''Red Warrior'' in ''An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture''. By 1984 the work had changed again as Willis sought a more complex geometry. By 1990 he had gone back to the triangle but this time in an overall grid for which he coined the term "biomorphic cubism". The "Triangle" paintings would span a decade from 1990 to 2000.

The Triangle Paintings

In 1991, Willis showed new work at the Andre Emmerich Gallery, in New York City, in an exhibition titled ''Abstract Painting: the 90’s'' where art critic Barbara Rose chose to revisit certain painters from the 80s show. A one-person exhibition of large scale ''Triangle'' paintings and oil stick on paper followed in 1993, at the Andre Zarre Gallery where the artist employed a tight grid overridden by gesture and a plastic color palette. In the 2001 catalogue essay for ''Painted in New York City: The Presence of the Past,'' art critic Robert C. Morgan noted Willis's Abstract Expressionist roots and the newer element of restraint. In 2005, Willis teamed up with fellow painter, James Little for a two-person show in

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

, Brooklyn at the Sideshow Gallery working with owner-painter, Richard Timperio. From 2007 on, Willis showed with the Elizabeth Harris Gallery in New York City, with one-person exhibitions in 2007, 2009, and 2011. Willis sustained a long-term relationship with art dealer Harris begun in 1980 when she co-founded Oscarsson Hood Gallery, on 57th street.

The Grid Paintings

Shortly after the exhibition titled ''Painting: 40 Years''," a retrospective at the Sideshow Gallery in 2007, Willis returned to a rectilinear format. Combining the early "Slat" paintings, with exploration of form and field in his "Wedge" series, he created a body of work he entitled "Lattices" where lines appear to weave forward and back. Michael Feldman documented the transition to this new work in a film, in 2008-09, ''Portrait of an American Painter'' In 2009, Willis had a one-person show at the Elizabeth Harris Gallery, with a catalogue titled ''The Lattice Paintings'' (with an essay by James Panero). In his essay, Panero writes, "Ever since his wedge paintings in 1970s, Thornton played with the density of volumes, the interaction of colors to come forward and recede, and the character of the line." Two years later, in 2011, Willis took on form over field where form or volume appear to dominate the line. The resulting images harken to the dense mass of city buildings and maps. In an essay for this new series, Lance Esplund wrote: "Those who have followed Willis's work over the years may see his current series of paintings as a departure from "Slats" of the 1960s, the "Wedges," or "Fins," of the 1970s and early '80s, the triangular facets of recent years, and the "Lattice" paintings from his last show, in 2009, at Elizabeth Harris. But all of these pictures have in common the allover surface plane held in tension, between figure and ground, as an interwoven field. They also share the subject of the urban landscape". Lance Esplund, Exhibition Catalogue, Thornton Willis, copyright 2011, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, essay copyright 2011 Lance Esplund Willis continued to show with Elizabeth Harris, and in April 2013, had a one-person show of new "Step" paintings. The artist included in the show, consisting predominantly of his paintings, several three dimensional painted wall pieces or assemblages. The wall sculptures, starting with a painted canvas base, are built up with layers of found objects and painted wood. Also in April and May 2013, two large paintings by Willis were exhibited at

Gagosian Gallery The Gagosian Gallery is a modern and contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. The gallery exhibits some of the most well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. As of 2024, Gagosian employs 300 people at 19 exhibiti ...

, 980 Madison, New York, in the exhibition entitled, "Works of the Jenney Archive."

Selected museum and public collections

, New York, NY *The

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

, New York, NY *The

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, New York, NY *The

Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips (art collector), Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the ...

, Washington, D.C *

, Ridgefield, Ct. *

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art and contemporary art. It is directly opposite Buff ...

, Buffalo, NY *

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With an encyclopedic collection of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums betwe ...

, Denver, CO * Carnegie Museums, Pittsburgh, PA *

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art ("The Johnson Museum") is an art museum located on the northwest corner of the Arts Quad on the main campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its collection includes two windows from Frank Llo ...

, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY *

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest art museum, fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans. It is situated within City Park (New Orleans), City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton ...

, New Orleans, Louisiana *

Memorial Art Gallery The Memorial Art Gallery is a civic art museum in Rochester, New York. Founded in 1913, it is part of the University of Rochester and occupies the southern half of the University's former Prince Street campus. It is a focal point of fine arts ac ...

, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY *

Rose Art Museum The Rose Art Museum, founded in 1961, is a part of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, US. Named after benefactors Edward and Bertha Rose, it offers temporary exhibitions, and it displays and houses works of art from its permanent co ...

, Brandeis University *The

Arkansas Art Center The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA), formerly known as the Arkansas Arts Center, is an art museum located in MacArthur Park, Little Rock, Arkansas. The museum's most recent expansion and renovation was designed by architecture and urban des ...

, Little Rock, AR *

Museum of Broadcasting The Pavek Museum is a museum in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, that has one of the world's most significant collections of vintage radio and television equipment. It originated in the collection of Joe Pavek, who began collecting unique radios while ...

, NYC *The

Power Institute of Fine Arts The Power Institute of Fine Arts is a teaching and research department, encompassing the fields of art history and theory, within the University of Sydney. It was established from a bequest by artist John Joseph Wardell Power (1881–1943). B ...

, Sydney, Australia *The

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

, Atlanta, GA *

Oklahoma City Museum of Art The Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA) is a museum located in the Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. The museum features traveling special exhibitions, original selections from its own collection, a ...

, Oklahoma City, OK *

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum (PAM) is an art museum in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The Portland Art Museum has 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2), with more than 112,000 square feet (10,400 m2) of gallery space. The museum’s permanent c ...

, Portland, OR *

Columbia Museum of Art The Columbia Museum of Art is an art museum in the American city of Columbia, South Carolina. History The Columbia Museum of Art was originally in the 1908 private residence of the city's Taylor family. Located on Senate Street in Columbia, ad ...

, Columbia, SC *

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is an art museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The Brooks Museum, which was founded in 1916, is the oldest and largest art museum in the state of Tennessee. The museum is a privately funded nonprofit institution located in ...

, Memphis, TN *

Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (NEHMA) is an accredited academic art museum focused on modern and contemporary art, located at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, Logan, Utah. NEHMA was founded in 1982 with the ceramic collection of phil ...

, Utah State University, Logan UT *

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the supp ...

, Richmond, VA *

Huntington Museum of Art The Huntington Museum of Art is a nationally accredited art museum located in the Park Hills neighborhood above Ritter Park in Huntington, West Virginia. Housed on over 50 acres of land and occupying almost 60,000 square feet, it is the largest ...

, Huntington, WV *

Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (also referred to as MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection of over 34,000 works of art and gallery spaces totaling 150,000 sq. ft. (13,900 m²) make it the largest art museum in the state of Wis ...

, Milwaukee, WI *The Herb and Dorothy Vogel Collection, New York, NY

Awards

* The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Painting Fellowship, 2001 * Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Fellowship, 1991 * National Endowment for the Arts, Printmaking Fellowship, 1984 * National Endowment for the Arts, Painting Fellowship, 1980 * John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Painting Fellowship, 1979

Selected books and catalogues

Thornton Willis: Interviews & Essays, copyright 2018, ISBN 978-0-9906194-8-2, Library of Congress Control Number: 2017954106, Greenpoint Press Art Books, Greenpoint Press NY, accepted into Library of Congress * Tom Armstrong, A singular Vision: Architecture Art Landscape, Copyright 2011, Frontise-piece pp. 1, 207 Printed by Quantuck Lane Press, NY, Distributed by W.W. Norton and Company, NY * Exhibition Catalogue, Thornton Willis, copyright 2011, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, essay copyright 2011 Lance Esplund * Exhibition Catalogue, Thornton Willis: The Lattice Paintings, copyright 2009, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, essay copyright 2009 James Panero * The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, produced by the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington DC., , , , repro. p. 79 * Peter Bellamy, The Artist Project: Portraits of the Real Art World / New Artists 1981-1990, published by IN Publishing New York, New York, 1991, , p. 240 * The Phillips Collection, A Summary Catalogue, 1985, , repro. p. 251 * Carrier, David, "The Aesthete in the City; The Philosophy and Practice of American Abstract Painting in the 1980s," The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park Pennsylvania, 1994, Chapters 10 (p188) and 13 (p 225), * Artists of the ‘80’s: Selected works from the Maslow Collection, published by the Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, PA., 1989, Frontispiece (color), pp. 74-75 * C.E. Licka, Thornton Willis’ Abstract Syntax, Thornton Willis Recent Work: Paintings and Drawings, a catalogue, published by the University of Southern Mississippi, 1985, Copyrights, on the occasion of the University of Southern Mississippi's 75th Anniversary, intro. by Chairman William C. Baggett Jr. * David Carrier, Theoretical Perspectives on the Arts, Sciences and Technology, Part II: Postmodernist Art Criticism, Leonardo, Vol. 18, No.2, 1985, repro. 109, p. 112 * Kynaston McShine, An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, copyright 1984 by Museum of Modern Art, New York, Library of Congress Catalog, , repros. pp. 322–323 * Joseph Masheck, "Historical Present: Essays of the 1970s," Contemporary American Art Critics, No. 3, edited by Donald Kuspit, UMI Research Press, Michigan, 1984, Chapter 22, pp249–257, "Thornton Willis and Abstract Identity" * Exhibition catalogue, ARS: 83 Helsinki, The Art Museum of the Ateneum, 1983, repro. pp. 190–191 * Exhibition Catalogue, Donald Kuspit and Fernando Pernes, LIS ’81: Lisbon international Show, International Exhibition of Drawings, published by Direccao, 1982 repros. p. 427 * Exhibition Catalogue, Georgia Coopersmith, 20th Anniversary Exhibition of the Vogel Collection, published by the Brainerd Art Gallery, Potsdam, NY. 1982, repro., unpaginated. * Exhibition catalogue, Thomas W. Leavitt and Anita Feldman, Painting Up Front, published by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca NY. , . Statement and repro, unpaginated * RE-VIEW: Artists on Art Magazine, Vol. II and III, no. 1, June 1979 , repros. pp. 46-51 * RE-VIEW: Artists on Art Magazine, Vol. 1, no. 1, January 1978, pp. 53-57. * Exhibition catalogue, Lyrical Abstraction, published by the Whitney Museum of American Arts, New York, NY., , . 1971 * Exhibition catalogue, Richard Lanier, New Work: New York, published by the American Federation of Arts, New York, New York, Library of Congress Card no. , . 1970

Selected sources

* James Panero "Gallery Chronicle" The New Criterion, 2012, Volume 30, Number 6, p 52 * James Panero "Gallery Chronicle" The New Criterion, 2011, Volume 29, Number 6, p 57 * Lilly Wei, "Thornton Willis at Elizabeth Harris" Exhibition Reviews, "Art in America" September 2009 #08 p 149 * Tom McCormick, Melville Price: Works from the Sixties, Tom McCormick Gallery, Copyright 2009, Color Reproduction, essay, pp. 14–15 * James Panero, Pilgrim's Process, Catalogue Essay, Thornton Willis: The Lattice Paintings, March 2009 * Lance Esplund, "The Met's Memorable Year", The New York Sun, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008, Arts & Letters, p 21 * James Panero, Critics Notebook, "Comeback Kid", Art & Antiques, Dec. 2007, No. 12, pp. 110–114 color reproductions. * Lance Esplund, "A Show of Painterly Swagger", The New York Sun, Nov. 8, 2007, Vol. 123, No. 146, p 22 * James Panero, Gallery Chronicle, The New Criterion, 2007, Vol. 26, No. 3 pp. 61–62 * Jed Perl, "How The Art World Lost its Mind to Money: Laissez-Faire Aesthetics," The New Republic, Feb 5, 2007 * John Goodrich, Gallery Going "Black & White and Big All Over", The New York Sun, December 14, 2006 * Channing Joseph, Arts & Letters, "Geometry In Color," page 1 color reproduction, Gallery-Going, "Making a Quantum Comeback" December 19, 2006 p 13 * Naves, Mario, "A Shared Aesthetic and Goal, Raising the Bar at the Sideshow", New York Observer, April 18, 2005 p 8 * Maine, Stephen, "Dateline Brooklyn, Artnet, April 2005 * La Rocca, Ben, "Thornton Willis and James Little", The Brooklyn Rail, April 2005 * Lieb, Vered, "Thornton Willis and James Little: Raising the Bar", N.Y., 2005 * Arts Magazine, Vol. 10, No 3/4, p71, March/April 2005 * Lieb, Vered, "Thornton Willis and James Little", Abstract Art on Line, April 2005 * Panero, James, "Gallery Chronicles", The New Criterion, May 2005, Vol 23, no 9, p50 * Walentini, Joseph, "Reviews: Thornton Willis and James Little", AbstractArtonLine, May 2005 * Perl, Jed, "On Art: Unity and Variety", The New Republic, Vol. 228, No 3, Issue 4593, Jan. 27, 2003 * Kaufman, Leslie, "The Lost Legacy of Stewart Hitch", The New York Times, The City, Section 14, Feb.2, 2003 * Morgan, Robert C., "Painted in New York City: The Presence of the Past", catalog essay published by Hofstra University for "Painted In New York City", Jan. 2001 * Lieb, Vered, "The Art of Absolute Desire", N.Y. Arts Magazine, 1999, Vol. 4, No. 8, pp50–1 * Rosenthal, Deborah, "Abstract Tendencies", Rider University Press, 1997 * Scott, Sue, "Reviews: New York", ARTnews, Feb. 1994, p143 * Lloyd W., Ann, "Review of Exhibitions", Art in America, May 1994, p112 * Perl, Jed, "Code Name Painting" The New Criterion, Dec. 1993, Vol.12 No 4 * Lieb, Vered, "Objective Spirit: Thornton Willis", Arts Magazine, Nov.1986 * Heartney, Eleanor, "Thornton Willis at Oscarsson Hood", ARTnews, 1985 * Gaugh, Harry T., "Franz Kline: The Man and the Myth", ARTnews, Dec. 1985 * Carrier, David, "Betwixt and Between Illusion and Literality: Thornton Willis’ Recent Paintings", p194, Nov. 1984 * Rosenthal, Deborah, "First Underground Show", Art in America, Nov. 1984, pp157–8 * Madoff, Steven, "Looking for Thornton Willis: A Treatise", Arts Magazine, March 1983, cover and pp16–118 * Murray, Jesse, Flash Art, Jan. 1981 * Masheck, Joseph, "Abstract Identity: Thornton Willis", Oct. 1981, pp126–131, reproductions pp. 126, 129, 130 * Cornu, Daniel, "La Peinture Abstraite en Question", Tribune De Geneve, Dec. 16, 1980, p27 * Parks, Addison, Arts Magazine, Dec. 1980, p53 * Hilton Kramer, Seven Young Americans, The New York Times, April 18, 1980, Section C, p. 18 * Ratcliff, Carter, "55 Mercer St. Show", Art in America, March 1980, p116 * Frackman, Noel, "The Paintings of Thornton Willis", Arts Magazine, Nov.1980, pp58–60 * Feldman, Anita, "Space and Subjectivity", Artforum, Sept. 1979, pp49–53 * Boyce, David, "Interview with Thornton Willis", Arts Magazine, Nov. 1979, p116

References

Online references

Thornton Willis website: http://www.thorntonwillis.com/home.shtml James Kalm, YouTube, October 2007, "Thornton Willis Opening at Sideshow" http://blip.tv/file/447777 Brian Sherwin, myartspace.com, contributing editor: http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2007/09/art-space-talk-thornton-willis.html Jed Perl, The New Republic, Feb 5, 2007: http://www.pierretristam.com/Bobst/07/wf021407.htm Michael Feldman, "Portrait of an American Painter" film, 2008-09: http://www.thorntonwillis.com/media.shtml Joanne Mattera, "Joanne Mattera Art Blog" 2009 review "Color-Time-Space" http://joannemattera.blogspot.com/2009/10/color-time-space-at-lohin-geduld.html Joanne Mattera, "Joanne Mattera Art Blog" 2009 review Thornton Willis at Elizabeth Harris Gallery http://joannemattera.blogspot.com/2009/04/thornton-willis-at-elizabeth-harris.html Steven Alexander, "Seven Alexander Journal" 2009 review "Color-Time-Space" http://stevenalexanderjournal.blogspot.com/2009/10/color-time-space-at-lohin-geduld-janet.html Steven Alexander, "Steven Alexander Journal" 2009 review Thornton Wilis at Elizabeth Harris Gallery http://stevenalexanderjournal.blogspot.com/2009/03/thornton-willis-at-elizabeth-harris.html Leaves of Glass, 2009 "Needing some Color-Time-Space" http://leavesofglass.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html Thomas B. Harrison, ‘Southern Abstraction’ is a compelling view of a provocative art form (gallery), Al.com, June 1, 2012 http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/06/southern_abstraction_is_a_comp.html Structural Abstraction: Paintings by Thornton Willis, Alabama.travel, June 11, 2012 http://www.alabama.travel/events/structural_abstraction_paintings_by_thornton_willi New York Artist, UA alum to show at Sarah Moody gallery, AL.com, September 24, 2012 http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/09/new_york_artist_ua_alum_to_sho.html New York Artist to Show Work at UA Gallery, University of Alabama News, September 24, 2012 http://uanews.ua.edu/2012/09/new-york-artist-to-show-work-at-ua-gallery/ Thornton Willis show card by UA Dept. of Art & Art History, September 27, 2012 https://www.flickr.com/photos/uaart/8048336805/ Thornton Willis @ The Sarah Moody Gallery by Paul Behnke, Structure and Imagery September 30, 2012 http://structureandimagery.blogspot.com/2012/09/thornton-willis-sarah-moody-gallery.html Accolades for Oct. 1, 2012, The University of Alabama, October 1, 2012 http://dialog.ua.edu/2012/10/accolades-for-oct-1-2012/ More about Thornton Willis, The University of Alabama, October 9, 2012 http://art.ua.edu/site/more-about-thornton-willis/ James Panero, "Studio Visit: Thornton Supreme Fiction", January 8, 2013 http://www.supremefiction.com/theidea/2013/01/studio-visit-thornton-willis.html James Panero, "Studio Visit: Thornton Willis", The New Criterion, January 9, 2013 http://www.newcriterion.com/posts.cfm/Studio-visit--Thornton-Willis-7007 Karabenick, Julie
"An Interview with Artist Thornton Willis," Archived
Geoform.net, Sept. 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Thornton 1936 births 2025 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters Abstract expressionist artists American modern painters 20th-century American male artists Deaths from pneumonia in New York City Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state) University of Southern Mississippi alumni Painters from Florida People from Pensacola, Florida University of Alabama alumni