John Paul Thomas
John Thomas | |
|---|---|
 artist John Paul Thomas in his Kona, Hawaii studio 1992 | |
| Born | John Paul Thomas 4 February 1927 |
| Died | 5 September 2001 (aged 74) |
| Education | William Baziotes |
| Known for | Painting |
| Notable work | Homage to Gaea, Boy with Goldfish, Orchids of Hawaii, Hawaiian Legend series |
John Paul Thomas (4 February 1927,
.Life
John Paul Thomas was the third of four children born to Paul B. Thomas and Annie Watson Thomas. He enlisted in the Navy fall of 1944 and received a medical discharge the following summer. He received a B.A. degree in 1951 from
Hawaii Island in 1970 where he worked for thirty-one years until his death due to complications from myasthenia gravis.[1] He is buried at the Kona Veterans Cemetery.[2]
Career
Thomas is among the foremost painters of Hawaii.Honolulu Academy of Arts [now Honolulu Museum of Art]; and the American Library, Bucharest, Romania.
Teaching
He began his teaching career at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Art in Honolulu (1966). He occupied the Ames Walker Professorship Chair in the School of Art at the University of Washington, Seattle (1968-1969).[4]
Awards and honors
Thomas received residence fellowships at
Queen Liliuokalani and Hawaii State Governors, now a National Historic Landmark.[2]
Significant series of paintings
Thomas often did series of paintings centering on one subject.Honolulu Symphony Orchestra's premiere of the music in October, 1976.[7] The music was recorded in 1979 by the London Symphony Orchestra using Soundstream digital recording technology. Excerpts were released on Varèse Sarabande LP in 1980 and the complete work on Albany Records SACD (1994) with Thomas paintings reproduced on the covers.[8] The No. 1 painting "Rainbow Birth" was chosen for the cover of the Brubeck-LaVergne Trio jazz LP "See How It Feels".[9]
Scholarly studies
Even though Thomas has early roots in
Abstract Expressionism, through Baziotes at New York University, critics early on saw him as a maverick, unconcerned with contemporary trends in the arts environment.[10] While his peers were throwing off the trappings of previous conventions, Thomas was developing a system of grids to control the interplay between the two-dimensional surface of a painting and a symbolic third dimension within.[5]: Foreword 2, 14–17, 22–35 He traced the source of the concept to his early studies of Italian Renaissance painters and the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, several of whose students were close personal friends.[1] He named his personal application of the grid to the construction of his painting "Symbolic Stereometry".[3] All his work from the end of his first year teaching at the University of Hawaii, Hilo Campus (1966) on, come under the influence of the grid.[5]: 10 Concurrently, his response to the quality of light in Hawaii and the tropical vegetation resulted in a parallel study of color, particularly the manner in which the eye perceives color in relation to the colors surrounding it. Over forty years’ of studies on these two subjects are housed at Rod Library Special Collections, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa
.
Bibliography
- LIFE magazine; Fine Arts in the Market Place; New York September 19, 1960
- Hood, Mantle; Contribution to Hawaiian Music; Ha’ilono Mele, the Hawaiian Music Foundation Journal, vol. 11, no.8, pages 6 – 8; Honolulu, Hawaii 1976
- Hess, Harvey; John Thomas, Artist of Kona; Aloha, the Magazine of Hawaii; January/February 1980; Honolulu, Hawaii
- Orchid Art and the Orchid Isle; orchid paintings and drawings; co-authored with poet ISBN 0-931909-03-1
- Western’s World; cover; Western Airlines in-flight magazine; vol. 15, no. 8, August, 1984; Los Angeles, California
- Longman, Robin, ed.; cover; American Artist magazine annual travel issue; vol. 50, no. 512; New York 1985
- Hawaii Island Artists and Friends of the Arts; cover art and article; volume I, Malama Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii (1989) ISBN 0-931909-11-2
- Spirit of Aloha; cover; magazine, vol. 19, no. 2, February 1994; Honolulu, Hawaii
- Tanner, Jerré; On the Origins and Application of the Grid in the Art of John Paul Thomas; UNIversitas, University of Northern Iowa online publication; Volume 3, Issue 1 (Fall 2007)
See also
- List of American artists 1900 and after
- List of artists who painted Hawaii and its people
- List of New York University alumni#Press, literature and arts
References
- ^ a b c d Thomas, John; An Artist's Odyssey; Art Centering; vol. 8, no. 8 February 1994; Hilo, Hawaii
- ^ a b Hugh Clark (7 September 2001). "Painter John Paul Thomas dead at 74". The Honolulu Advertiser.
- ^ a b c Howell, Betje (1978). John Thomas: Kona Artist American Artist Magazine, vol. 42, no. 427; New York, New York.
- ^ a b John Thomas Résumé (2000). private compilation. Malama Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii.
- ^ a b c Jerré Tanner (Fall 2007). On the Origins and Application of the Grid in the Art of John Paul Thomas. UNIversitas, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa; online publication; Volume 3, Issue 1.
- ^ Hess, Harvey and Thomas, John (1982). Orchid Art and the Orchid Isle. Hoag McGlynn, Betty in Foreword; Malama Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii.
- ^ Roster, Laila (1976). Boy with Goldfish. exhibition catalog; Contemporary Arts Center of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii.
- ^ Tanner, Jerré (1974). Boy with Goldfish. TROY053. Albany Records.
- ^ Brubeck, Chris and Dan and LaVergne, Andy (1978). See How It Feels. BKH 51401. Blackhawk Records.
- ^ Wilson, William (11 September 1974). … Hard Italian Sherbet. Los Angeles Times.
External links
- Albany Records
- Jerré Tanner for images of selected Thomas paintings and graphics accompanying music videos
- Special Collections, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa
- UNIversitas, University of Northern Iowa[permanent dead link] detailed exposition of Thomas' grid concept with reproductions of examples and corresponding paintings
- Collaborator with Harvey Hess and Jerré Tanner
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