Thornton Dial, American artist, Died at 87

  Artists

Thornton Dial was born on September 10, 1928, and died on January 25, 2016.

He was a pioneering American artist.

Dial moved to prominence in the late 1980s.

Thornton’s abundant collection of work exhibits astonishing formal variety through powerfully expressive, densely composed assemblages of found materials, often executed on an over impressive scale.

Thornton Dial many arrays of subjects exhibit a broad sweep of history, from human rights to natural disasters and current events.

Now his enterprise of art work is represented by Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York.

At on point, Thornton Dial met another self-taught artist Lonnie Holley, who introduced Dial to Atlanta collector and art historian William Arnett.

Then Arnett, whose art historical interests had now concentrates on African-American vernacular art and artists, brought Dial’s work to national prominence.

Also 10 works by Thornton Dial were donated to the Museum, (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Just to name a few of his master pieces, includes; The Bridge (sculpture) (1997), Atlanta, GA, Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, and many more.

His publications also include; History Refused to Die, catalog, Alabama Contemporary Art Center (2015), Thornton Dial in the 21st Century, catalog, Tinwood (2005), 20th Century American Folk, Self-Taught, and Outsider Art, Neal-Schuman Publishers (1993), and many others.

Thornton Dial passed away at 87 yrs old.