1. Thornton Willis was born on May 25,1936 and is an American abstract painter.
15 Facts About Thornton Willis
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Thornton Willis has contributed to the New York School of painting since the late 1960s.
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Thornton Willis's father, Willard Willis, was an evangelical preacher in the Church of Christ.
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In 1967 Thornton Willis accepted a teaching position at Wagner College in Staten Island, and moved to New York City.
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Thornton Willis established his first studio in the Chelsea district of Manhattan.
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In New York, Thornton Willis met fellow painters, Dan Christensen, Jules Olitski, Ken Showell as well as sculptors and installation artists Richard Serra, Alan Saret, and Gordon Matta-Clark, all working out of a process art orientation.
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When in 1971, Mr Aldrich donated this collection to The Whitney Museum of American Art, John Baur, the museum director, mounted a second Lyrical Abstraction exhibition and Thornton Willis's painting Wall became part of the Whitney Museum's permanent collection.
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From 1971 to 1972, Thornton Willis taught painting at Louisiana State University in New Orleans.
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Thornton Willis continued to show with Simonne Stern through 1974.
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Thornton Willis showed his work at the Holly Solomon Gallery, NYC, in 1976, and in 1979 Thornton Willis won a Guggenheim Fellowship for painting.
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In 1991, Thornton Willis showed new work at the Andre Emmerich Gallery, NYC, in an exhibition entitled Abstract Painting: the 90's where art critic Barbara Rose chose to revisit certain painters from the 80s show.
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In 2005, Thornton Willis teamed up with fellow painter, James Little for a two-person show in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at the Sideshow Gallery working with owner-painter, Richard Timperio.
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Since 2007, Thornton Willis has shown with the Elizabeth Harris Gallery in New York City, with one-person exhibitions in 2007,2009 and 2011.
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Thornton Willis has sustained a long-term relationship with art dealer Harris begun in 1980 when she co-founded Oscarsson Hood Gallery, on 57th street.
15.
Two years later, in 2011, Thornton Willis took on form over field where form or volume appear to dominate the line.