The Works of Anthony Thieme, Alex Katz and Jasper Johns

Another summer has come and gone. Autumn is here. In the Northeast, the changing of the season brings with it cool weather, changing leaves, fall colors and inspiration for artists.

Anthony Thieme 1888-1954

One of the most inspiring paintings of the seasons was created by Anthony Thieme. Vermont Autumn Glory, available at Surovek Gallery, speaks to the feelings that people aspire to when they talk about longing to see the leaves change color, the air get cooler.

Born in Holland, classically trained at the Royal Academy of Art at the Hague, Thieme traveled extensively and, finally, settled in Rockport, Massachusetts in 1929 with his wife, Lillian, where he established the Thieme School of Art.

Thieme became one of America’s most beloved Regionalist painters. He often traveled to St. Augustine, because he loved to paint the light and the scenery.

Thieme’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the Montclair Art Museum, the New Britain Museum of Art, and many other galleries and private collections.

Alex Katz 1927 –

The New York Guggenheim is set to reopen next month. Like The Met and other museums, entry will be limited to timed ticket holders and social distancing protocols will be in place. The Guggenheim is currently preparing for a 2022 retrospective of the works of Alex Katz. An exhibit of Katz’s works is scheduled to open on February 19, 2021 at the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Pantin in Paris and will run through March 19, 2021.

A monograph containing over 300 images of Katz’s work will be released next month. The book was written by art critic Carter Ratcliff and edited by Katz’s son, poet Vincent Katz. Vincent chose sketches, works on paper and archival materials that add insight to the art and world of the artist.

Alex Katz and his wife, Ada, have been living in the same SoHo studio since 1968, and have been spending summers at their farmhouse in Lincolnville, Maine. Alex Katz’s works are in over 100 public institutions around the world, including MoMA, The Met, the Smithsonian, the Whitney, the Brooklyn Museum, the Jewish Museum in New York, the Tate, London, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and other fine venues.

Jasper Johns 1930 –

The Whitney Museum has reopened, and is preparing a retrospective of the works of Jasper Johns. Johns received the National Medal of Arts in 1990, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. In 2018, The New York Times called him the United States’ “foremost living artist.”

Johns rocked the art world in the 1950s with his American Flag paintings. The first Flag painting, done in 1954, is in the permanent collection of MoMA. In 1980 the Whitney Museum paid $1 million for Three Flags, 1958, then the highest price ever paid for the work of a living artist. The most expensive work sold of Johns’ was Flag, 1958, one of a series, that was sold privately in 2010 for a reported $110 million.

The Whitney exhibit, titled Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror is a collaboration between the Whitney and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which will stage a simultaneous retrospective, showcasing Johns’ seventy year career. Many of the works are from the artist’s personal collection and have never been shown in public before. The opening date of the exhibit will be announced.