Description: Winner receives a signed oil painting on masonite board by well listed American artist William Thon (1906-2000). The painting is titled "Connemara Sunset" and is signed in the lower right corner, seen magnified in picture 7. The painting has provenance directly from the estate of the artist. In addition the painting has provenance from Caldbeck Gallery, Maine and retains the original gallery label on the verso with a price of $10,000, seen magnified in picture 9. Being sold unframed, the painting is in exquisite original condition. There is no damage to the board or in-painting. There is some very minor edge wear in the top two corners that will be hidden when the painting is framed. The piece is an absolute gem. The use of color and multiple textures throughout make this the finest William Thon painting we have ever come across. The painting measures 20" x 30". Below is some information about the artist, whose auction results include sales up to $22,705. Please feel free to ask us any questions you may have prior to bidding or making an offer. Thank you for checking out our listing. William Thon (1906-2000) led a life so completely at one and at peace with his artistic mission that we must understand him as a philosopher as well as a visual poet. His engagement with a world of wind and water and changing seasons became a search for the very essence of nature's vital force. Thon was a dignified, self-evolved, somewhat quiet man whose calm and friendly demeanor put one quickly at ease. His was not a grandiose personality but one projecting a deep, steady confidence. Thon had many friends among his neighbors in Port Clyde, Maine, as he spent a long life on the docks, along the shore, and in the forests where people made their living from the land and sea. Essentially self-taught as an artist, Thon mastered the difficult visual language of modern art and then went on to create a distinctly personal and intensely expressive style all his own. Thon's 60-year career as a painter led him to some surprising discoveries, culminating in the visionary works of his old age. Dwelling in near-blindness, he achieved a wondrous sense of light and space, a revelation in ink and paint for us to share and to see. William Thon made his professional mark in the 1950s when he shared national prominence with a generation of Americans working in an abstract expressionist style. His abstracted landscapes of Maine quarries, boats and shorelines, and ships at sea are familiar to anyone who has studied American art of this period. He won many national and international prizes and his work entered the permanent collections of our nation's greatest art museums. Artistic prizes and national attention did not motivate William Thon, although he accepted them with grace and modesty. He did not gain his enduring place in American art by participating in the lively critical discourse of his day. His art came from another source both physically and spiritually. Thon chose to live in the relative isolation of Maine on a peninsula overlooking the sea, a quiet place, especially in winter. He chose the company of sailors, craftsmen, lobstermen, a few fellow artists, and his beloved wife Helen. Each season, William Thon would send his paintings off to the prestigious Midtown Galleries in New York City as though sending them on a journey to a strange and distant land. Each bore the imprint of his intense connection to raw and wild things, beautifully contained within the artist's capable and generous temperament. Beginning in the late 1940’s, Midtown Galleries in New York exclusively handled Thon’s work and his successful career for over 50 years, during which time, the book WILLIAM THON, THE ARTIST AND HIS WORK was published in 1964 by Viking Press. Thon's paintings of Maine had little to do with rural nostalgia or American historical values or the pathos of human relationships. His was a living Maine, a timeless and vital place reflecting his own passion for its rough, beautiful forests, intemperate seas, and the scatter of wooden buildings along its rugged shoreline. William Thon took a long view of man's time on earth. He often painted small boats on vast and turbulent waters. He lingered over the smallest details of indecipherable human and animal tracks on a snowy forest floor. He depicted sailors struggling to survive in an Atlantic gale and made his viewers wonder about the outcome. In Thon's pictorial universe, man is not the measure of all things. Thon valued and respected man's ability to see and understand the natural world, but he regarded its mysteries as beyond human reckoning. Marveling at the revelations of each hour, each turn of tide, each season of the year, Thon created an art that achieves equilibrium and joy by dwelling within the tumult of nature. William Thon's sweeping views of Maine, admitting all kinds of weather, every time of the year, and every lovely and unlovely aspect, reveal his deep trust in nature as an ultimately benign force. He believed in the inherently spiritual nature of the universe. All of our items have been stored in a temperature controlled environment with no pets or smoking allowed. We strive to provide a wide array of artwork, antiques, and collectibles for everyone from the casual collector to other gallery owners. Whether you are a collector or a reseller, we will always try to work with you to the best of our ability to sell you the item you are interested in. We are always adding new treasures to our collection so please feel free to make an offer, as we constantly are turning over our inventory and need to free space up for our newest finds. We will never decline or ignore an offer. We look at every offer and if we don't accept it, we will make a fair counter offer. We took a few months off of Ebay to move our inventory in to a larger space but we are now back, better than ever. Please check our 100% seller feedback to see that we describe our items accurately and take much care in packing our items so they arrive safe and fast. We always offer free shipping within the United States and also offer international shipping at very reasonable rates. If you are bidding from another country, please contact us prior to making a bid or offer so we can quote you a fair shipping cost. If you have any questions, please message us prior to bidding or making an offer and we will respond within 24 hours. Thank you for checking out our listing, and we look forward to dealing with you. ***FREE SHIPPING WITHIN THE UNITED STATES******WE SHIP WORLDWIDE! PLEASE CONTACT US PRIOR TO BIDDING OR MAKING AN OFFER FOR REASONABLE RATES ON INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING***
Price: 5995 USD
Location: Hudson, New York
End Time: 2024-11-26T23:40:39.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist: William Thon
Unit of Sale: Single-Piece Work
Signed By: William Thon
Size: Large
Signed: Yes
Period: Post-War (1940-1970)
Title: "Connemara Sunset"
Material: Oil
Framing: Unframed
Subject: Landscape
Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
Type: Painting
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
Style: Abstract Expressionist
Theme: Nature
Features: One of a Kind (OOAK), Provenance: Estate Of The Artist, Signed, Provenance: Caldbeck Gallery, Maine
Production Technique: Oil Painting
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Auction Results To $22,705: Provenance: Caldbeck Gallery, Maine
Handmade: Yes
Time Period Produced: 1960-1969