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Thomas
McKnight Biography
"The images I make relate to a
lifelong search for paradise, a land of harmony where the sun shines on
a sparkling blue sea. Sometimes the search is within and results in
fantasy realms whose landscapes are strewn with classical architecture
and mythological beings."
—
Thomas Mcknight
—
Thomas
McKnight’s paintings, serigraphs and posters, phenomenally
popular with the public, have placed him in an elite group of
contemporary artists whose work can be instantly recognizable as his
own. Be it a carnival in Venice, a sundrenched street in Greece, a cozy
well furnished room, a tropical beach or a mythological scene,
McKnight’s images invite you to experience the unfettered joy of
living.
"I try to
integrate what is real about a place or thing with its underlying truth
its invisible soul," muses the artist. "In the process I try
to create a symbolic reality that can serve as a catalyst for emotions,
nostalgia, joy, the sadness of time passing."
According to
noted New York Times critic Gene Thornton, McKnight's work presents
"visions of earthly happiness that are almost celestial. It is the
vision of earthly paradise that exists in the here and now. Thomas
McKnight's pictures remind us of how good life can be in those rare
moments when all is well in the world."
Born in 1941 in Lawrence,
Kansas, Thomas McKnight grew up in
suburbs of Montreal, New
York City and Washington,
D.C. After receiving his
Bachelor's Degree from Wesleyan
University, he studied art
history at Columbia
University. He
then served in Korea
with the army for two years, and later worked for Time Magazine.
Since deciding to devote himself to
painting full time in 1972, McKnight’s work has been exhibited in
over two hundred and fifty one man shows through out the United States,
Europe and Japan, and has appeared everywhere from the cover of
Reader’s Digest to pages of Japanese calendars to the walls of
restaurants in southern China. His prints have appeared in numerous
movies and television shows including Beverly Hills 90210 and When Harry
Met Sally. At a recent Cannes Film Festival, actor director Robert
Redford remarked that McKnight was his favorite artist. McKnight's
private, public, corporate and museum collections are too numerous to
list here.
In 1988, McKnight’s Constitution
was chosen as the official image of the U.S. Constitution Bicentennial.
In fact, Constitution was one of only three art works which First Lady
Hillary Rodham Clinton chose to bring to Washington
from Little Rock
when President Clinton was elected. The serigraph hangs in the White
House solarium which serves as the first family's living room. Longtime
McKnight fans, the Clintons
asked the artist to create an image for the presidential Christmas card
in 1994 and again in 1995. His warm home and hearth renderings of the
White House Red Room and Blue Room at holiday time have now appeared on
half a million cards sent out worldwide from the White House.
Six books of McKnight’s art have
been published (two in Japan)
including the most recent Voyage to Paradise.
He was commissioned by Dennis Connor in 1992 to paint two images
commemorating the America's
Cup races, and by the city of Kobe, Japan
in 1993 to create a series of paintings to serve as the centerpiece for
the two year celebration of its tercentennial. After the devastating
earthquake which hit Kobe
in 1995, McKnight created an earthquake relief poster.
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