Thornton Dial

**Thornton Dial** (bɛ daa dɔɣi o la silimiin goli September biɛɣ'pishi ayi ka dali yuuni 1928 ka daa kpi silimiin goli January biɛɣ'pishi ni anu dali yuuni 2016) daa nyɛla Americanima nucheeni baŋda ka nyɛ niriba pam ni daa baŋ so yuuni 1980s bahigu.

## Maŋmaŋ biɛhigu
Thornton nyɛla ŋun daa kpuɣi Clara Mae Murrow yuuni 1951. O nyɛla ŋun daa mali bihi ata ban nyɛ dabba pɔi ka daa kpi, Thornton Jr., Richard n-ti pahi Dan ni bia yino ŋɔ nyɛ paɣa, Matte Dial, o daa nyɛla ŋun mali yaansi. Clara Mae Dial daa kpi la yuuni 2005.

## Exhibitions
Dial's tuma nyɛla din niŋ gili United States tum yuuni 1990. Museum exhibitions nyɛ din doli na ŋɔ:

2022

* *Called To Create: Black Artists of the American South*, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 18, 2022 – March 26, 2023.

2019 
**Home is a Foreign Place: Recent Acquisitions in Context,* The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

2019 
**Epic Abstraction: Pollock to Herrera*, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

2018 
**History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift*, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

2017 
**Revelations: Art From the African American South,* De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
**Self-Taught Genius*, organized by the American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, travelled to Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL; New Orleans
**Third Space/Shifting Conversations About Contemporary Art*, The Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
**Inside the Outside: Five Self Taught Artists from the William Louis Dreyfus Foundation*, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; The Baker Museum
**Known / Unknown: Private Obsession and Hidden Desire in Outsider Art*, Museum of Sex, New York, NY

2016 
**Green Pastures: In Memory of Thornton Dial Sr.,* High Museum of Art, Atlanta

2015 
**I See Myself in You: Selections from the Collection*, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
**Social Geographies: Interpreting Space and Place*, curated by Leisa Rundquist, Asheville Museum of Art, Asheville, NC

2014 

**When the Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination and the American South*, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
2011-13
**Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial*, Indianapolis Museum of Art (organizing museum); New Orleans Museum of Art, The Mint Museum, and the High Museum of Art
**Thornton Dial: Thoughts on Paper*, Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (organizing museum); Fleming Museum of Art, University of Vermont, Burlington; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama; and the Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee.

2005
**Thornton Dial in the 21st Century*, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

2002-2004
**In the Spirit of Martin*, Smithsonian Institution

2000 
*Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
**Thornton Dial: Drawings*, Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York, NY, May 11 - June 24, 2000
	
1998 
**Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century: An American Anthology*, Philadelphia Museum

1997 
**The Hirshhorn Collects: Recent Acquisitions 1992 - 1996*, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

1993 
**Thornton Dial: Image of the Tiger*, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; American Folk Art Museum, New York; American Center, Paris
**Passionate Visions of the American South: Self -Taught Artists from 1940 to the Present*, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans

## Public collections
*Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC
*American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY
*Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
*Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, NY
*Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, Atlanta, GA
*Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
*de Young Museum of Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
*Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
*Gadsden Arts Center and Museum
*Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA
*Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA
*High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
*Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
*Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
*Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
*Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, IN
*, Chicago, IL
*The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
*Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
*Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
*Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN
*Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
*The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY
*Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA
*Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
*Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY
*National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
*Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA 
*Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL
*Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
*Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
*Studio Museum, Harlem
*Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
*Virginia Union University, Richmond, VA
*Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

### Public art
*Road to the Mountaintop (sculpture) (2014), Nashville, TN
*The Bridge (sculpture) (1997), Atlanta, GA

## Further reading
### Selected publications
**Revelations: Art from the African American South,* catalog, San Francisco: de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Prestel. (2017)
**History Refused to Die*, catalog, Alabama Contemporary Art Center (2015)
**Thornton Dial: Thoughts on Paper*, Ackland Art Museum and UNC Press (2012)
**Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial*, catalog, Prestel (2011)
*"''Outsider Art Sourcebook"'', Raw Vision (2009) 
**Thornton Dial in the 21st Century*, catalog, Tinwood (2005)
**American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum*, catalog (2001)
**Souls Grown Deep*, Volumes 1 & 2, Arnett *et al.* (2000 & 2001)
**Passionate Visions of the American South, Self Taught Artists from 1940 to the Present*, New Orleans Museum of Art (1993)
**American Self-Taught*, Maresca & Ricco (1993)
**Thornton Dial: Image of the Tiger*, Baraka & McEvilly (1993)
**20th Century American Folk, Self-Taught, and Outsider Art*, Neal-Schuman Publishers (1993)
**Museum of Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists*, Abbeville Press (1990)

### Bibliography
*Sarah Cascone, "Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Acquire 62 Works by African American Artists Including Purvis Young, Thornton Dial Highlights include nine pieces by Thornton Dial." Artnet, February 7, 2017.
*Corral, Alexis, "''15 Blockbuster Gallery Shows You Need to See in New York This May." Artsy'', April 29, 2016
*Reid, Zachary, "''VMFA adds 18 works, including nine from African-American artists", Richmond Times-Dispatch'', March 21, 2016
*Bernard Herman, "Thornton Dial (1928-2016)." Artforum, February 18, 2016.  
*Valentine, Victoria, "''After His Work Enters Met Museum Collection, Thornton Dial Joins New York Gallery", Culture Type'', November 24, 2015
*Artspace Editors, "''10 Artists to Watch This November", Artspace'', October 30, 2015 
*Kennedy, Randy, "''Boesky Gallery to Represent Thornton Dial", ArtsBeat, The New York Times'', October 20, 2015
*Gomez, Edward, "''From the Deep South, an Overlooked Chapter in Art History", Hyperalleric'', January 24, 2015
*Sellman, James, "''Truly Transformative: Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gifts 57 Works of Art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art", Folk Art Messenger'', Winter 2015
*Williams, Paige, "''The Met Embraces Neglected Southern Artists", The New Yorker'', December 4, 2014
*Williams, Paige, "''Composition in Black and White", The New Yorker'', August 12, 2013
*McCash, Doug, "''Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial a must-see at NOMA", The Times-Picayune'', March 1, 2012
*Wilkin, Karen, "''The Best of 2011", The Wall Street Journal'', December 23, 2011
*Sellman, James "''Truth and Consequences: the 25-Year Friendship of Thornton Dial and Bill Arnett", Folk Art Messenger'', Summer 2011
*Kuspit, Donald, Review, *Art Forum*, Summer 2011
*Wilkin, Karen, "''Biography, History, Self-Evident Beauty", The Wall Street Journal'', April 21, 2011
*Doran, Anne, Review, *Time Out New York*, April 14–20, 2011
*Review, *The New Yorker*, April 11, 2011
*Lacayo, Richard, "''Outside the Lines", Time'', March 14, 2011 
*Kino, Carol, "''Letting His Life’s Work Do the Talking", The New York Times'', February 17, 2011
*Gómez, Edward M., "On the Border", Art & Antiques Magazine, February 2011
*Jones, Phillip March, "Thornton Dial, Sr.", *Whitehot Magazine*, February 2010
*Giovanni, Nikki; Chassman, Gary Miles; Leonard, Walter, "In the Spirit of Martin", *Tinwood Books* 2002
*Smith, Dinitia, "Bits, Pieces and a Drive To Turn Them Into Art," *New York Times*, February 5, 1997
*Smith, Roberta, "A Young Style for an Old Story," *New York Times*, December 19, 1993
*Scott, Sue, "Thornton Dial [exhibition review]," *ARTnews 92*, April 1993
*Lloyd, Ann Wilson, "Thornton Dial at Luise Ross," *Art in America*, May 1993
*Kuspit, Donald, "The Appropriation of Marginal Art in the 1980s," *American Art*, Winter/Spring 1991
*Kroll, Jack, "The Outsiders Are In: American Folk Artists Move into the World of Money and Fame," *Newsweek*, December 2, 1987

## Kundivihira