Steffen Thomas Rewrite: Pieta

The Pieta

1955 ca.

48 ½”h x 38”w

Figure

PAINTING- Mixed Media

#1636

By: Mary Margaret Rogers

In The Pieta, Steffen Thomas pays homage to his artistic hero, Michelangelo, by recreating one of his classic works of art. The religious piece depicts Mary holding the body of Jesus after the Crucifixion. Although Thomas’s rendition reflects these traditional components of the Pieta, he often referred to it as “The Good and the Bad Judge.” In Steffen Thomas-The Freedom of the Figure, Andrew Hayes and Alan Aiches explain Thomas’s title for the piece saying, “That perspective is derived from consideration of two sides to issues relating to Christ, and the figures in the background representing the two sides — the accused and the accuser. To Thomas, there are two sides to every issue.”

Pieta translates to Pity in Italian, which Thomas personifies through his use of dark colors throughout the piece; highlighting the tone of sorrow and desolation associated with the Crucifixion. There is a reverent feeling created by the mosaic stained glass frame resembling the windows found in churches and cathedrals. The placement of a crown at the top center of the painting with three crosses fixed around it further builds the religious setting of the piece by symbolizing the Holy Trinity. The drip style painting with its dark, confused lines combined with the clean cuts and edges of the mosaic frame creates a busy environment and exemplifies the mix of emotion the classic piece evokes.

The piece is inspired from Thomas’s time at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany during the 1920s. It was during this time when he chose Michelangelo as his artistic muse after studying sculpture in Classical art. Thomas adopted several core artistic principles from Michelangelo, one he considered the most essential being “symbolism is all man knows, and art is symbolism.” His use of religious emblems, color style, and mix of mediums in The Pieta showcase this school of thought by portraying Thomas’s interpretation of the classic piece. Thomas continued to incorporate this fundamental idea into his works throughout his artistic career.

A Tip of the Hat

By Lauren D’Ambra

 

Steffen Thomas’s printed signature in the bottom right corner of Woman in Pink Hat stands as a stark contrast to the rest of the painting’s style. In the picture, the woman’s curls spiral out from under her vibrant, floral cap. A black outline maps a subtle silhouette of the woman. Along the curve of her left shoulder clearly reads ‘Steffen Thomas 88’ in thick ink. In his other paintings, the signature is scrawled in a cursive script and written with much more ease. Yet, on the Woman in Pink Hat, every letter is separate, clear and concise—maybe because he wrote it backwards.

 

Woman in Pink Hat is one of Thomas’s experimentations with a technique called ‘reverse painting on glass.’ In reverse painting, an artist paints on the back side of glass to portray a picture on the front. The execution proceeds in reverse from the usual painting approach: first painting the details like the outline and signature, then the middle ground and finally, the background colors. Because the painting is on the back of glass, the finished piece is a mirror image to whatever the artist painted. Therefore, Thomas wrote his signature backwards to read properly when the glass was flipped over to unveil the final piece.

 

Reverse painting dates back to the Middle Ages. Over time, it spread from ceremonial paintings in the Byzantine Empire to Renaissance art in Italy. Lisa Thomas Conner, daughter of Steffen Thomas, said her father enjoyed new challenges. Painting in reverse was good “brain exercise.”

 

Inspired by Sara Douglass, his wife who frequently wore of hats, Thomas often used the motif of a lady in a hat to articulate the personality and philosophy of his characters. In The Art of Steffen Thomas, art historian Anthony Janson wrote: “In their many guises, they express an ideal not simply of femininity but of humanity as a whole.” With her thin nose, slender jawline and wide eyes, the Woman in Pink Hat draws a close resemblance to the portrait of Douglass.

 

Thomas believed the personality of a woman was reflected in her style of hats, said Conner. Through the reoccurring motif, he could evoke the different facets of humanity and cultivate a distinctive profile to portray his view of humanity.

 

 

Steffen Thomas Rewrite – Amber Haywood

Steffen Thomas takes on Watergate

By: Amber Haywood

 

The ceramic sculpture Watergate: Nixon and his Gang, is representative of  Steffen Thomas’s reaction to the infamous Watergate scandal that marked Nixon’s presidency. The piece features five geese chiseled out of clay depicting former president Nixon, his former attorney general, Domestic Affairs  Advisor, a member of his White House Council, and his White House Chief of Staff. In the piece, Thomas expresses his mordant and forthright attitude toward the historic incident.

The Watergate scandal was the result of several members of President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign being caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents from the office of the Democratic National Committee (History.com Staff). It was later revealed that not only did Richard Nixon arrange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in “hush money” be provided to the burglars, but him and his accomplices devised a plan create the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to impede the FBI’s investigation of the crime (History.com Staff).

In 1973—around the time conspirators related to the Watergate affair were getting convicted and Justice Department officials were resigning in protest of Nixon’s power abuse— Steffen Thomas was moving back to midtown Atlanta with his wife (Steffen Thomas Museum). While in midtown Atlanta, he continued to work from his at-home studio where he created Watergate: Nixon and his Gang in 1974—the year of Nixon’s resignation (Steffen Thomas Museum). In the piece, the five main characters—Richard Nixon, John Mitchell, John Ehrlichman, John Dean, and H.R. Haldeman—are geese. According to the excerpt from the Steffen Thomas Museum about this piece, Mitchell and Ehrlichman can be referred to as his “wing men” and under his control, hence the reason they are directly under the sculpture’s wing (Steffen Thomas Museum). All of the geese in the sculpture have nooses around their necks and shackles around their feet as if the geese were imprisoned, or convicted, together. The back of the sculpture illustrates the three geese in the center having exposed bones, which Thomas accredits to representing those individuals being “picked clean by the media” (Steffen Thomas Museum). Through molding clay, Thomas provides both a comical and matter-of-fact view to this historic event in Watergate: Nixon and his Gang.

Steffen Thomas Rewrite: A Tip of the Hat

By Lauren D’Ambra

 

Steffen Thomas’s printed signature in the bottom right corner of Woman in Pink Hat stands as a stark contrast to the rest of the painting’s style. In the picture, the woman’s curls spiral out from under her vibrant, floral cap. A black outline maps a subtle silhouette of the woman. Along the curve of her left shoulder clearly reads ‘Steffen Thomas 88’ in thick ink. In his other paintings, the signature is scrawled in a cursive script and written with much more ease. Yet, on the Woman in Pink Hat, every letter is separate, clear and concise—maybe because he wrote it backwards.

 

Woman in Pink Hat is one of Thomas’s experimentations with a technique called ‘reverse painting on glass.’ In reverse painting, an artist paints on the back side of glass to portray a picture on the front. The execution proceeds in reverse from the usual painting approach: first painting the details like the outline and signature, then the middle ground and finally, the background colors. Because the painting is on the back of glass, the finished piece is a mirror image to whatever the artist painted. Therefore, Thomas wrote his signature backwards to read properly when the glass was flipped over to unveil the final piece.

 

Reverse painting dates back to the Middle Ages. Over time, it spread from ceremonial paintings in the Byzantine Empire to Renaissance art in Italy. Lisa Thomas Conner, daughter of Steffen Thomas, said her father enjoyed new challenges. Painting in reverse was good “brain exercise.”

 

Inspired by Sara Douglass, his wife who frequently wore of hats, Thomas often used the motif of a lady in a hat to articulate the personality and philosophy of his characters. In The Art of Steffen Thomas, art historian Anthony Janson wrote: “In their many guises, they express an ideal not simply of femininity but of humanity as a whole.” With her thin nose, slender jawline and wide eyes, the Woman in Pink Hat draws a close resemblance to the portrait of Douglass.

 

Thomas believed the personality of a woman was reflected in her style of hats, said Conner. Through the reoccurring motif, he could evoke the different facets of humanity and cultivate a distinctive profile to portray his view of humanity.

 

 

Steffen Thomas Rewrite: Exploring Steffen Thomas’ feminist legacy

Exploring Steffen Thomas’ feminist legacy

By Andrea Wunderlich

The Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, established by the artist’s late wife, Sara Thomas, in 1997, is situated on a plot of land the Thomas family purchased in the rural farming area of Buckhead, Georgia, about 40 miles outside of Athens.

The museum features many of the contemporary works created by the artist later in his career.

Steffen Thomas moved to the United States in the late 1920s and by 1930 had settled in Atlanta.

As can be observed in his various mixed media contemporary works, there are subtle nods to Thomas’ progressivism embedded in even the slightest of details.

One piece in particular, entitled, Bicycle Rider, created in 1965, is a small welded iron sculpture of a woman riding a bicycle, standing only about 19 inches tall.

The woman depicted is caught in motion, her head thrown back and her neck craning skyward as she rides on joyously, a pose that symbolizes female liberation.

Behind the sculpture hangs a lovely portrait of the artist in his Atlanta studio at the corner of 14^th street and Piedmont. On the desk in front of him stands Bicycle Rider.

According to Lisa Conner, Thomas’ daughter, the photo was taken by a New York photographer for The Southern Company, the entity that owns Georgia Power. Steffen Thomas was a stockholder in the company.

The photograph ran in national publications for about two years, drawing national attention not only to the southern artist, but to his impressive abstract expressionist works such as Bicycle Rider.

 Conner has been running the museum since the death of her mother, and in that time she has created and supervised several art advocacy and community outreach programs in memory of her father.

To Conner, carrying on her father’s legacy of service is just as important as preserving the collection itself.

 

Steffen Thomas Rewrite: Capturing the Joyful Human Spirit

By Michaela Patafio

In the mosaic piece titled, “Medieval Picnic,” artist Steffen Thomas explored the joy of living and told the story of a vibrant community through the use of stained glass tiles and abstract arrangements.

Thomas, born in Furth, Germany in 1906, originally studied drawing and sculpture at the School of Applied Arts in Nuremberg before taking courses in both architecture and anatomy in Munich.

According to Thomas’s youngest daughter, Lisa Conner, Thomas started creating mosaics when his four children were grown. Considered to be an Expressionist artist, Thomas used the mosaics as an additional creative outlet, since many of his prior works were commissioned pieces with little room for original ideas. Conner said that although most mosaic works are composed of ceramic tiles, Thomas chose to use stained glass instead.

“He got interested in stained glass when he visited a monastery in Conyers. He befriended the monk who was making the stained glass windows, and he learned about the glass and where to get it,” said Conner. “He liked the glass because of its luminosity and color.”

Within the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, located in Buckhead, Georgia, the large mosaic art piece hangs in the center of a long white wall, immediately drawing visitors into its colorful aesthetic.

Some of the colors in the piece are muted: brown and tan tones with a touch of soft blue. According to the Foundation for Art History Teaching Resources (AHTR), traditional art from the medieval times would have called for many of these soft, bland colors. However, Thomas included a good deal of red and yellow throughout the work to emphasize certain aspects of the scene. Conner says that red stresses the importance of the figures wearing red cloaks, and the yellow is meant to add detail to the picture.

Thomas’s ability to capture the nuances of the human experience with his stained glass mosaic allows the viewer to interpret a relevant and genuine message. According to the AHTR, authentic artwork from the medieval period may include scenes that exemplify status in some way. “Medieval Picnic” captures a much more welcoming scene from that time period, showing different groups of people enjoying their lives at a social gathering.

“He just loved the motif – or the idea – of people having fun together,” said Conner. “He was a fun loving person.”

This idea was so important to Thomas that he recreated the work several times through different artistic mediums. He first did a painting of the scene, followed by a reversed etching. The mosaic piece came last, and it was also the largest of the three. According to Conner, when an artist creates something sizable or recreates it multiple times, the idea is especially important.

More important than the medium, however, was the storytelling. Thomas was a master storyteller, and he enjoyed using art to communicate an idea, a story, a thought, a thing, or an important message. His viewers can pull his values or ideas from the artwork, allowing his pieces to cross through both time periods and social boundaries and limitations.

Stephen Thomas Rewrite: A Motto for Life Through the Lens of Mosaic

Courage, Gayety and a Quiet Mind, (Geese in Flight) #1650

By Hallie Smith

The elements of symbolism in Geese in Flight can be attributed to Thomas’ thought that, “Symbolism is all man knows,” and art is truly symbolic. He believed that art was not merely a craft, but a distinguished profile fostered through philosophy according to Lisa Conner, Thomas’ daughter and STAR Managing General partner of the Stephen Thomas Museum of Art.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem, “For Success” from Prayers Written at Vailima, Samoa, serves as the basis for Thomas’ mosaic, Geese in Flight. This prayer is one asking God for guidance in all things. The phrase, “Courage, gayety and a quiet mind,” are three characteristics that fall among the many solicited in Stevenson’s work. Thomas focused on these three as they were central to his life, as he sought courage to face each day, gayety to increase life’s value and the comfort of a quiet mind to allow for rest and rejuvenation.

Thomas created Geese in Flight circa 1978, at the age of 72. Conner said that Thomas was able to concentrate on his muse, Expressionist art, once he stopped accepting commissions. The phrase Thomas added to the top of the piece expresses his vision of the true “brotherhood of man.”

As geese fly across the sky, they are signaling the changing of the season. Their seamless glide through the air along with their interesting honking is an unmatched phenomenon that is a welcomed occurrence every year. The geese are facing forward, flying to their next destination with a fearless courage of expectation and hope. They are white – a color of innocence and integrity – which exhibits calmness. These characteristics, along with their measured behavior, gives the viewer an example of what Thomas means by the phrase, “Courage, gayety and a quiet mind.”

The mosaic is filled with color, ranging from deep blue to fiery orange. These colors are visual representations of the phrase written at the top of the artwork. Blue is a calming color, representing the “Quiet mind” that Thomas cherishes. Orange is an invigorating and joyous color, demonstrating the “Courage” Thomas practiced.

The stained glass used in the artwork reflects light in ways that ceramic tile cannot. This medium adds the element of “Gayety” of the piece. Any reflection is a glimmer of happiness that Thomas hoped to enjoy each day.

The Empathy of Man

Saint Martin and the Beggar

1975 ca.

Briana Young

This ceramic sculpture illustrates the story of Saint Martin and his generosity toward a beggar. The story of St. Martin, which has been told many times through paintings by famous artist such as El Greco, Simone Martini and Hans Baldung, is one of dedication and fearlessness. Steffen Thomas has taken this story and molded it into a moving sculpture that reveals the empathy of man.

In this tale, St. Martin is an adolescent boy who follows the religion of Christianity in a predominately Pagan Europe. Conscripted into the Roman Calvary, St. Martin is stationed at the gates of Amiens, France where he meets a meagerly dressed beggar. Immediately, St. Martin rips his coat in half and cloaks the poor man. Later that night, St. Martin’s dedication to Christ is confirmed when he dreams of Jesus wearing the other half of his cloak. He is later baptized at the age of eighteen, refuses to fight in battle, and lives the rest of his days as a holy man devoted to the poor.

Steffen Thomas has sculpted St. Martin’s leg into the leg of the beggar, which reveals his compassion for the beggar’s suffering. Their hands are clasped together, further emphasizing his effort to help to the less fortunate. St. Martin is also sharing the weight of himself and the beggar with his legs, which are as long as the horse he is riding. The connectedness of this sculpture creates a unity between the two men that breathes empathy.

Short Blurb:

St. Martin and the Beggar is a ceramic sculpture with hidden details. It tells the moving story of a Christian man in a pagan world, who extends charity to a poor beggar. It’s a choice that alters his life forever.

 

Bibliography

S., Morgan Smith | December 6, 2017, & Bob Gronski | August 16, 2017. (2017, November 15). Learning Gratitude from St. Martin de Tours. Retrieved March 05, 2018, from https://catholicrurallife.org/learning-gratitude-st-martin-de-tours/

Thomas, S. (1975). St. Martin and the Beggar [Painting]. Permanent Collection, Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, Buckhead, GA.

Steffen Thomas Rewrite: Opening a Door

By: McGee Nall

Isaac Stern in Concert at Carnegie Hall

1980 ca.
31 ¾”h x 80”w
Figure
PAINTING – Mixed Media

[Need to ask Lisa for a digital copy of the photo. Having a hard time finding it online]

Historical tension and rebirth lies within the oil, sand, and tar of this painting. Steffen Thomas created “Isaac Stern in Concert” in 1980, just after the violinist took a trip that would help mend the relationship between the United States and China. Following the Cultural Revolution in the 60s and 70s, led by communist leader, Mao Zedong, China faced a healing process. A few years after Zedong’s death, Stern went to China in 1979 for a series of concerts and classes to help foster a healthy, cultural conversation between two different worlds.

“My father greatly admired people who achieved a high level of excellence in their fields, especially in the arts,” said Lisa Conner, Thomas’ daughter. “Isaac Stern was one of these people.”

If you look carefully, you will notice Thomas’ painting is on a specific kind of platform…but what is it? An ordinary canvas, no. Thomas was surely too creative in his multimedia capabilities to do the predictable. Look closer. What do you see?

Ah, yes. Thomas painted “Isaac Stern in Concert” on a door.

What does the door symbolize? Unfortunately, I am unable to ask Thomas myself. But if I had to guess, the use of this medium, just like every other use of liquid, solid, and texture in his other works, has a very specific purpose. Thomas’ door represents the metaphorical doorway through which Stern walked during his trip to China. A new world was reopening between East and West, between a culture recovering from cultural bondage to a new world of freedom and opportunity.

Not only does the door symbolize Stern’s impact on the arts, but Thomas’ influence, as well. Many said Thomas’ ideology was ahead of his time, and evident in all his work. Thomas’ inclusivity, admiration of women, and other progressive ideas were his brushstrokes of forward-thinking.

While he was in China, Stern told his students they were very technically talented, but their music lacked feeling. Thomas would also have understood this sentiment, because Conner said for her father, “feeling was as important as the style.” More than the physical artistry, if there is no soul and meaning behind it, the art cannot stand.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/arts/music/05barb.html

http://www.history.com/topics/cultural-revolution

 

 

 

 

Steffen Thomas Article: Steffen Thomas takes on Watergate

By: Amber Haywood

 

The ceramic sculpture Watergate: Nixon and his Gang, is representative of  Steffen Thomas’s reaction to the infamous Watergate scandal that marked Nixon’s presidency. The piece features five geese chiseled out of clay depicting former president Nixon, his former attorney general, Domestic Affairs  Advisor, a member of his White House Council, and his White House Chief of Staff. In the piece, Thomas offers a satirical view on the key players of Nixon’s presidency, expressing his mordant and forthright attitude toward the historic incident.

The Watergate scandal was the result of several members of President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign being caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents from the office of the Democratic National Committee (History.com Staff). The origin of the desperation from Nixon’s campaign members came from the country being deeply divided in 1972 with the United States involved with the Vietnam War. Nixon enacted an aggressive presidential campaign, which included members of his Committee to Re-Elect the President—also known as CREEP—breaking into the Democratic National Committees Watergate headquarters and stealing copies of top-secret documents and bugging office phones (History.com Staff).

One of the most notorious aspects about the Watergate scandal is Nixon’s equally aggressive efforts to cover the incident up. In August of 1972, he gave a speech in which he swore his White House staff was not involved in the break-in; with most voters believing his statement, he won the reelection by a landslide(History.com Staff). It was later revealed that not only did Richard Nixon arrange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in “hush money” be provided to the burglars, but him and his accomplices devised a plan create the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to impede the FBI’s investigation of the crime (History.com Staff). This turned out to be an abuse of presidential power and an obstruction of justice (History.com Staff).

In 1973—around the time conspirators related to the Watergate affair were getting convicted and Justice Department officials were resigning in protest of Nixon’s power abuse— Steffen Thomas was moving back to midtown Atlanta with his wife (Steffen Thomas Museum). Prior to this, he had bought 50 acres of land in Stone Mountain, Georgia for him and his family where he worked out of his at-home studio creating sculptures, statues, and various paintings (Steffen Thomas Museum). While in midtown Atlanta, he continued to work from his at-home studio where he created Watergate: Nixon and his Gang in 1974—the year of Nixon’s resignation (Steffen Thomas Museum). In the piece, the five main characters—Richard Nixon, John Mitchell, John Ehrlichman, John Dean, and H.R. Haldeman—are geese. Nixon has his ceramic wings around the others, with the necks of Nixon’s reelection committee (John Mitchell) and his Domestic Affairs Advisor (John Ehrlichman) protruding from the top of Nixon’s wings. According to the excerpt from the Steffen Thomas Museum about this piece, Mitchell and Ehrlichman can be referred to as his “wing men” and under his control, hence the reason they are directly under the sculpture’s wing (Steffen Thomas Museum). All of the geese in the sculpture have nooses around their necks and shackles around their feet as if the geese were imprisoned, or convicted, together. The back of the sculpture illustrates the three geese in the center having exposed bones, which Thomas accredits to representing those individuals being “picked clean by the media” (Steffen Thomas Museum).

The sculpture represents Steffen Thomas’s creative expression of what was going on between the president and his staff at the time of the Watergate scandal. Through molding clay, Thomas makes a statement about his opinion on the treatment and overall outlook on Richard Nixon, John Mitchell, John Ehrlichman, John Dean, and H.R. Haldeman from a foreign standpoint, being born in Germany, but also from the standpoint of a United States citizen— having been one for almost 5 decades prior. Thomas provides both a comical and matter-of-fact view to this historic event in Watergate: Nixon and his Gang.