Robert Thornton on exhibition at Bert Gallery through March.

Click Here to View Selection from Thornton Inventory Online

Podcast Interview with Robert Thornton

A discussion of his work, his influences, and his time at Rhode Island School of Design.

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About Robert Thornton:

He gave up RISD lens to focus on his own canvas
By Bill VanSiclen, Providence Journal, 1999.

The artist: Robert Thornton, 74.

What he does: painter, photographer
Where he’s been: Born and lives in Providence.
Attended the Rhode Island School of Design.

Man of Mystery: Thornton is a perfect candidate for one of those “Do you know me?” commercials. Though he’s lived in Providence most of his life, and though he’s painted professionally since the mid-1950s, he hasn’t had a gallery show in more than a decade. At the same time, anyone who follows the Rhode Island art scene has probably seen his work.

Who is this mystery man? He’s the former staff photographer for the RISD Museum. “I just kind of fell into it,” Thornton says of the job he held from 1957 to 1992. “I was working as a research assistant when the job opened up. I took it thinking it was a good temporary job. I wound up staying 35 years.”

Painting at night: During the day, Thornton took pictures for posters, catalogs and other museum publications. Then, at night, he’d head back to his studio. “I was always painting,” he says.

But exhibiting was another matter. After winning several awards in the 1960s and ’70s, Thornton decided to stop showing his work. “I just ran out of steam,” he says. His brightly colored paintings pay their respects to many of Thornton’s heroes, including Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, as well as RISD painters such as Gordon Peers and John Frazier.

Artist’s Statement

My motivation has not so much been the study of the craft of painting, but rather exploring the phenomenon of composing. The challenge is not what to paint but, as always, how to paint it. There is no proscribed process- one invents and reinvents the process as new discoveries emerge. It’s a matter of composting and performing simultaneously. As the painter Milton Avery once said, “Painting is like turning corners. You don’t know what’s there until you get there.”

Every week new works of art come to the gallery and are inventoried and photographed. Some pieces go into scheduled theme exhibits while others are installed in the Studio Collection. To give you an insider’s view at some of these pieces here is a Bert Gallery Inventory Spotlight!

Jeff Margolin
Terracotta Covered Pot
18″ x 9″ x 9″
$850.

Jeff Margolin has worked for over twenty-five years to hone his prodigious technique with porcelain and terra cotta. Margolin’s labor intensive process consists of building the forms up with strips of clay and then meticulously carving into the damp clay before the piece is burnished and fired. An evolution of his forms can be seen in Terracotta Covered Pot, in which the carvings have been integrated into the sculpture. Furthermore, Margolin uses the detailed carvings to complement and echo the gentle curves of the flawlessly smooth surface making “a convincing transition between rough and smooth,” (Channing Gray, Providence Journal 2000).

Traditional pots such as this exemplifies Margolin’s technical proficiency, however his talent for combining sculpture and carving is undeniable. “Margolin’s porcelain and terracotta sculptures make for a fascinating show of form and craft,” (Providence Journal Review, May 2000). Margolin’s work embodies the life and energy of nature, melding technical mastery with mature artistic passion.

Margolin has taught ceramics at both University of California at Berkeley and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work has been shown at galleries in Rhode Island, California, and New Mexico.

Margolin’s Process

Margolin constructs his pots either on a wheel or by hand, then draws a design on the clay with a needle and continually carves the design as the pieces dry. He then burnished them with a stone and fires them using a variety of methods. Margolin states that he attempts to “create a sense that the surface of the pieces are a thin skin with the cared interior breaking through at critical points.

Using a low-fire clay, Margolin places human hair and sawdust into the porcelain, which creates veins in the surface. This gives the porcelain fine surface details that look completely natural within the porcelain. Because his work is low-fired, his pieces can be scratched, which also gives them an extra delicacy, and require the dame care one would afford a painted canvas.

Every week new works of art come to the gallery, they are inventoried and photographed. Some paintings go into scheduled theme exhibits while others are installed in the Studio Collection. To give you a sneak preview of some of the paintings that are new to inventory we will send out this e-mail blast to keep you up to date!

S.R. Burleigh (1853-1931)
Crèche
$2,200.

This nativity scene was produced and hand painted by S.R. Burleigh. An artist of many talents, Burleigh was involved with a small toyshop on Benefit Street. It is unclear if this crèche was produced for the toyshop or as a private gift. There are seven figures and seven animals - all are hand stamped on each piece.

Biography - S.R. Burleigh (1853 - 1931)

Burleigh spent his boyhood years in Little Compton. He married Sarah Drew Wilkinson in 1875. With her encouragement, he became a full-time artist at age 25. Sarah’s wealth enabled Burleigh to study painting in Paris with Paul Laurens in the first years of their marriage. Upon his return to Providence in the 1880’s, Burleigh became an active member of the Providence Art Club. In addition to being a well-loved Providence artist, he was one of the most prominent civic leaders in the city.

Burleigh’s watercolors can be described as reminiscent of George Inness. Burleigh was known for perfection of line, exquisite balance, delicate and sensitive use of color and the overall poetic feeling of his painting. Mabel Ducasse, art critic for the Providence Journal, wrote of his 1929 Providence Art Club show: “There is a quality in his work which suggests that of the masters of the Renaissance when they chose to employ line and wash. It is character — born of perfect certainty of touch and flowing freedom of line. It is seldom achieved by modern watercolorists, who most often mistake the function of their medium, which is that of drawing rather than painting.”

Burleigh earned national recognition when he won the Bronze medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, and the open prize from the Buffalo Society of Artists in 1913. By 1929 he was considered one of the country’s leading watercolorists. Many prestigious art institutions chose to exhibit his works, solidifying his distinguished reputation. Burleigh was a multifaceted artist, an accomplished builder and furniture designer as well as a painter. Along with fellow artists C. Stetson and J. Aldrich he was responsible for the construction of the Fleur de Lys building on Thomas Street, the first building ever built specifically to house artist studios.

The painter H.A. Dyer wrote, “S.R. Burleigh has perhaps done more to make Providence fond of painting than any other source.” (1914). Burleigh’s personal charm attracted many friends and patrons to his art, but, more importantly, he will be best remembered for his keen artistic sense in decorative design, color and composition.

Every week new works of art come to the gallery, they are inventoried and photographed. some paintings go into scheduled theme exhibits while others are installed in the Studio Collection. To give you a sneak preview of some of the paintings that are new to inventory we will send out this e-mail blast to keep you up to date!

H.A. Dyer
1872 - 1943
Gouache, 15″ x 11″
Sorrento, Italy
Port Town in Naples, Southern Italy

Few Rhode Island artists enjoyed the popularity and patronage that H. Anthony Dyer has in present day and during his lifetime. A descendant of the art inclined Hoppin family, Dyer graduated from Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. No one instructor dominated in Dyer’s tutelage, rather it was the school of the “Old-style English method of watercolor painting” which the artist adopted. He was very adept at using both gouache and transparent washes on gray/earth toned watercolor sheets. This technique the artist considered paramount to his successfully rendered watercolors. The artist was quite successful in selling his work at annual Providence Art Club and Tilden and Thurber shows. Yearly sojourns to Italy, France, and England provided him with popular subject matter for Rhode Islanders unable to travel abroad. Dyer exhibited throughout the country during his lifetime, including such locations as Cleveland, Chicago, Denver, Rochester, Syracuse, Fall River, Madison and Providence. Today his works can be found at the Providence Art Club, Rhode Island Historical Society, Rhode Island School of Design and Corcoran Gallery.