Steffen Thomas

BIOGRAPHY

1906 - 1990

STEFFEN THOMAS (1906 – 1990)

Steffen Thomas was born in 1906 in Fürth, Germany. By age 14 he showed talent as a sculptor and was apprenticed to a stone carver, and by 16, his level of accomplishment allowed him part time work sculpting WWI monuments. He attended the School of Applied Arts in Nurnberg for two years, followed by four years at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. There he established himself as a sculptor of note, was granted a studio and awarded “Master” status at the age of 21.

Infatuated by ‘the American Dream’, Thomas left for America at age 22 and found a job in Palm Beach, Florida, copying classical sculptures for the E.F. Hutton Estate (now Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.) After a return visit to Germany, he lived briefly in Alabama before settling in Atlanta in 1930. Here he quickly gained recognition for his talent and made a living as a full time artist doing bust commissions of influential people, public art projects, and exhibitions; including at the Telfair Academy, Savannah; The High Museum, Atlanta; The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and St. John’s Museum of Art (now Cameron Art Museum) in Wilmington, NC. His work is featured in numerous institutional collections and, subsequent to his death, has been shown in several dedicated exhibitions around the country and in five retrospective museum shows.

Thomas married Sara Douglass in 1933, becoming a citizen in 1935. In 1941 he bought acreage in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and built a home, studio and bronze casting foundry. Here, he created some of his greatest public sculptures; the monumental statue of Governor Eugene Talmadge, on the grounds of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, and the Alabama Memorial, located in the Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi. From 1955 onward, he followed his muse and created personal Expressionist art. It is this work that forms the basis for his continuing legacy as an artist; displaying the depth of his originality, exuberant creativity and experimentation with different mediums. Thomas was a truth-seeker with a high level of inspiration and his work reflects a recurring humanist theme of “the brotherhood of man.”

In 1973 Thomas retired to midtown Atlanta, working from a studio in his home until his death in 1990. The Steffen Thomas Museum of Art in Buckhead, GA commemorating the artist’s life and work opened in 1997, fulfilling Sara Douglass Thomas’s dream to see a museum dedicated to her husband.

The museum is open to the public. www.steffenthomas.org

Public Collections; Awards and Exhibitions; 1920’s - Present

1920’s

Glaspalast (Glass Palace), Munich, invited to exhibit his sculpture many times
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Award of Excellence for Laboré, a sculpture of a mother and children

1930's

Alabama College (Univ. of Montevallo), Montevallo, AL, Dr. O. C. Carmichael, bust
Auburn University, Auburn, AL, Gov. Bibb Graves, bust
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Dr. George Denny, bust
University of Georgia School of Journalism, Athens, GA, Henry Grady, bust
Emory University Law School, Atlanta, Judge John S. Candler, bronze bust
Atlanta Public Library, Atlanta, Dr. Wallace Sutton, bust
Georgia State Capitol Rotunda, Atlanta, Moina Michael, The Poppy Lady, marble bust
Berry College Museum Collection, Rome, GA, Martha Berry, marble bust
Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, AL, George Washington Carver, bronze bust
Piedmont Park Collection, Atlanta, Pioneer Women, bronze plaque
High Museum, Atlanta, exhibition
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, Crawford W. Long , bronze plaque

1940's

National Youth Administration, Georgia, Plow Boy and Youth, monumental plaster sculptures
Georgia State College for Women, Milledgeville, GA, Chief Justice Richard B. Russell, bronze bust
State Capitol Building, Atlanta, US Senator Hoke Smith, bronze plaque
University of Georgia, Athens, GA, Chancellor Charles M. Snelling, bronze bust
University of Georgia Sanford Stadium, Athens, GA, Chancellor S. V. Sanford, bronze bust
Scottish Rite Hospital, Decatur, GA, Dr. Michael Hoke, bronze plaque
State Capitol Building, Atlanta, Charles H. Herty, bronze bust
Atlanta University, Atlanta, Dr. John Hope, bronze bust
Young Harris College, North Georgia, Dr. Joseph A. Sharp, bronze bust
Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, Joel Chandler Harris, bronze plaque
Agnes Scott, Decatur, GA, Miss Nanette Hopkins, white marble bust
Georgia Military Academy, College Park, GA, Col. And Mrs. Woodward, bronze busts
State Capitol Grounds, Atlanta, Eugene Tallmadge Memorial, colossal bronze sculpture

1950's

Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, MS, Alabama Memorial, bronze on granite base
Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, MS, General John Forney, colossal bronze
Alabama State Capitol, Montgomery, AL, Alabama Memorial, bronze scale model
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Henry Lineberger, bronze bust
Courthouse, Vienna, GA, Senator Walter F. George, bronze bust
Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, exhibited
High Museum, Atlanta, Southeastern Art Show, exhibited
Sculptor’s Society, NYC, exhibited
Fulton National Bank Lobby, Atlanta, Robert Fulton, Fulton Steamboat, and Atlanta City Hall, cast aluminum murals
West Point Military Academy Collection, West Point, NY, Class of 1915 Monument
State Capitol Building, Atlanta, Governor John M. Slaton, bronze bust

1960’s

Emory University, Atlanta, exhibition
Jens Rison, Decorative Arts Center, Atlanta, exhibition
High Museum of Art Permanent Collection, Atlanta, St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio, bronze

1970's

Lord and Taylor Art Gallery, Atlanta, exhibition
Agnes Scott College Permanent Collection, Decatur, GA, Mother and Child, over life size marble, selection of small sculptures and paintings
Fulton County Roswell Library Grounds, Roswell, GA, Reclining Madonna and Child, marble sculpture
Callanwolde Arts Center Permanent Collection, Atlanta, Bird of Prey, limestone carving; Girl on a Motorcycle, limestone carving; and selected paintings
Dodd Art Center Permanent Collection, LaGrange College, LaGrange, GA, selected paintings, drawings, and prints
Ty Cobb Museum Permanent Collection, Royston, GA, Ty Cobb, drawing
Museum of Arts and Sciences Collection, Macon, GA, selected sculptures, paintings and drawings
Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA, exhibition
City of Atlanta Collection and Urban Design Award, Trilon, welded copper fountain sculpture
Warm Springs Hospital Campus, Warm Springs, GA, FDR, monumental concrete head
Museum of the City of Mobile Permanent Collection, Mobile, AL, Alabama Memorial, plaster model
St. Johns Museum of Art, Wilmington, NC, exhibition

1980's

St. Johns Museum of Art, Wilmington, NC, Freedom of the Figure, traveling exhibition
Bryant Galleries, New Orleans and Jackson, MS, exhibitions
St. Johns Museum of Art Permanent Collection (now Cameron Art Museum), Wilmington, NC, selected works
Albany Museum of Art Permanent Collection, Albany, GA, Sowing the Seeds, painting
Southern Company, Steffen Thomas selected as feature artist for a national ad campaign
Gwinnett Council for the Arts Permanent Collection (Hudgens Center for the Arts), Duluth, GA, selected sculpture and paintings
Georgia Governor’s Award in the Arts, for lifetime achievement in the arts

1990's

Gwinnett Fine Arts Center (Hudgens Center for the Arts), Duluth, GA, exhibition
Hudgens Center for the Arts Sculpture Garden, Duluth, GA, St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio, welded copper
Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, Buckhead, GA, established by Sara Douglass Thomas
Publication of Art of Steffen Thomas, by Alan Aiches and Anthony Janson, catalogue for traveling exhibition.
Broome Street Gallery, NYC, Art of Steffen Thomas, exhibition
SCAD, Savannah, GA, exhibition

2000's

Lauren Rodgers Museum, Laurel, MS, Art of Steffen Thomas, exhibition
Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA, exhibition
Hudgens Center for the Arts, Duluth, GA, exhibition

2010's

Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, Buckhead, GA, series of exhibitions curated by Andrew and Hathia Hayes
Madison-Morgan Cultural Center, Madison, GA, ‘Scapes, exhibition
Plaza Arts Center, Eatonton, GA, exhibition
Harrison Center for the Arts, Athens Academy, Athens, GA, exhibition
Publication of Steffen Thomas: Rediscovered, published by Ogden Museum of Southern Art, essays by Alan Aiches, Andrew and Hathia Hayes, Anthony Janson, and Robert Ware, edited by Andrew and Hathia Hayes, catalogue for traveling exhibition
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, Steffen Thomas: Rediscovered, exhibition
The Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA, Steffen Thomas: Rediscovered, exhibition
2017 TEW Galleries Salon Show, Atlanta, GA
2017 Steffen Thomas, A Legacy in Atlanta. City Sponsored exhibition & panel discussion on the artist’s public art legacy in Georgia. Followed by, on August 24^th, the Steffen Thomas Museum’s 20^th Anniversary exhibition.

Biography

1906

Fürth, Bavaria, Germany, born on January 7, 1906

1920 - 1923

Fürth, Bavaria, Germany, Apprenticed as stone carver - sculptor

1924

School of Applied Arts, Nürnberg, Germany (Nuremberg), completed courses in Drawing and Sculpture under the tutelage of Professors Widmer and Rumelin.

1925 - 1928

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Germany, studied Classical Sculpture with Professors Herman Hahn, Joseph Wakerle, and Bernhard Bleeker
Munich Technical School and University of Munich Medical School, studied architecture and anatomy
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Germany, awarded Master Student status and a Certificate of Recognition in 1927.
Munich, Germany, Glaspalast (Glass Palace), exhibited regularly and won awards for sculpture, when his art was displayed with works by Modern Art Masters, such as Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Munch

1928

Came to the USA to work as a sculptor on Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach estate of E. F. Hutton and Marjorie Merriweather Post. (Estate now owned by Donald Trump, who operates it as the Mar-a-Lago Club)

1929

Returned to Germany briefly, and then came back to USA to establish himself as a sculptor.
Completed several portrait commissions in Alabama

1930

Opened his first professional studio in Atlanta, GA, established himself as a sculptor, and began receiving commissions for public sculpture.

1933

Married Sara Douglass, a City of Atlanta school teacher.

1935

Became an American Citizen

1939-1941

National Youth Administration (NYA), under the WPA in Georgia, art supervisor

1941-1972

Moved from Atlanta to Stone Mountain, GA, raised four children, built large studio, house and sculpture garden
Completed many public sculptures, several on monumental scale
By mid 1950’s began devoting himself to creative art, working in many media

1973-1989

Moved with his wife Sara back to Atlanta
Continued to work on a smaller scale in sculpture, painting, drawing and printmaking

1990

Died on January 27, 1990