| Born Pensacola, Florida 1936. Resides in New York City 1967 |
| 1966 | University of Alabama, MFA |
| 1962 | University of Southern Mississippi BS |
| 2023 | Elizabeth Harris Gallery, NYC |
| 2023
2022 |
Scott Miller Projects, Birmingham, AL |
| 2022 | David Richard Gallery, Harlem and Chelsea, NYC |
| 2022 | Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, Tuscaloosa, AL |
| 2021 | Elizabeth Harris Gallery, NYC |
| 2018 | Elizabeth Harris Gallery, NYC |
| 2013 | Elizabeth Harris Gallery, NYC |
| 2012 | Sarah Moody Gallery, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL |
| 2011 | Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY; cat. essay Lance Esplund |
| 2009 | Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ |
| 2009 | Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY; catalogue essay by James Panero; with documentary film by Michael Feldman |
| 2009 | Sideshow Gallery, New York, NY |
| 2006 | Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY |
| 1993 | Andre Zarre Gallery, New York, NY |
| 1990 | Twining Gallery, New York, NY |
| 1988 | Gallerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, Sweden, Pensacola Museum of Fine Art, Pensacola, FL |
| 1986 | Oscarsson-Siegeltuch, New York, NY Millerville University Gallery, Millerville, PA |
| 1985 | Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami, FL, C.W. Woods Gallery, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS |
| 1984 | Oscarsson Hood Gallery, New York, NY |
| 1983 | Gallerie Nordenhake, Malmo, Sweden, Engstrom Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden |
| 1982 | Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY Galerie Gonet, Lausanne, Switzerland Eason Gallery, Santa Fe, NM Phoenix Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA |
| 1981 | Marianne Deson Gallery, Chicago, IL, Oscarsson Hood Gallery, New York, NY |
| 1980 | Oscarsson Hood Gallery, New York, NY, Gallerie Nordenhake, Malmo, Sweden |
| 1979 | 55 Mercer Street Gallery, New York, NY |
| 1971 | New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA |
| 1970 | Simonne Stern Gallery, New Orleans, LA |
| 1970 | Paley and Lowe, New York, NY |
| 1968 1967 | Henri Gallery, Washington, D.C. |
| 2022 | "Matter Of Fact: Thornton Willis & Bix Lye", Holland Tunnel Newburgh, Newburg, NY |
| 2001 | “Raising the Bar: James Little & Thornton Willis”, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY |
| 2023 | "On Balance", curated by Mary Birmingham, Art Cake, Brooklyn, NY |
| 2023 | David Richard Gallery, "Thornton Willis, Joan Thorne, and Dean Fleming, It Happened in Soho, 1969s to 80s", NY NY |
| 2019 | “New York Centric”, The Art Students League, NYC, curated by James Little, cat. essay Karen Wilkin |
| 2019 | “Freddy’s World” Fisher Parrish Gallery, NYC |
| 2018 | “This Must Be The Place”, 55 Walker Street, NYC |
| 2017 | "Post Millennial Tension”, Current Curators, Brooklyn, NY, curated by Aden & Ayers |
| 2013 | "Works of the Jenney Archive", �Gagosian Gallery, Madison Avenue, NY |
| 2011 | “Works on Paper” Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, NY, NY |
| 2011 | “It’s All Good/Apocalypse Now” Sideshow Gallery, New York, NY |
| 2010 | “Phenomenon” Holland Tunnel Gallery, Paris, Greece & NY, NY |
| 2010 | “It’s a Wonderful 10th” Sideshow Gallery, New York, NY |
| 2010 2009 | “Color-Time-Space” Lohin Geduld Gallery, New York, NY; Janet Kurnitowski Gallery New York, NY; Rosenberg Gallery, Hofstra University, Hempstead NY cat. Available, traveling show |
| 2009 | “Fifty Works for Fifty States: The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection” Milwaukee Arts Museum, Milwaukee, WI |
| 2009 | “Personal Geometry” Lori Bookstein Fine Art, New York, NY |
| 2008 | “Shape Shifters”, A.D. Gallery University of North Carolina at Pembroke curated by James Biederman. “Shape Shifters” New York Painters, Sideshow Gallery Williamsburg, NY |
| 2008 | “In Context: The Language of Abstraction Continues”, Henry St. Settlement |
| 2008 | Elizabeth Harris Gallery, Summer Group Show New York NY |
| 2008 | “Tribute to Esphyr Slobodinka” The Painting Center, New York, NY |
| 2008 | Union League, NYC, Auction (w/cat) for The New Criterion |
| 2007 | St. Joseph University, NJ American Abstract Artist’s Exhibition; E. Harris Gallery, NYC The Holland Tunnel Gallery, Paros Greece |
| 2006 | “Neoplastic Redux”, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY |
| 2006, 08, 11 | “New Criterion Benefit Auction”,Union League Club, New York, NY “The War is Over” Sideshow Gallery, New York NY |
| 2005 | “Optica Simulations” The Yellow Bird Gallery, Newburgh, NY |
| 2003 | The Spike Gallery, Green Chimney’s Auction & Benefit, New York, NY |
| 2002 | “Recent Acquisitions”, The Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, U. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, “Paintings”, The Space, New York, NY |
| 2001 | “New York Artists”, Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra Museum, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY,
curated by James Little; “Abstraction and Immanence”, Hunter College, NYC, curated by Vincent Longo |
| 2000 | Musee Cantonal Des Beaux-Arts DeLausanne, Switzerland R.Zaug“ American Abstract Artists, 1930-2000”, Hillwood Art Museum, NYC |
| 1999 | “The Art of Absolute Desire”, Gershwin Hotel, NY, curated by James Little “The Power of Drawing”, Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY |
| 1998 | “Absolut Secret”, David McKee Gallery, New York, NY “Abstract Index”, Condesco/Lawler Gallery, New York, NY, curated By Vincent Longo |
| 1997 | “Abstract Tendencies”, Rider College Gallery, Lawrenceville, NJ, Curated by D. Rosenthal, (catalog Rider University Press) |
| 1996 | “New York – Abstract”, New York Arts Magazine,NYC curator James Little |
| 1993 | “Small Paintings: Big Issues”, Douglas Drake Gallery, New York, NY “The Tradition”, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY |
| 1991 | “Abstract Paintings: the 90s”, Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY
Curated by Barbara Rose 1988 American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters, New York, NY “Dorothy Diener, Peter Voulkos, Thornton Willis”, Twining Gallery, New York, NY Oscarsson-Seigeltuch Gallery, Inaugural show, New York, NY |
| 1985 | Rose Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA |
| 1985 | “Affair of the Heart”, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY “Color
Abstraction in the 80s”, Baruch College, New York, NY Curated by
Katherine Crum “Abstract/Issues”, Tibor de Nagy, New York, NY, curated by Steven Madoff “Current Six: New Abstraction”, Milwaukee Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI, curated by G. Nordland |
| 1984 | “Ten Years of Contemporary Art”, G.E. Corporation, Fairfield, CT,
circulated by MOMA “An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture”, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, curated by Kynaston McShine, (catalog) inaugural exhibition |
| 1983 | “ARS 83”, Museum of Fine Art, Helsinki, Finland; Foster Goldstrom Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA |
| 1982 | Galerie Numaga, Neuchatel, Switzerland |
| 1981 | Galerie Arneson, Copenhagen, Denmark “New Art II: Surfaces/Textures”, The Museum of Modern
Art, NY, NY “Painting Up Front”, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, curated by Thomas Leavitt (catalog) “New Directions: A Corporate Collection”, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, (artists selected by Sam Hunter) “New York, Paper Works Show” Nina Freudenheim Gallery,Buffalo,NY |
| 1980 | “Seven Young Americans”, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY “Color Painting”, Gallery Engstrom, Stockholm, Sweden |
| 1979 | “American Painting: The Eighties”, Grey Art Gallery, New York, NY, curated by Barbara Rose |
| 2022 | Hyperallergic, John Yau, April 27, 2022, "Thornton Willis's Aversion to Perfection" New York Sun, Dana Gordon, April 10, 2022, "Thornton Willis: Illuminating the Future of Abstract Art. The Brooklyn Rail, Art Seen, Tom McGlynn, May, 2022, "Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey, Six Decades: 1967-2017 The New Criterion, The Critics Notebook, James Panero, April 12, 2022, also in print,May 2022, Gallery Chronicle, Vol 40, No 9, p.49, "Thornton Willis at David Richard Gallery." |
| 2012 | Thomas B. Harrison, 'Southern Abstraction', Mobile Press Register, June 01, 2012 |
| 2011 | James Panero “Gallery Chronicle” The New Criterion, Vol. 29, No.6,p.57 |
| 2009 | Lilly Wei, “Thornton Willis at Elizabeth Harris” Exhibition Reviews, “Art in America” Sept. 2009 #08 page 149 |
| 2009 | Thornton Willis, Melville Price: Works from the Sixties, Tom McCormick Gallery, Copyright 2009, Color Reproduction, essay, pp. 14-15 |
| 2009 | James Panero, Pilgrim’s Process, Catalogue Essay, Thornton Willis: The Lattice Paintings, March 2009 |
| 2008 | Lance Esplund, “The Met’s Memorable Year”, The New York Sun, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008, Arts & Letters, page 21 |
| 2007 |
James Panero, Critics Notebook, “ Comeback Kid”, Art & Antiques, Vol. xxx, No. 12, pp.
110-114 color repros. |
| 2006 | John Goodrich, Gallery Going “Black & White and Big All Over”, The
New York Sun, December 14, 2006 Channing Joseph, Arts & Letters, “Geometry In Color,” New York Sun, Making a Quantum Comeback” Tues. December 19, 2006 page 13 |
| 2005 | Naves, Mario, “A Shared Aesthetic and Goal, Raising the Bar at the
Sideshow”, New York Observer, April 18, p 8
Maine, Stephen, “Dateline Brooklyn, Artnet, April La Rocca, Ben, “Thornton Willis and James Little”, The Brooklyn Rail, April Lieb, Vered, “Thornton Willis and James Little: Raising the Bar”, N.Y Arts Magazine, Vol. 10, No 3/4, p71, March/April Lieb, Vered, “Thornton Willis and James Little”, Abstract Art on Line April |
| 2005 | Panero, James, “Gallery Chronicles”, The New Criterion, May, Vol 23, no 9, p50 |
| 2003 | Perl, Jed, “On Art: Unity and Variety”, The New Republic, Vol. 228, No
3, Issue 4593, Jan. 27 Kaufman, Leslie, “The Lost Legacy of Stewart Hitch”, The New York Times, The City, Section 14, Feb.2 |
| 2001 | Morgan, Robert C., “Painted in New York City: The Presence of the Past" catalog essay published by Hofstra University for “Painted In New York City”, Jan. |
| 1999 | Lieb, Vered, “The Art of Absolute Desire”, N.Y. Arts Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 8, pp50-1 |
| 1997 | Rosenthal, Deborah, “Abstract Tendencies”, Rider University Press |
| 1994 | Scott, Sue, “Reviews: New York”, ARTnews, Feb., p143 Lloyd W., Ann “Review of Exhibitions”, Art in America, May p112 |
| 1993 | Perl, Jed, “Code Name Painting” The New Criterion, Dec., Vol.12 No 4 |
| 1986 | Lieb, Vered, “Objective Spirit: Thornton Willis”, Arts Magazine, Nov. |
| 1985 | Heartney, Eleanor, “Thornton Willis as Oscarsson Hood”, ARTnews,
Gaugh, Harry T., “Franz Kline: The Man and the Myth”, ARTnews, Dec. |
| 1984 | Carrier, David, “Betwixt and Between Illusion and Literality: Thornton
Willis’ Recent Paintings”, p194, Nov. Rosenthal, Deborah, “First Underground Show,” Art in America, Nov., p157-8 |
| 1983 | Madoff, Steven, “Looking for Thornton Willis: A Treatise”, Arts Magazine, March, cover and pp16-118 |
| 1981 | Murray, Jesse, Flash Art, Jan. Masheck, Joseph, “Abstract Identity: Thornton Willis”, Oct., pp126-131, reproductions pp. 126, 129, 130 |
| 1980 | Cornu, Daniel, “La Peinture Abstraite en Question”, Tribune De Geneve,
Dec. 16, 1980, p27
Parks, Addison, Arts Magazine, Dec., p53 Ratcliff, Carter, “55 Mercer St. Show”, Art in America, March, p116 Frackman, Noel, “The Paintings of Thornton Willis”, Arts Magazine, Nov., pp58-60 |
| 1979 | Feldman, Anita, “Space and Subjectivity”, Artforum, Sept., pp49-53
Boyce, David, “Interview with Thornton Willis”, Arts Magazine, Nov., |
| "Thornton Willis: Interviews and Essays, 165 pp., 320 full color reproductions, copyright 2018, Library of Congress Control No: 20179954106,ISBN 978-0-9906194-8-2, Greenpoint Press Art Books, Greenpoint Press, 200 Riverside Boulevard, Suite 32E, New York, NY 10069 |
| Tom Armstrong, A Singular Vision: Architecture Art Landscape, Copyright 2011, Library of Congress Catalogue Card #978-1-59372-043-8 Frontispiece pp.1, 207 Printed by Quantuck Lane Press, NY, Distributed by W.W. Norton and Company, NY |
| Carrier, David, “The Aesthete in the City; The Philosophy and Practice of American Abstract Painting in the 1980s,” The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park Pennsylvania, 1994, Chapters 10 (p188) and 13 (p 225) |
| Clayton, Alec, As If Art Matters: Reviews and Commentary, Clayton Works, Olympia, WA. copyright 2004, cover image, “Thornton Willis,” pp33-5 |
| Belamy, Peter, The Artists Project: Portrait of the Real Art World: New York Artists 1981-1990, introduction by Neil Printz, IN Publishing, NY, NY, 1991 |
| Masheck, Joseph, “Historical Present: Essays of the 1970s,” Contemporary American Art Critics, No. 3, edited by Donald Kuspit, UMI Research Press, Michigan, 1984, Chapter 22, pp249-257, “Thornton Willis and Abstract Identity” |
| 2004 | Southern Mississippi College of Arts and Letters, Wall of Fame |
| 2001 | The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Painting Fellowship |
| 1991 | Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Fellowship |
| 1984 | National Endowment for the Arts, Printmaking Fellowship |
| 1980 | National Endowment for the Arts, Painting Fellowship |
| 1979 | John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Painting Fellowship |
| Marywood University | Scranton, PA |
| The University of Alabama | Tuscaloosa, AL |
| The Art Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL |
| Florida State University | Tallahassee, FL |
| Carnegie-Melon University | Pittsburgh, PA |
| Louisiana State University | Baton Rouge, LA |
| Louisiana State University | New Orleans, LA |
| New York University | New York, NY |
| Pratt Institute | New York, NY |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ |
| S.U.N.Y. | Purchase, NY |
| University of Nebraska | Omaha, NE |
| Florida State University | Tallahassee, FL |
| University of Southern Mississippi | Hattiesburg, MS |
| Wagner College | Staten Island, NY |