Steffen Thomas

Steffen Wolfgang George Thomas (January 7, 1906 – January 27, 1990) was an artist and poet. He was born in Fürth, Germany, but lived most of his adult life in Atlanta, Georgia. His most notable pieces are public monuments; however, he also worked in other media (including, but not limited to painting, sculpture, mosaic, printmaking, encaustic, and watercolor). His art is greatly influenced by Expressionism.

History and background

Thomas was born in 1906 in Fürth, Germany. He expressed a strong passion for art from an early age. After Thomas's father witnessed his son carving angel faces in the marble foundation of their home, he later apprenticed Thomas to a stone carver, providing Thomas a useful skill, but also a creative outlet to cultivate his artistic talents.

Following his apprenticeship, Thomas was accepted to the School of Applied Arts, Nuremberg, and then to the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. His focus was drawing and sculpture based on the classical model. Thomas achieved “Master” status at age twenty-one and was given his own studio. In 1931 Thomas created a bust of journalist Henry W. Grady which became the central display of the Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame.

A few houses down from Thomas lived a school teacher named Sara Douglass. Thomas was introduced to Douglass through her mother over a conversation about gardening, and after a two-month courtship they were married (1933) at Fulton County Courthouse. Thomas briefly returned to Germany after his move to America, but did not visit again until 1972. While his family remained in Germany, Thomas found his artistic life belonged in his adoptive country and he became an American citizen in 1935.

In 1941, Sara and Steffen purchased fifty acres near Stone Mountain, Georgia, and subsequently built a home and artist studio. The couple raised four children, Steffen, Robin, Douglass, and Lisa. Thomas continually worked on the complex by hand, and it became a popular destination, visited by friends, family, and tourists.

From his days at the academy, Thomas did not take criticism well. He lost a Palm Beach commission when he substituted his own imagery in place of the Gothic specifications of the patron. He was notoriously hypersensitive to gallery owners, collectors, and patrons that did not appreciate his art. Thomas had a distinct artistic vision that was difficult to change once he set his mind to creating. Art Historian Anthony Janson comments on Thomas's attitude toward his art, “What better way to shield one’s work (and oneself) from criticism that to avoid the confrontation altogether by keeping all but true believers from seeing it?”

In 1970, Thomas returned to a midtown Atlanta studio, selling his Stone Mountain estate. He continued his work until his death with the same passion and intensity from his student days. thumb

Thomas admitted that as a young man he did not understand the importance of the Expressionists’ vision, but later in life he fully recognized the influence of the movement on his own work.

Thomas had an affinity for representing the female form in his art. Dorothy Joiner notes the “preponderance of female subjects [in Thomas’s art]: goddesses, nudes, mothers, contemporary celebrities…famous women from literature, unidentified girls.”

Thomas was enraptured by the feminine form from his earliest artistic period. As a student, Thomas was asked to create the highest form of labor, in which he responded by creating a mother and child figure, calling it Laboré (1927–28). Laboré represents Thomas's respect and admiration for motherhood and the relationship between a mother and child. This theme reoccurs throughout Thomas's artistic career.

Due to Thomas's use of symbol and abstraction, Alan Aiches places him stylistically and philosophically between the movements of Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter, two generations of German art. Aiches writes the following: “When viewing and contemplating the works of the early twentieth century German Expressionists, I feel the same intense and simultaneous infusion of philosophy and craft that is so apparent in Thomas’ sculpture and painting.”

Thomas worked in various media: watercolor, sculpture, encaustic, welded copper, mosaic, and drawing to name a few, but he also repeatedly created frames for his pieces. The carvings incorporated mosaics and mixed media, and often were recycled from discarded objects. The desire to make frames correlated with Thomas’s need to experiment and manipulate materials. He also added natural elements such as sand to his works to create dimension and depth.

Janson describes Thomas’s style: “There is a consistent artist personality at work, even though his output is extremely varied. It shows an endless fascination with the possibilities to be explored in different media, whose techniques he set out to master with real virtuosity. This was, by all accounts, a counterpart to his innate curiosity. More generally, it was tied to the unfolding of his imagination, which took place in the peace of self-imposed isolation.”

Thomas's art has achieved numerous awards and honors throughout the state of Georgia, such as Atlanta Beautiful Commission, Award for Excellence from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission, and the Governor's Award in the Arts. His art can be found in the collections at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens; the Georgia Capitol Museum, Atlanta; the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon; and Lamar Dodd Center, Lagrange.

The Steffen Thomas Museum of Art’s mission is “dedicated to providing art education programs and projects for children and families in rural Northeast and Middle Georgia communities. Using Georgia artist Steffen Thomas's work as examples of creative expression the museum provides opportunities for children to develop their own talents, a deeper understanding of themselves, of their connections to all living things and of their responsibility for preserving the environment.”

Elizabeth d’Huart, previous Director of the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, writes of the artist: “Thomas’s early work is classical in style, particularly his sculptures in cast bronze, reflecting his rigorous European training. As the years passed, his style evolved, becoming looser and more interpretive, moving from realistic to expressionist exuberance. His mosaics and watercolors convey his passion for light and color, and his sculptures provide excellent examples of captured and arrested motion…His interest in politics, philosophy, and religion are evidenced by themes and motifs that are represented and repeated in a multiplicity of genres and mediums.”