Thornton Dial, Jr.

Thornton Dial Jr. (born 1952) is a contemporary African-American painter, sculptor, and assemblage artist living and working in Bessemer, Alabama. He is the eldest son of prolific modern artist, Thornton Dial Sr. His work is best identified by its bold, evocative political and social commentary.

Life Thornton Dial Jr., also known as "Little Buck," is the eldest son of Thornton Dial Sr. and Clara Mae Murrow. Dial attended William A. Bell High School through the eleventh grade. He married Angela Campbell in April 1972 and together they had one son and one daughter. After they divorced in 1981, Dial remarried Angela Jackson in April 1986. Together they raised one son, one daughter, and one stepdaughter.

Dial and his brothers, Richard and Daniel, grew up surrounded by a creative extended family. Dial's uncle, Arthur, and cousin, Ronald Lockett, were also artists who influenced and were influenced by Thornton Dial Sr. and his inspired children.

After high school, Dial worked for a construction company in the Bluff Park area of Birmingham, roughly twelve miles away from Bessemer. After eight years of working in construction, he began working at the Pullman Standard Company where he learned to bend and shape metal. Many Dial men worked for Pullman and it was their experiences working with industrial materials that inspired their artistic methods.

Dial often uses animals as a stand-in for human subjects in his work. Lions are his symbol for black men in Africa, such as King of Africa, or those in positions of authority, such as Three Lions (Honoring Dr. King and the Kennedy's). However, Dial typically portrays working class black men in America as gorillas. Living Traditions: Southern Black Folk Art. 17 Aug.- 27 Oct. 1991, The Museum of York County, Rock Hill, SC. Give Me a Louder Word Up: African American Art. 10 Jul.- 22 Aug. 1992, Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver CO. Negritude. 20 May- 25 Jul. 2009, Exit Art, New York. Expressions Unbound: American Outsider Art from the Andrew and Linda Safran Collection. 29 Aug.- 16 Dec. 2018, The Tufts University Art Galleries, Boston, MA. What Carried Us Over: Gifts from the Gordon W. Bailey Collection. Sep 13, 2019 - Apr 18, 2020. Pérez Art Museum Miami, FL.

Collections Dial's work exists in the following museums' permanent collections:

Fine Art Museum of San Francisco American Folk Art Museum Ogden Museum of Southern Art National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC Pérez Art Museum Miami