ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Thomas McKnight is one of the biggest names in the art world. For three years he painted the White House Christmas card for the Clintons. Several books have been published on his work in the U.S. and Japan. He lives with his wife in Litchfield, Connecticut.

SPECIFICATIONS:

• 130 full-color illustrations
   

• 208 pages, 10" x 11"
   

• Hardcover with jacket

Regular Edition:
ISBN 0-86565-155-8
EAN 978086565155-5
US $50 CAN $70

RIGHTS: WORLD

PUB MONTH: MAY

Thomas McKnight's ARCADIA
Text by Francesco Colonna
From the Vendome Press

Thomas McKnight (b. 1941) is one of the most successful artists in the United States. Best known for his celestial interiors and landscapes of the world’s most beautiful places, his work has also explored an interior world he calls Arcadia—a place where nymphs linger by ancient springs, oracles speak, and angels fly. In a burst of creativity over the last decade, McKnight has developed a new style to depict these interior visions. The canvases are large, textured, and evoke the patina of ancient frescoes - and more than 100 of these new paintings are featured in this book, along with insightful commentary by Italian art critic Francesco Colonna.

Thomas McKnight's ARCADIA is a handsomely designed new monograph that will transport the reader to the paradise of the painter's imagination.

VENDOME
Thomas McKnight's Arcadia (May, $50) by Francesco Colonna discusses 130 paintings of an interior world called Arcadia, populated by Nymphs, oracles and angles.

New York, NY (November 3, 2005) -   Thomas F. McKnight, LLC of Litchfield, CT has announced that on November 1, 2005 the Appellate Division, First Department, State of New York unanimously affirmed and upheld the unanimous jury verdict that had been rendered in Mr.  McKnight’s  favor on February 4, 2004 in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York  in connection with a lawsuit brought against renowned artist Thomas McKnight (for an alleged breach of an artist-publisher agreement) by Mr. McKnight’s former publisher, Chalk & Vermilion of Greenwich, CT, the parent company of Martin Lawrence Galleries, owned and operated by David Rogath of Greenwich, CT.

Chalk & Vermilion had, until December 31, 2003, exclusively published Mr. McKnight’s limited edition prints for the preceding twenty (20) years. According to Mr. McKnight, the lawsuit primarily concerned Chalk & Vermilion’s contention, rejected by the jury in its unanimous verdict, that he had failed to make available to Chalk & Vermilion a sufficient number of paintings during the contract term “suitable” for reproduction as limited edition prints. According to Mr. McKnight, the parties disputed the meaning of the term “suitable,” and the jury concluded that the contract did not restrict Mr. McKnight’s style of artistic impression. In affirming the jury verdict, the appellate court determined that the trial evidence, fairly considered, permitted the jury to conclude that Mr. McKnight had met his contractual obligations to Chalk & Vermilion.

Now, for the first time, Polia Press, his new and exclusive agent and publisher, showed Thomas McKnight’s recent paintings and prints that take his work to a whole new level.  He has stepped over the magic threshold and made visible the nymphs, angels and gods that dwell in the enchanted world of his imagination.

McKnight’s paintings, prints and posters have brought delight to millions.  His dream-like interiors and landscapes have become classic images of our time – on display everywhere from the new Clinton Library in Little Rock (McKnight was commissioned by the Clintons to create the official White House Christmas card for three years running), to the walls of made-over rooms on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”, to countless homes and businesses.

McKnight was on hand to introduce his new paintings and prints along with a wide selection of earlier work at the Polia Press booth - his new and exclusive agent and publisher -  to meet his fans and clientele, and to sign posters and books.


As seen in the April Issue of Art World News, page 34

POLIA • PRESS

 

AS SEEN IN THE WEEKENDER
SECTION OF THE
NEW YORK TIMES

By SUSAN HODARA

Published: March 18, 2005

DRIVING the tree-lined streets of Litchfield, Conn., passing house after clapboard house painted in traditional New England white with black shutters, it can feel as if you're going back to the thriving town of Colonial times.

Litchfield is still thriving today, home to a vibrant town center that is not only quaint, tidy and attractive, but also lined with urbane shopping and dining options. There are boutiques, several antique shops and a gallery owned by the painter Thomas McKnight. Restaurants include a pizza parlor, the trendy 3W and West Street Grill, known to attract celebrities like Philip Roth and Ed Koch.

What you won't find, said Irina Sheinbrot, a retired university administrator who has been spending weekends in Litchfield with her husband, Stuart Sheinbrot, a Manhattan physician, since 1985, are high heels. "In our house, the floors are made of pine, and you can see the marks made by a large woman wearing heels during a concert we had here years ago," she said. "There are pockmarks from where the heels dug in. During the annual House Tours there are signs reading, 'No heels please.' "

Incorporated in 1719, Litchfield was a commercial and cultural center by 1810, when its population of 4,639 made it the fourth-largest settlement in the state. Litchfield today is more rural than suburban - it is now one of Connecticut's smallest towns, with less than twice its population of 200 years ago - a prosperous, hilly area with horse farms and homes that range from modest to majestic.

The town is marked by a "New England sensibility," Ms. Sheinbrot said. "People are not in your face," she said. "They don't mind driving beat-up cars or wearing sweaters with worn elbows. They don't discuss the value of their homes or what they've made in the market. There are no fancy jewels."

In 1791, Samuel Hopkins, a student at Litchfield Law School (in its 60 years of existence its students included Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun, each of whom became vice president of the United States), wrote that Litchfield was a town of "hard, active, reading, thinking, intelligent men." Barring the lack of gender consciousness, present-day Litchfield could be similarly described.

"There is a great spread of people, some whose names you know, some whose names you don't know," said William Ellis, an architect who spent weekends in Litchfield for 13 years until he and his wife, Jane Ellis, a former magazine editor, sold their Manhattan apartment and became full-timers in 2003. "All of them are accomplished, professional and terribly friendly."

The Ellises live in an 18th-century farmhouse on the Shepaug River in Milton, one of five villages that make up the town of Litchfield. Mr. Ellis described Litchfield as "a lively place that's still low-key."

"There is a rich social life, but you don't have to go out unless you want to," he said.

Those interested in outdoor activities have many options. The town has the 900-acre Bantam Lake, Connecticut's largest natural lake, and 4,000 acres of fields, water, woodlands and 35 miles of trails owned and protected by the 82-year-old White Memorial Foundation. Mount Tom State Park and Topsmead State Forest are nearby. The Litchfield Hills Road Race, a seven-mile run through town, is held each June. During the winter, skiers can go cross-country through White Memorial, or downhill at Mohawk Mountain, 15 minutes away in Cornwall.

Culture abounds, particularly in summer, when more than 100 artists display their works, and arts and crafts are shown in Gallery on the Green, held in conjunction with the Road Race. Also in June, Haight Vineyard in Litchfield sponsors Taste of Litchfield Hills, with wine tastings, winery tours and samplings from restaurants. The Litchfield Summer Jazz Festival is in in August.

In 1978, the entire village of Litchfield was designated a National Historic Landmark. Today, the Litchfield Historical Society leads walking tours through the village - this year's program begins next month - featuring 42 historic homes and buildings. The Beecher Homestead, which dates from 1775, is among the landmarks.

Although many houses are painted similarly, First Selectman Leo Paul Jr. said that no town ordinance dictates house color. "I suspect it's just the feel of the community," he said. "This is how residents want to present their homes."

The Litchfield village center makes the town stand out among its neighbors, offering a place to shop, dine and mingle with others. For Mrs. Sheinbrot, that means running into friends while doing errands or walking her dog. The Sheinbrots' 4,500-square-foot classical Georgian is on the village green. "I walk everywhere," she said. "I see people and stop to chat."

She described the town's residents as sophisticated, saying: "There are places in Connecticut where people tell you, 'I've never been to New York.' Here people are educated. They've lived elsewhere. They're professionals; they're smart and interesting."

Mr. Ellis praised municipal services, especially during the winter. "The roads are cleared so quickly, you hardly know it's snowed," he said.

The flip side of limited development is that shopping in larger stores requires a drive. "If you need a pair of baby shoes, you have to leave town," said John B. Fahey Jr., a real estate agent who grew up in Litchfield and is now owner of Fahey Associates on the village green. The closest multiplex cinema and shopping mall are in Torrington, five miles away.

Nevertheless, Stanley Cohen, a Manhattan lawyer who has owned a second home in Litchfield for 22 years, worries that development is inevitable. "There are more and more subdivisions," said Mr. Cohen, who with his wife, Barbara, owns a 200-year-old saltbox on 10 acres in Milton. "There's more traffic in town; it's hard to find a parking space. You hear people comment that they won't go into the village on weekends."

For Mrs. Sheinbrot, Litchfield's small-town intimacy can be overwhelming. "People know what time you get up and when you go to sleep because they look at your lights," she said. "You can't get lost here."

Her other complaint: the long winter. "By February, I'm sick of wearing my L L. Bean boots," she said. "I just want to see the ground again."

In 1716, the land that became Litchfield was purchased from Indians for £15. Today, the town is home to multimillion-dollar estates and attracts its share of affluent residents.

Mr. Fahey estimated a 30-to-40-percent rise in property values over the last five years. Houses in the town of Litchfield range from $225,000 to more than $3 million, with most houses in Litchfield village between $350,000 and $600,000. Mr. Fahey said that 30 to 35 percent of his real estate traffic consists of second-home hunters, with weekenders making up about 25 percent of Litchfield's population. Colleen Murphy, an agent with E. J. Murphy Realty (but not a relative) and owner of the Abel Darling Bed & Breakfast, both on the village green, concurred that in the last five years "home prices have been increasing steadily, and weekenders have been increasing very steadily."

Ms. Murphy noted a mix of weekenders: "There are young couples looking to get out of the city on weekends, families wanting some space and fresh air for their kids, and older couples enjoying their lives both in city and up here. People are looking for a peaceful, tranquil setting, and the L.I.E. is not where it's at."

For sale this week by Fahey Associates were a 4,574-square-foot, five-bedroom, 4.5-bath house, built in 1871 on eight-tenths of an acre within walking distance of the town center, for $1.1 million; a 4,118-square-foot five-bedroom, four-bath house, built in 1822 on 3.6 acres, with a pool, a greenhouse, and a barn, for $899,000; and a 2,564-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath ranch, built in 1995 on 8.5 acres bordering the White Memorial preserve, for $699,500.

Klemm Real Estate was offering a 6,078-square foot, five-bedroom, four-bath Colonial, built in 1773 on 2.2 acres, for $2,395,000; a 3,009-square foot, six-bedroom, four-bath Colonial, built in 1776 on 34.2 acres with barn outbuildings, for $1.25 million; and a 4,410-square foot, four-bedroom, three-bath contemporary, built in 1987 on 6.5 acres, for $649,000.

Thomas McKnight is back and Polia Press has him. The press is named after Polia, who was the muse of enlightenment in one of the world's most famous illustrated books published in fifteenth century Venice. It was noted for its woodcuts-still considered one of the masterpieces of graphic art.

In this tradition Polia Press will publish McKnight's new giclée serigraphs and silk screens - his first new prints for years. It will also publish (for the first time in ten years) a new book on McKnight's work to be released this fall. It is planned that McKnight, who for the past twenty or more years has been one of America's (and Japan's) leading artists, will eventually be joined at Polia Press by others at the highest end of the limited edition graphics market.

Thomas McKnight's work has been noted for its clear color and compositions that take the viewer away to a more perfect world. His new work continues in this tradition but adds surface texture to both paintings and prints.

Renate McKnight, who runs a gallery devoted to McKnight's paintings in the small New England town of Litchfield, Connecticut, will also be CEO of Polia Press and can be contacted at info@polia-press.com.

 

Duplicated with permission from the
At home with…section of the
Housatonic Home Magazine
August 2004 issue

ARTIST THOMAS MCKNIGHT, OPPOSITE WITH WIFE, RENATE,
AND THEIR DOG, SHADOW, IN THEIR COLONIAL REVIVAL
HOME IN LITCHFIELD.  ABOVE, SOME OF MR. MCKNIGHT’S
PAINTINGS ARE SEEN IN HIS GALLERY ON WEST STREET,
 “THE BEST - KEPT SECRET IN LITCHFIELD".


CAPTURING A WORLD
OF COLOR AND FANTASY

WRITTEN BY PAT CONWAY PHOTOGRAPHED BY AUTUMN PINETTE

When you view a Thomas McKnight painting or giclee print, it gently envelops you in an aura of soft grays, greens or lavenders, as in “The Ephesian Diana” or in the deep, warm hues of cobalt blue as in his “Manhattan Nocturne”, or the vibrant yellows in one of his newest works, “Glen Cove”.  Lean, angelic-looking creatures or mythological deities inhabit a number of his paintings while others capture a place – an apartment facing the Eiffel Tower as in “White Curtains”, or a quaint seaside village dotting a cliff in “New England Fantasay”.

Each painting contains a charming bit of mystery and magic – and that’s the way the Litchfield artist intends it.  “A painting can act as a matrix or a kind of blueprint, with which we can each build our house of dreams”, he says.  “It possesses a resonance, a sense of mystery about to be born but never quite revealing itself.”

Mr. McKnight paints his distinctive canvases in his third-floor studio in the Colonial Revival home he shares with his wife, Renate, and their dog, Shadow.  The multi-windowed studio, painted a crisp white, was featured in decorator Chris Madden’s book.  Getaways, Carefree Retreats for All Seasons.  Currently working on a dozen paintings with a mythology theme, Mr. McKnight keeps a huge collection of reference books nearby in the studio library.  An admitted “book freak”, he’s a frequent patron of The Strand Bookstore in New York City, where the couple keep an apartment.  Ten years ago, when they moved to their Litchfield home, which was designed in 1909 by the noted architect Cass Gilbert, they did extensive renovations.  They also imbued the rooms with their own passion for color.  The living room is richly done in a golden lemon while their library is warmly brushed with Pompeiian red in contrast to the dark bookshelves.  Since the McKnights travel two months out of the year and collect antiques, their home showcases their purchases such as the two large urn pots they brought back from Greece.  Mr. McKnight also collects icons and displays the religious images throughout the spacious rooms.

Born in Austria, Mrs. McKnight met her husband in Mykonos in 1979 (they were married a year later).  Possessing a wonderful eye for color, she has decorated their house in an elegant, classic style.  “That is my art form”, she says.  When they lived in Palm Beach, Florida, their own home, complete with a tropical pool house, was showcased in Florida Architecture magazine.

Entertaining comes easy for the Austrian-born Mrs. McKnight, who is also a licensed pilot and owns a small plane.  “I love to cook fresh, simple food”, she says in her expansive kitchen, which is a cook’s delight.  Complete with granite top counters and lots of island space, it’s big enough to hold an army of guests and offers easy access to the side gardens and backyard, which are in full bloom.

But for the past three years, Mrs. McKnight’s primary job is running the Thomas McKnight Gallery on West Street in Litchfield, which she jokingly refers to as “the best kept secret in Litchfield.”  Since it’s above Talbot’s clothing store, many people don’t realize that the gallery’s main entrance is in back.

“I work there in order for my husband to have 100 percent time to work in his studio,” she says.  “I’m very happy doing it.”  The Gallery contains the exclusive selection of her husband’s paintings and silkscreen prints.

Many visitors, when they first walk in, are surprised to see photos of President Bill Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY.  But for three years, beginning in 1994, the Clinton family who owned one of Mr. McKnight’s prints, commissioned the artist to design their official White House Christmas cards.  Mr. McKnight even included Shadow in each of the cards, which are framed and hang in the Gallery.

In 1992, President Ronald Reagan had Mr. McKnight design one in a series of Easter eggs, which is now housed in the Smithsonian Institution.  Works by the artist hang in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and can be found in corporate headquarters of companies such as Bank of America, General Electric and Reader’s Digest.

Born in Lawrence, Kansas, Mr. McKnight grew up in several locales.  When he was 13, his mother, an art major in college, gave him a set of oil paints.  His first endeavor featured a snowy castle on a hill.  Nurturing his talent, he went on to paint many scenes and at age 16, started selling his work to a local Long Island art shop for $40 to $60.  Mr. McKnight likes to joke that his artistic talent saved him from having to get a summer job.

After receiving a bachelors degree from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut (and spending his junior year in Paris), Mr. McKnight decided to pursue graduate study in art history at Columbia University.  In 1964, he left Columbia after changing his direction and took a job with Time magazine, starting out in the filing department and working his way up to writing advertising copy.  “I had Joseph Heller’s (Catch-22) old writing job,” Mr. McKnight recalls.

At that time, he also freelanced as art critic for the WBAI radio show, “Critical People”, and got to attend all the gallery openings in New York City.  “It made me ambitious to get started in my art,” he says.

On a vacation to Greece in 1970, the artist realized that spending his life working in business was not in his plan.

He stayed at Time two more years to save money and, armed with his profit-shares, he spent the summer on the Greek island of Mykonos, painting full-time.  Slowly, his work began to sell in America and Germany.  Meeting his wife, Renate, a business administration student who was vacationing on Mykonos, provided him with his muse and yielded the encouragement to pursue his dreams.

“I’ve never done what others do,” attests the artist.  “I paint a world parallel to this one with its own suns and moons where the creatures of my imagination live.  All my ideally realized paintings are Arcadias, examples of the harmony and beauty we spend all our lives striving for but never attain.”  Perhaps that is why Mr. McKnight’s paintings are so distinct, evoking a realm of romance and peace that people recognize.

“My husband has this inner life – this great sense of fantasy and color that customers respond to,” Mrs. McKnight adds.  “When he takes a brush to the canvas, he lets it flow.  There’s such a sense of color in his paintings – you almost want to eat it.”  The Thomas McKnight Gallery at 27-29 West Street (second floor), Litchfield, can be reached at 860-567-5571.  Gallery hours Memorial Day 2005 through December 2005 are Saturday and Sunday 1 - 5 PM, weekdays by appointment only.  Visit the website at www.thomasmcknight.com.
 

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