Apollo’s Mirror: Recent Art by Thomas McKnight Mattatuck Museum 2023

Apollo’s Mirror: Recent Art by Thomas McKnight creates a world of myth and fantasy. Thomas McKnight, who lives and works in Litchfield, CT, is inspired by stories and characters from Greek and Roman mythology, which he reflects through his own perspective and artistic sensibility. Gods, nymphs, and mortals enact famous episodes from ancient myth alongside scenarios of McKnight’s own imagination within colorful, Mediterranean-inspired landscapes.

This new body of work, says McKnight, “grew out of a desire for more depth and spiritual richness than was possible in the interiors and landscapes devoid of people for which I became more well-known.” He keeps a sketchbook to record his ideas when they appear to him – usually out of the blue – and then he works in charcoal on canvas until the composition feels right. When he is ready to apply paint, like a reverse archaeologist he often trowels on gels mixed with sand, volcanic ash, and crushed garnets to create a surface akin to an ancient wall. Using matte acrylics and old, stiff brushes, he applies paint, “battling with the rough surfaces to create deep textures… and at the end using smaller, softer brushes to add detail.” For McKnight, his paintings reflect the “harmony and beauty we spend our lives striving for, but never attaining – what the ancient Greeks called pothos.”

“I often don’t know what a painting means specifically,” says McKnight, “but I know it means something, because it possesses a resonance, a sense of mystery about to be born but never quite revealing itself.” McKnight’s vision of mythological creatures and faraway landscapes provide a passport to another time and place.

The range of settings that Thomas McKnight paints reflects the many places that shaped his life and career. Born in 1941 in Lawrence, Kansas, McKnight first settled in Connecticut while studying art at Wesleyan University in Middletown. After several years working corporate jobs in New York City, a vacation in Greece inspired him to reconnect with his artistic passion.

Over the years, McKnight became well-known for his peaceful interior scenes and landscapes. His fame was solidified in the 1990s when the Clinton administration asked McKnight to create the White House Christmas card for three years. Now settled in Litchfield, CT, McKnight and his Austrian-born wife, Renate, have converted the top floor of their house into an artist studio. There, among his books and paints, McKnight is able to explore the subjects and artistic techniques that have long fascinated him.