About the Artist
THOMAS MCKNIGHT
The worldwide appeal of Thomas McKnight's prints, paintings, and posters place him in an elite group of contemporary artists whose work can be instantly recognizable as his own. Be it a carnival in Venice, a sun-drenched street in Greece, a cozy well -furnished room, a tropical beach, or a mythological scene, McKnight's images invite you to experience the unfettered joy of living.
Early Life
After growing up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Montreal, and New York, McKnight studied art at Wesleyan University and spent a year in Paris developing a love for European civilization. He worked at Time magazine for eight years, interrupted by army service in Korea. In 1970, a vacation in Greece shifted everything. Two years later, he left corporate life and began painting full-time on the island of Mykonos, where his distinctive style took shape.
Career
In 1979 on Mykonos, he met Renate, a vacationing Austrian student. They married the next year and moved to America. During the 1980s, his work became widely popular. He produced hundreds of serigraph editions and published six books, including two in Japanese. His work reached an even larger audience in Japan, where he was commissioned to paint views of Kobe. In 1994, the White House asked him to create the first of three official Christmas card paintings for President Clinton.
Current Day
McKnight’s paintings are included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution. He and Renate live in a picturesque neo-colonial house in Litchfield, Connecticut. He works in a loft-like studio on the top floor, where he spends his time reading, dreaming, and creating images of real and imagined Arcadias.