Thornton Utz was an illustrator active in the 1940s and 50s. He was born in 1914 and most sources have 1999 as his year of death, though the Saturday Evening Post web site gives it as 2000.
Leif Peng blogged about Utz here, here and here. More information about him can be found here and here.
I was mostly familiar with Utz via his Saturday Evening Post covers which struck me as hack work, a gross subordination of the artist to imagined or real desiderata of the editor or his art director.
It turns out that Utz was far better than his Post covered indicated. I'm still not quite willing to place his amongst the first rank of illustrators of his era, but he surely demonstrated competence. Below are examples of his work.
Gallery
This is attributed to Utz, though there is no signature.
This seems to be a fine arts painting, not an illustration.
A nicely done portrait of the President's wife and daughter.
I MET THORNTON IN 1980 OR 1981 AND HAD HIM COMMISSION ART OF MY WIFE AND OUR CAT, AND WE BECAME FAMILY FRIENDS UNTIL HIS DEATH AND HIS ARTWORK VARIED BUT SOME OF THE WORK THAT I OBTAINED SHOWS A MASTERFUL ARTIST THAT IN ESSENCE PAINTED WHAT HE WANTED TO PAINT ..
ReplyDeleteHIS FRIENDS IN SARASOTA AL BUELL AND GIL ELVGREN ALL MIGRATED TO SARASOTA AND THEY ALL WERE CLOSE AND I ALSO THINK CLOSE IN TALENT BUT THORNTON WANTED TO WANDER AND GREENHOUSE RESTAURANT WAS ONE THAT WILL EQUAL BUELL AND ELVGREN IN HIS NUDE PERIOD
As a senior at Ringling School of Art in 1964, I was selected to be a live-in apprentice to THORNTON UTZ. As an aspiring illustrator, I was thrilled to live with a Sat. Eve. POST cover artist. I learned as much in my 6 months with Thornton, I think, as I did in my 3 years in art school - and that is not to discredit the art school.
ReplyDeleteIn 1965 I moved on to HALLMARK CARDS Design Dept. in Kansas City, and met a younger ARTIST who was yet to make his mark on American illustration - BRAD HOLLAND. Brad fascinated me as much as did Utz but bewildered me as well. Brad wasn't interested in just illustrating someone else's story. He wanted to make his own statement. He lost several BIG assignments because of this. Utz was a fine commercial illustrator and portrait painter. Holland was/is a FINE ARTIST who illustrates - in his own manner.