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About Thomas Hill
Born in Birmingham, England on Sept. 11, 1829. After coming to the U.S. in 1844, Hill settled with his family in Taunton, MA and worked in Boston as a carriage painter. His art studies were begun at the PAFA under Rothermel. During the 1850s he painted in Massachusetts and often in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with a group of artists that included Durand, Inness, Champney, Bierstadt, Virgil Williams, and brother Edward Hill. For health reasons he sought a milder climate and, with wife and children, made the overland trek to San Francisco in 1861. After establishing a home and studio, he advertised as a portrait painter. The next year he made his first trip to Yosemite accompanied by Wm Keith and Virgil Williams. In 1866 he exhibited Yosemite scenes at the Nat'l Academy and then sailed to Paris where he was a pupil of Paul Meyerheim and exhibited at the Universal Expo. Returning to the U.S., he stayed in Boston during 1868-70 and then returned to San Francisco to help organize the San Francisco Art Ass'n. His marriage was not a happy one. While his wife lived in the family home in Oakland, Hill built a studio in Yosemite in 1883 and for his remaining years the park was his home except during winters when he lived nearby in Raymond or at his studio in San Francisco. When Virgil Williams died in 1886, Hill was briefly the director of the School of Design. During the 1870s and 1880s his works were in demand and brought high prices. By the 1890s his epic landscapes were considered old-fashioned and for half a century or more his work was in eclipse. Today his work has regained its proper stature and he is considered a giant in American art. Although he painted over 5,000 paintings of Yosemite, he had many strokes after 1896 which hampered his painting. His death on June 30, 1908 in Raymond, CA is believed to have been a suicide. Member: Bohemian Club; Atheneum Art Club (Boston); SFAA. Exh: Maryland Inst., 1853 (medal); Mechanics' Inst. Fair (SF), 1864, 1877, 1888 (award), 1894 (bronze medal); Calif. Art Union, 1865 (1st prize); NAD, 1866; Paris Expo, 1867; NY Palette Club, 1871 (bronze medal); SFAA from 1872; Centennial Expo (Philadelphia), 1876 (medal); Calif. State Fairs, 1879, 1890 (gold medals); PAFA, 1884 (medal); World’s Columbian Expo (Chicago), 1893; Ruskin Art Club (LA), 1904. In: Oakland Museum; Society of Calif. Pioneers; Orange Co. (CA) Museum; Crocker Museum (Sacramento); CHS; LACMA; Bancroft Library (UC Berkeley); Stanford Museum; Calif. State Railroad Museum. |
Paintings by Thomas Hill
| In the Gorge |
| oil on canvas: 36 x 52 inches |
| signed: lower right |
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