A Tribute to Helen E. and William E. Thon

William E. Thon is renowned for his planned gift to the PMA in 2000, to support contemporary art and Maine artists. That legacy came from his life as a great artist.

He was born in New York City in 1906 and his first artistic recognition came when his painting The Creek was accepted by the 1939 Corcoran Biennial in Washington D.C. and then in the 1942 exhibition Artists for Victory at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1942, following his enlistment in the U.S. Navy. He won the Prix de Rome in 1947 and his work is now in more than 50 museums nationwide, including the Portland Museum of Art, Farnsworth Art Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2002, the PMA organized William Thon: A Retrospective to honor his brilliant career.

William Thon, Paul Juley, photographer, © Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum

He painted throughout his life, much of which was spent in Port Clyde, Maine, where he moved after World War II. We are grateful to the Thons for their generous legacy, which enabled the PMA to become the center of contemporary art in Maine through exhibitions, catalogues, and programs. It all began with the 1998 Portland Museum of Art Biennial, supported by William E. and Helen E. Thon, followed by another in 2001 that opened soon after William’s death in 2000 and Helen’s death a year earlier.    

Building on the Thon legacy and its overarching objectives, the Biennial exhibitions have evolved over time in order to reflect and promote a fully diverse Maine arts community that includes artists who were traditionally excluded by the institutional practices of juried exhibitions and museums more generally. We also began to understand the negative impact that this bias and provincialism were having on an exhibition series intended to be among the PMA’s most equitable and diverse offerings. We realized that change was essential for our exhibition program to truly promote Maine arts and artists in an inclusive manner.  

Recognizing this challenge, the PMA committed organizationally to the ideals of Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusivity (DEAI) and embraced an ethos of Art for All. To ensure that the spirit of Thon’s intentions lived on in future exhibitions, in 2013 we moved from an exhibition with jurors to a curated exhibition by which a contemporary art curator could purposefully seek out and solicit exhibitors from Maine’s underrepresented artist communities. The methodological shift opened the doors for participation from artists of color, as well as artists from Maine’s immigrant communities, Wabanaki communities, and LGBTQIA+ communities.

Such exhibitions allow us to present a greater range of Maine art and artists, and while there is a lot more DEAI work to do, this inclusive approach has thus far deeply enriched our institution and community. In a year in which a major pandemic disrupted exhibition calendars at museums throughout the world, we remain incredibly grateful to the Thons generosity and support of Contemporary art in Maine, and we are proud to share with you the remarkable work made by artists in this state through Untitled, 2020: Art from Maine in a ________ Time.