The Etchen family has made a generous donation of a collection of Anthony Thorn's artwork to the Saskatchewan Arts Board's Permanent Collection. The seven donated pieces span several years and show the diversity of Thorn's art practice – ivory carving, metal working, stained glass making and picture painting, all of which he referred to as "languages that you teach your hands" – as well as his evolution as an artist over the course of his lifetime.
"Through their appreciation of the work of artists such as Anthony Thorn, the Etchens, like good Saskatchewan farmers, helped preserve and enhance Saskatchewan's artistic ecology. They saw something in his artwork that was worth preserving," says Stephen LaRose, representative of the Etchen family. "This donation of Anthony Thorn artwork was done in the hope that at such a time when they would no longer to be able to enjoy it themselves, that the artwork could be provided for the enjoyment and inspiration of others. What the Etchens have contributed to our family, we now entrust the Saskatchewan Arts Board to contribute to the peoples of Saskatchewan."
The donation augments the Arts Board's collection of Thorn's work, which has been very popular among members of the public through the Permanent Collection Art Rental program. Thorn, who said he was "compelled to make beautiful things and put them into the world," was prolific in his work. More than 1,100 of his pieces are held in private collections. Before the Etchen family's donation to the Arts Board, only 40 Thorn works were included in Canadian corporate and public collections.
Anthony Thorn (1927-2014), born Arthur Goldman, is well-known for his paintings, gilding and unique "wall jewels." He began painting in 1948 and studied under Kenneth Lochhead at the University of Regina before pursuing graduate studies at the Chicago Art Institute and studying in France, Mexico, South Korea, Japan and Greece. Eight of his pieces in public collections have been deemed "of outstanding significance and national importance" by the Canadian Cultural Review Board and his works have been exhibited across Canada and internationally. Over his career, Thorn served as a founding member of the Saskatchewan Society of Artists, an art critic for the Toronto Citizen and an instructor at the University of Victoria.
Saskatchewan Arts Board Permanent Collection
Nowhere else in the world will one find a larger or more comprehensive collection of Saskatchewan visual art than in the Saskatchewan Arts Board's Permanent Collection. This collection includes nearly 3,000 works of more than 600 artists, and represents the work of our province's artists over the past six decades. Its goal is to represent the contemporary art practices of artists within the province for the purpose of public access.
Featuring paintings, drawings, textiles, prints, photographs and sculptures, the Permanent Collection offers a wide variety of styles and media, demonstrating the diversity and talent of Saskatchewan artists.
Art work from the collection is frequently included in exhibitions throughout the province and country, is loaned to organizations, and is also rented to workplaces through the Arts Board's corporate Art Rental program.
For more information on the Saskatchewan Arts Board’s Permanent Collection, visit here.
Front page:
Anthony Thorn
Self Portrait Age 41 (detail), 1968
Enamel and oil on linen
Above:
Anthony Thorn
Sketch for a Figure Composition, 1964
Acrylic and gold paint on masonite
Anthony Thorn
Etchen Bodhisattva, 1969
Gesso, egg shells and marble dust
Anthony Thorn
Interior with Glass, 1958
Enamel and oil on Belgian linen
Photos by Gary Robins, Available Light Photographics.