"Sundance" by Thomas George

The drawings of Princeton-based artist, Thomas George, will be on display in the upcoming exhibition, “Thomas George: New Work, Drawings and Pastels,” Thursday, March 2 through Thursday, April 6 at the Rider University Art Gallery.

On March 2 from 5 to 7 p.m., an opening reception will take place at the Gallery, located on the top floor of the Bart Luedeke Center on Rider’s Lawrenceville campus. George will give a talk about his work on Thursday, March 9 at 7 p.m.

Born in 1918 in New York, George, an internationally renowned artist, has achieved distinction for his drawings and paintings, which draw upon his passion for nature. A 1940 graduate of Dartmouth College, he served in the Navy in World War II for three years and immediately after studied art in Paris and Florence under the G.I. Bill.

Over the years, George has lived and worked in such places as London, Japan, Scandinavia and Italy. Primarily inspired by landscapes, he has used Monet’s gardens, Giverny and Renoir’s gardens and also the Welsh garden of Bodnant as sources of inspiration. He also looked to the Southwest as another source of inspiration.

In the late 1950s, George became a member of the important Betty Parsons Gallery in New York City. Following President Nixon’s visit to mainland China in 1973, George made two trips to China in 1974 and 1976, becoming one of the first Americans to work in mainland China since the Cultural Revolution.

George’s work is included in some of the most important museums, corporations and private collections throughout the country. They include the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, Whitney, Brooklyn, New Jersey State museums, The National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery in London, the Bridgestone Museum in Tokyo, and The National Gallery in Oslo. In the corporate arena, his work has been exhibited at Chase Manhattan Bank, AT&T and Johnson & Johnson.

George has been recognized with numerous awards and grants, among them, the Ford Foundation Purchase Award from the Whitney Museum Annual, a Rockefeller Foundation teaching grant, purchase prizes from the Brooklyn and Whitney museums, and the presidential medal from Dartmouth College.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.