I, Too, Am Thornton Dial

Wiregrass Museum of Art is proud to partner with the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts at UAB and the Samford University Art Gallery to present a solo exhibition for the late Thornton Dial Sr. Curated by Paul Barrett, the presentation at WMA focuses on Dial’s works on paper. Although works on paper are sometimes dismissed, this exhibition makes the case that Dial’s drawings are as significant to his practice as his monumental assemblages, and powerful in their own right. The exhibition draws on loans from the Dial family, and public and private collections, with many works never before exhibited or published.

Thornton Dial Sr. (1928-2016) is one of Alabama’s most critically acclaimed artists, and his works can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the High Museum of Art, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, and the Birmingham Museum of Art and numerous other important institutions. Dial’s work was the subject of solo exhibitions at the American Folk Art Museum, the New Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Indianapolis Museum of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, Mint Museum, and the High Museum of Art. A catalog featuring new essays and many artworks never presented to the public will be available at the opening reception.