“TRAVELS WITH THOMAS GEORGE”: The Arts Council of Princeton will be hosting an exhibition and art sale August 1-4 featuring the works of the late internationally celebrated artist and Princeton resident Thomas George. The painting pictured above is George’s “North Garden, Bodnant,” a 1994 watercolor.

By Donald Gilpin

“Travels with Thomas George,” an unusual art show and sale featuring about 100 works by the late artist and Princeton resident, will take place at the Arts Council of Princeton’s (ACP) Taplin Gallery August 1-4.

George’s work, which is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the National Gallery of American Art, the Tate Gallery, and many other museums and collections in the United States and abroad, spans a variety of different subject matter and represents a number of different mediums.

Local scenery — trees of Marquand Park, the pond at the Institute for Advanced Study, and other places people will recognize — as well as sketches of the Maine coast, and art work reflecting his travels in Europe, Japan, and China — will be displayed and available for purchase at the ACP. George spent 30 summers in a house he bought in a small village on a fjord in Norway, where he focused on painting and drawing the surrounding mountains.

“Even though much of my work is basically abstract, I rely on nature for knowledge and inspiration,” Thomas once said, as quoted in his October 29, 2014 obituary in Town Topics. “Looking at nature is where it all starts for me.”

Before his death in 2014, George presented popular local shows at the Princeton University Art Museum in 2005 and at the ACP in 2011. His sons, John and Geoff George, own a large collection of their father’s works, including wood cuts, prints, oils, drawings, pastels, and watercolors.

“It’s going to be set up in a less formal way than our gallery normally is, so it will be fun for people to sift through and find treasures,” said ACP’s Timothy M. Andrews Artistic Director Maria Evans.

“The range is really wide,” said Evans. “There’s so much affordable art work. There are some tiny pieces, some large pieces, and medium pieces. Some are framed, some unframed, and there are also some matted pencil sketches. It’s very diverse.”

Evans worked with John George to price everything. She described stacks of items starting at about $15 and going up to hundreds of dollars. “As you can imagine, John and his brother have lots of his father’s work,” she said. “He was very prolific, and they wanted to start sharing the wealth and getting it out there, unloading storage bins that they have.”

Evans promised “very exciting price points,” and a portion of the proceeds will go to the ACP to support community programs.

“To my father, Tom George, his life was his art,” said John George, as quoted in an ACP press release. “Classically trained, Tom travelled through many stages in his over 60 years as an artist — from realism to impressionism and ultimately to abstraction — with nature always as the foundation of his work.”

He continued, “Tom worked in many media throughout his life. I am hoping, through this event, to share Tom’s legacy and to find ‘good homes’ for the many pieces of my father’s work which I have inherited and which have brought me so much pleasure over the years.”

Evans reflected on the ACP’s association with Thomas George. ”I had the pleasure of meeting Thomas George when he had a solo exhibition in our Taplin Gallery back in 2011,” she wrote. “I was in awe of his talent and how flexible and talented he was in all mediums. Now, years later, it’s super exciting to work with Thomas’ son John and John’s wife Annie in offering Thomas George originals and prints to the public at such reasonable prices. I hope everyone can come out and get a Tom George work (or three) to treasure and enjoy, as there is most certainly something for everyone.”

An opening event is on Thursday, August 1 from 5 to 7 p.m. Gallery hours will be Friday, August 2 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday, August 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sunday, August 4, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Also taking place on August 3 will be the ACP’s yART sale with about 30 different vendors setting up their wares in front of the building, in the parking lot, and alongside the building. “It’s sort of like a studio clean-out,” said Evans. “We’ll have ceramic artists, jewelers, printmakers, and painters.”

She added, “It’s a great place to get an original work and a bargain. Last year there were people walking away with armloads of ceramic bowls. One woman said, ‘I got my Christmas shopping done.’”