Theodore Tihansky: Diary of an Artist

Newport Art Museum

Newport, RI

401-848-8200

Theodore Tihansky: Diary of an Artist

June 29 - August 15, 2001

Visitors to the Ilgenfritz Gallery this summer might have thought that Newport has its own John Singer Sargent. From his bold portraits and sensual nudes to his atmospheric landscapes and picturesque locales, Theodore Tihansky showed an exciting selection of his past work in this retrospective exhibition. Currently living and working on Monhegan Island, Maine, Tihansky also included a number of his paintings of that area. Ted Tihansky is well known in Newport, and his work is owned by numerous residents, who generously loaned them for the summer.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Tihansky was the son of a doctor. For a while he followed that path himself as a pre-med student in college. His search for career fulfillment led him through a succession of jobs, including a climb up the ladder in the food service industry. But all along art had been what he most enjoyed doing; and in 1980 he began pursuing it seriously. Since the 1980s the artist has made Rhode Island his home base, while painting in locations as diverse as Maine, Florida, France and the Czech Republic. (left: Theodore Tihansky, The Meadows, oil on canvas, Collection of J. P. V. Trousilek, V., Newport [RI] Art Museum)

Tihansky took classes at the Paier College of Art and the Lyme Academy in Connecticut as well as the Art Students League in New York City. He established a reputation as an outstanding portrait painter, and his commissions have included former presidents of the University of Rhode Island, the Naval War College and the Providence Art Club. Having studied with internationally known teachers in both portraiture and landscape, Tihansky feels that the two are not mutually exclusive -- artists build a color vocabulary through the interchange of techniques.

In 1991 Tihansky was awarded the prestigious John Stobart Landscape Fellowship that enabled him to travel and paint in Washington, British Columbia, Pennsylvania, and finally Monhegan, which has drawn him back repeatedly. Ted Tihansky feels that his work is a diary of his life. "The paintings are the end products...what is important to me are the moments and experiences that I have because of my painting. The people I meet and the things I do are for a reason."

Read more about the Newport Art Museum in Resource Library Magazine

For further biographical information on selected artists cited above please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.

This page was originally published in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information. rev. 6/3/11

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