"Green Pastures: In Memory of Thornton Dial, Sr." at the High Museum, Feb. 13 through May 1, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; Noon to 5 p.m. Sunday; tickets: $19.50, seniors (65 and over): $16.50; students: $16.50; children (ages 6-17): $12; 5 and under, free; 1280 Peachtree Street, N.E. Atlanta; 404-733-4400 www.high.org/
The late Alabama artist Thornton Dial, whose richly expressive work crossed the barrier between folk art and contemporary art, will be memorialized in an impromptu show at the High Museum.
Dial died last week at age 87. He was the untutored son of sharecroppers who worked as a metalworker in the railroad industry. His art came to the attention of the world after he reached middle age, and he eventually saw his witty, exuberant constructions sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars and placed in museums around the world.
The High Museum was the first major museum to begin collecting Dial's work, beginning with a 1995 gift of 12 Dial pieces from Georgia Pacific CEO T. Marshall Hahn. The museum staged a major retrospective of Dial's work in 2012-2013.
Beginning Feb. 13 the museum will display nine of Dial’s drawings and paintings in the Octagon gallery on the Skyway Level of the Stent Family Wing, in an exhibit titled “Green Pastures: In Memory of Thornton Dial, Sr.”
The works are part of the High’s permanent collection, which includes 19 Dial paintings and drawings.
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