About Glynn Thomas RE
Glynn Thomas was born in Cambridge 1946. He studied at the Cambridge School of Art 1962-67, specialising in illustration and printmaking; taught printmaking at the Ipswich School of Art 1967-79, and is now a full-time artist living in Suffolk.
He has illustrated a number of books. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and at the Society’s 1983 annual exhibition his etching ‘Honfleur’, was awarded the Davys’ prize for the best print.
In addition, his work has been included in the Houses of Parliament art collection
One man exhibitions include the Dominion Centre Toronto, the John Russell Gallery, Ipswich, Printworks and the Minories, Colchester, the New Ashgate Gallery Farnham, the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, the Lyric Hammersmith, and the Barbican Centre London. Mixed exhibitions include the Cambridge Contemporary Art Gallery, the Adelphi Gallery New York, Donald Hughes, Hong Kong, the Royal Academy, the British Miniature Print Exhibition, the National Print Exhibition Pall Mall Galleries and exhibitions throughout the UK. Works are in the Ashmolean, the Museum of London and Ipswich Museum collection.
Work has been commissioned by Christies Contemporary Art, the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and the Riding for the Disabled Association – this etching was presented to HRH the Princess Royal.
The perspective is cockeyed, not a few of the buildings are lying on their sides in their eagerness to be included, but there, in a single, friendly print is the essence of the place.”
Nicholas Butler, Essex County Standard
It is all very revealing of an effusive and sometimes impatient, thought process, this zany topography, whether the subject is a tiny Essex village like Tollesbury or a city like Norwich. The character of each place comes over like a caress of fairy-tale nostalgia.”
Ray Rushton, Arts Guardian
Initially, one might be bewitched by his apparent naivete and charm, but deeper examination uncovers much greater profundity than that. In his more complex prints, he frequently tilts the picture plane, so that he simultaneously presents both horizontal and vertical aspects of the subject.
This attempt to portray a multiplicity of viewpoints within the same picture was one of the most inventive aspects of early Cubism, yet no man could be less likened to a Cubist than Glynn Thomas. He employs Chinese methods in Cambridge Bridges, in which six bridges pile vertically on top of one another, yet one discovers vestigial traces of perspective as well.
It would be hard, however, to name another artist who combines charm and intellect with such felicity.”
Colin Moss, East Anglian Daily Times
We who live in this part of East Anglia inhabit an environment which is attractive and, in parts, decidedly picturesque.
The problem, however, is that the attentions of artists over the years have tended to overlay some of the most familiar and best-known sights with visual cliches difficult to escape.
The Quay, at Wivenhoe, the Cambridge Backs and Walberswick, are perhaps cases in point. It takes an artist of genuine originality to produce out of such subjects images which are both truthful and new, Glynn Thomas, perhaps the most prolific and professional of the region’s printmakers, succeeds virtually every time.
His Backs at Cambridge is a particular joy. The Dordogne landscapes are magical, replete with ordered fecundity, and Kennebunkport lies stretched out in innocence under an East Coast sky. His drawing is sure, expressing wit without whimsy.”
Jack Cross, East Anglian Daily Times