Biography
Thomas Mueller Dietrich
Born 1912 in Appleton,
Wisconsin
Died
1998 in Appleton, Wisconsin
As a young man he entered the experimental college of the University of Wisconsin in 1929 - 1931. He also
studied in the Cincinnati Art Academy,
The Minneapolis School of Art, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, in New York and at Saugatuck,
Michigan summer school. He has
exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago where he received the Tuthill Prize
for watercolor n 1941; at the annual Wisconsin
shows where he received the Journal prize.
Dietrich was artist in residence at Lawrence College
for 30 years. Tom
Dietrich painted in the American Regionalist style, painting for 7 decades, he gained fame in Wisconsin
and beyond for his watercolors of Fox
Valley landscapes, bridges,
factories, and people. In 1941 he was selected to paint a mural for President
Van Buren’s main lounge of his new ship, he painted a skyscraper scene of Manhattan and the New York Harbor.
This same ship was later bombed and destroyed during World War II. In 1941 he
also married his wife Margaret a Wisconsin artist he met in an Appleton art supply store. In 1964 he
researched a mural on Martin Luther, in Europe,
for the Reformation for the Aid Association for Lutherans. During 1971-72 he
studied stained glass in Europe so he could design a window for the
Presbyterian Church in Appleton and also for
about 70 other churches in the Midwest and California.
In 1952, Dietrich was one of the founding members of the
Wisconsin Watercolor Society he was also an active member of Wisconsin Painters
& Sculptors. More than 1000 of his paintings are in public and private
collections throughout the United
States. Some Wisconsin
public collections that own his work are the Wisconsin Union Art Collection,
UW-Milwaukee, The City of Milwaukee and the State Historical Society of
Wisconsin.
Selected Exhibitions:
1938 – 1941,43, 46 Art Institute of Chicago Annual Exhibitions
( award winner 1941)
1963 Wisconsin Artists –
1855 Until Today, Milwaukee
Art Center,
WI.
1976
A Century Plus Of
Wisconsin Watercolors, sponsored by the Racine Art Association at the Wustum
Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI., The State Historical Society of Wisconsin,
Madison, Nicolet College, The West Bend Gallery Of Fine Arts, the University of
WI.- Oshkosh, the Racine Art Guild and the Wisconsin Watercolor Society.
1998 150 Years of
Wisconsin Printmaking, Elvehjem
Museum Of Art, UW-
Madison, WI.
2002
50th
Anniversary Exhibition of the Wisconsin
Watercolor Society,
West
Bend Art Museum, West Bend, WI.