Thomas Sills (1914-2000) was a Tar Heel. Thomas loved color. Actually, he was called “Man of Color.”
Thomas was born to Black sharecroppers in teeny-tiny Castalia, North Carolina. As a young child, he attended grade school erratically so he could work on a tobacco and cotton farm. When he was only nine, his then-divorced mother sent him to Raleigh, where he worked in a greenhouse and florist shop. Thomas was awed by flowers’ brilliant colors—their organic shapes. The owner once commented, “That fella loves color.”
When Thomas was eleven, he traveled “Up North,” alone, by train, and eventually settled in Brooklyn. There he worked as a doorman at the Paramount Theatre, church custodian, delivery man for Greenwich Village Liquor Store, and stevedore on the city docks.
In 1953, Thomas married wealthy artist, Jeanne Reynal. His wife introduced him to the world of art and artists, including Willem and Elaine de Kooning and Mark Rothko. Finally, at thirty-nine, he started creating art—art that was influenced by his long-ago attraction to color and unrefined shapes.
Thomas was never famous, as such. Actually, he was often criticized. Thomas didn’t care. He continued to paint abstract art with bold, bright colors. He once said, “Painting has no rules. You like it, or you don’t like it, but I’m doing what I want.”
Isn’t that a powerful message for all artists?
You can see Thomas Sills’ work in the TJC Gallery, 154 West Main Street, in our very own Spartanburg, South Carolina.