Awards and Exhibitions

1920’s

• Glaspalast (Glass Palace), Munich, invited to exhibit his sculpture many times

• Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Award of Excellence for Laboré, a sculpture of a mother and children

1930's

• Alabama College (Univ. of Montevallo), Montevallo, AL, Dr. O. C. Carmichael, bust

• Auburn University, Auburn, AL, Gov. Bibb Graves, bust

• University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Dr. George Denny, bust

• University of Georgia School of Journalism, Athens, GA, Henry Grady, bust

• Emory University Law School, Atlanta, Judge John S. Candler, bronze bust

• Atlanta Public Library, Atlanta, Dr. Wallace Sutton, bust

• Georgia State Capitol Rotunda, Atlanta, Moina Michael, The Poppy Lady, marble bust

• Berry College Museum Collection, Rome, GA, Martha Berry, marble bust

• Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, AL, George Washington Carver, bronze bust

• Piedmont Park Collection, Atlanta, Pioneer Women, bronze plaque

• High Museum, Atlanta, exhibition

• University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, Crawford W. Long , bronze plaque

1940's

• National Youth Administration, Georgia, Plow Boy and Youth, monumental plaster sculptures

• Georgia State College for Women, Milledgeville, GA, Chief Justice Richard B. Russell, bronze bust

• State Capitol Building, Atlanta, US Senator Hoke Smith, bronze plaque

• University of Georgia, Athens, GA, Chancellor Charles M. Snelling, bronze bust

• University of Georgia Sanford Stadium, Athens, GA, Chancellor S. V. Sanford, bronze bust

• Scottish Rite Hospital, Decatur, GA, Dr. Michael Hoke, bronze plaque

• State Capitol Building, Atlanta, Charles H. Herty, bronze bust

• Atlanta University, Atlanta, Dr. John Hope, bronze bust

• Young Harris College, North Georgia, Dr. Joseph A. Sharp, bronze bust

• Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, Joel Chandler Harris, bronze plaque

• Agnes Scott, Decatur, GA, Miss Nanette Hopkins, white marble bust

• Georgia Military Academy, College Park, GA, Col. And Mrs. Woodward, bronze busts

• State Capitol Grounds, Atlanta, Eugene Tallmadge Memorial, colossal bronze sculpture

1950's

• Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, MS, Alabama Memorial, bronze on granite base

• Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, MS, General John Forney, colossal bronze

• Alabama State Capitol, Montgomery, AL, Alabama Memorial, bronze scale model

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Henry Lineberger, bronze bust

• Courthouse, Vienna, GA, Senator Walter F. George, bronze bust

• Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, exhibited

• High Museum, Atlanta, Southeastern Art Show, exhibited

• Sculptor’s Society, NYC, exhibited

• Fulton National Bank Lobby, Atlanta, Robert Fulton, Fulton Steamboat, and Atlanta City Hall, cast aluminum murals

• West Point Military Academy Collection, West Point, NY, Class of 1915 Monument

• State Capitol Building, Atlanta, Governor John M. Slaton, bronze bust

1960’s

• Emory University, Atlanta, exhibition

• Jens Rison, Decorative Arts Center, Atlanta, exhibition

• High Museum of Art Permanent Collection, Atlanta, St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio, bronze

1970's

• Lord and Taylor Art Gallery, Atlanta, exhibition

• Agnes Scott College Permanent Collection, Decatur, GA, Mother and Child, over life size marble, selection of small sculptures and paintings

• Fulton County Roswell Library Grounds, Roswell, GA, Reclining Madonna and Child, marblesculpture

• Callanwolde Arts Center Permanent Collection, Atlanta, Bird of Prey, limestone carving; Girl on a Motorcycle, limestone carving; and selected paintings

• Dodd Art Center Permanent Collection, LaGrange College, LaGrange, GA, selected paintings, drawings, and prints

• Ty Cobb Museum Permanent Collection, Royston, GA, Ty Cobb, drawing

• Museum of Arts and Sciences Collection, Macon, GA, selected sculptures, paintings and drawings

• Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA, exhibition

• City of Atlanta Collection and Urban Design Award, Trilon, welded copper fountain sculpture, located on Peachtree Street in Midtown.

• Warm Springs Hospital Campus, Warm Springs, GA, FDR, monumental concrete head

• Museum of the City of Mobile Permanent Collection, Mobile, AL, Alabama Memorial, plaster model

• St. Johns Museum of Art, Wilmington, NC, exhibition

1980's

• St. Johns Museum of Art, Wilmington, NC, Freedom of the Figure, traveling exhibition

• Bryant Galleries, New Orleans and Jackson, MS, exhibitions

• St. Johns Museum of Art Permanent Collection (Cameron Art Museum), Wilmington, NC, selected works

• Albany Museum of Art Permanent Collection, Albany, GA, Sowing the Seeds, painting

• Southern Company, Steffen Thomas selected as featured artist for a national ad campaign

• Gwinnett Council for the Arts Permanent Collection (Hudgens Center for the Arts), Duluth, GA, selected sculpture and paintings

• Georgia Governor’s Award in the Arts, for lifetime achievement in the arts

1990's

• Gwinnett Fine Arts Center (Hudgens Center for the Arts), Duluth, GA, exhibition

• Hudgens Center for the Arts Sculpture Garden, Duluth, GA, St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio, welded copper

• Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, Buckhead, GA (near Madison), established by Sara Douglass Thomas

• Publication of Art of Steffen Thomas, by Alan Aiches and Anthony Janson, catalogue for traveling exhibition.

• Broome Street Gallery, NYC, Art of Steffen Thomas, exhibition

• SCAD, Savannah, GA, exhibition

2000's

• Lauren Rodgers Museum, Laurel, MS, Art of Steffen Thomas, exhibition

• Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA, exhibition

• Hudgens Center for the Arts, Duluth, GA, exhibition

2010's

• Steffen Thomas Museum of Art, Buckhead, GA, series of exhibitions curated by Andrew and Hathia Hayes

• Madison-Morgan Cultural Center, Madison, GA, ‘Scapes, exhibition

• Plaza Arts Center, Eatonton, GA, exhibition

• Harrison Center for the Arts, Athens Academy, Athens, GA, exhibition

• 2014: Publication of Steffen Thomas: Rediscovered, published by Ogden Museum of Southern Art, essays by Alan Aiches, Andrew and Hathia Hayes, Anthony Janson, and Robert Ware, edited by Andrew and Hathia Hayes, catalogue for traveling exhibition

• 2014: Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, Steffen Thomas: Rediscovered, exhibition and catalog published

• Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, Permanent Collection, Sailboats, painting

• 2015: The Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA, Steffen Thomas: Rediscovered, exhibition

• The Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA, Permanent Collection, selected works

• 2017: Steffen Thomas: A Legacy in Atlanta, a multifaceted program sponsored by the Mayor of Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs, which included a plein air event with 17 Georgia artists of diverse backgrounds at the site of Trilon, a fountain sculpture by Steffen Thomas located in the center of Midtown Atlanta and an exhibition of Steffen Thomas art juxtaposed with the participating artists at Gallery 72, a City of Atlanta owned and run art gallery. The exhibit traveled to the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art where it was the featured exhibit for the Twentieth Celebration of the Museum.

• 2019: No Less Than Truth, a video overview of Steffen Thomas’s career and the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art

2020's

• 2023: Steffen Thomas: Rock & Chisel, documentary film by Jesse Stephen Freeman covering highlights of the life and career of Steffen Thomas, aired on GA Public Broadcasting TV.

• 2024: The Art of Steffen Thomas: Prolific and Experimental, Martha Berry Museum, Rome, GA.

• 2024: Rock & Chisel documentary screened at 11 sites around State of GA

Biography

1906

• Fürth, Bavaria, Germany, born on January 7, 1906

1920 - 1923

• Fürth, Bavaria, Germany, Apprenticed as stone carver - sculptor

1924

• School of Applied Arts, Nürnberg, Germany (Nuremberg), completed courses in Drawing and Sculpture under the tutelage of Professors Widmer and Rumelin.

1925 - 1928

• Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Germany, studied Classical Sculpture with Professors HermanHahn, Joseph Wakerle, and Bernhard Bleeker

• Munich Technical School and University of Munich Medical School, studied architecture and anatomy

• Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Germany, awarded Master Student status and a Certificate ofRecognition in 1927.

• Munich, Germany, Glaspalast (Glass Palace), exhibited regularly and won awards for sculpture,when his art was displayed with works by Modern Art Masters, such as Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Munch

1928

• Came to the USA to work as a sculptor on Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach estate of E. F. Hutton and Marjorie Merriweather Post. (Estate now owned by Donald Trump, who operates it as the Mar-a-Lago Club)

1929

• Returned to Germany briefly, and then came back to USA to establish himself as a sculptor.

• Completed several portrait commissions in Alabama

1930

• Opened his first professional studio in Atlanta, GA, established himself as a sculptor, and began receiving commissions for public sculpture.

1933

• Married Sara Douglass, a City of Atlanta school teacher.

1935

• Became an American Citizen

1939-1941

• National Youth Administration (NYA), under the WPA in Georgia, art supervisor

1941-1972

• Moved from Atlanta to Stone Mountain, GA, raised four children, built large studio, house and sculpture garden

• Completed many public sculptures, several on monumental scale

• By mid 1950’s began devoting himself to creative art, working in many media

1973-1989

• Moved with his wife Sara back to Atlanta

• Continued to work on a smaller scale in sculpture, painting, drawing and printmaking

1990

• Died on January 27, 1990