Thornton Dial - Assemblage Art
Thornton Dial (American, 1928–2016) was a self-taught artist from Emelle, AL, known for his large-scale assemblages that address issues of racism, war, and homelessness.
Thornton Dial was a pioneering African-American artist best known for his large-scale assemblage paintings. He melded complex themes like Civil Rights history, archaeology, and construction, through the use of materials like cow skeletons, American flags, and rebar. Often referred to as an “outsider artist,” Dial’s work is highly biographical. Born on September 10, 1928 in Emelle, AL, Dial's youth was filled with hardship, born into poverty on a sharecropping farm. Though he never received any formal art training, he made sculptures from found objects from a young age.
