Thornton Willis
Painter
Abstract New York School artist whose best-known works included his "Slat," "Wedge," "Triangle," and "Grid" paintings.
He grew up in the American South and received his M.A. in painting from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.
He was generally classified as an Abstract Expressionist painter, though his work also included elements of Color Field painting, Lyrical Abstraction, Postminimalism, Process Art, and Bio-Morphic Cubism.
His father was an evangelical preacher in Alabama.
He and football legend Joe Namath became friends at the University of Alabama.