Thomas Wharton studied at The Art Student’s League of New York, The New York Studio School, The New York Academy of Art, The Grand Central Academy, Parsons, School of Visual Arts, and The National Academy of Design. His work has won many awards, including The West Virginia Governor’s Award, The Georgie Read Barton Award, The Katlin Seascape Award (twice), the Windsor Newton Award, and the Richard C. Pionk Memorial Prize for Painting. He has been included in the Art Renewal Center’s Annual Salon, and his portrait work has been awarded a Certificate of Excellence by The Portrait Society of America, where he now has been given Signature Status.
He has shown at the National Arts Club in New York,, The Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, the RJD Gallery, Ille Arts Gallery, the Christine Frechard Gallery, The Salmagundi Club, the Dacia Gallery, the West Virginia University Museum of Art, The West Virginia Cultural Center, Tamatack, Stifel Fine Arts, ETC., the Bloomfield Richwood Gallery, 33 Contemporary in Chicago, and the Nutting Gallery. His work is included in the Cultural Archives of the state of West Virginia, and his children’s book art has toured museums throughout the United States, and is included in the permanent collection the the Mazza Museum of International Children’s Book Art. His paintings have been included many publications, including American Art Collector, Fine Art Connoisseur, International Artist, and Poets and Artists magazines, as well as the book, 21st Century Figurative Art: The Resurrection of Art. His work can be found in private and institutional collections throughout the United States.
In addition to his work as a fine artist, he is a published children’s book author and illustrator (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and had a distinguished and successful career as a designer, illustrator, art director and creative director in New York City. His clients included Cambridge University Press, Citibank, MasterCard, Princeton University Press, the New York Stock Exchange, Lifetime Television, Starwood Hotels, Clarins, Shiseido, Simon & Schuster, and New York University.
He is also an accomplished musician, and holds a Bachelor’s and Masters degree in piano from West Virginia University.