TAWA at 45
The Exhibition
Thomas A. Malloy
Cityscape
watercolor, ca. 1980; 16″w x 26″h; Collection of Dan and Liz Aubrey
Thomas A. Malloy (1912-2008) created epic cityscape paintings that are now displayed in museums across the country. Born in South Carolina to a sharecropper, Malloy was a completely self-taught painter. He grew up as a young man in Trenton, became a Methodist lay minister, civil rights activist, and revered artist. Malloy practiced sketching with a stick on the dirt anywhere he could since he lacked the necessary tools to sketch with pen and paper; a behavior that added fuel to his artistic fire. Even with his strong passion and early instinct for art, Malloy did not fully blossom until he was in his fifties, but he never stopped chasing his dream. Malloy married his wife Dorothy, who became a major influence on his life with respect to his artistic expression, leading him to a world of pride and confidence that he had not known before. His wife insisted that Malloy explore his passion for art and pursue his hidden dreams. By this time Malloy had become obsessed with painting and sketching in his spare time, and though he kept his factory job, he remained a furiously passionate painter and public servant. It wasn’t until in his mid-fifties that Malloy began taking his love of art, religion, community service, and the City of Trenton to a new level. He began painting watercolors of old New Jersey farmland and of the changing Trenton cityscapes.