Earl Thollander

Earl Thollander initially trained as an artist at City College of San Francisco, then with Earle Loran, John Haley, Worth Ryder and Eugene Newhouse at the University of California. There was an interruption of World War II, in which Thollander served as navigator and gunnery officer aboard a landing ship in the South Pacific. Nevertheless, he continued to paint and draw pictures while he was in the service. Upon his return from the war, he attended the San Francisco Art Institute and several other art schools. Thollander then trained in illustration with Patterson & Hall, a service furnishing art to advertising agencies. From that beginning, he worked as a staff artist at the San Francisco Examiner, followed by several years at Landphere & Associates as an illustrator.

Thollander had a long and varied artistic career, working in many mediums including watercolor, oil, gouache, casein, colored pencil, monotype and acrylic painting. He also drew with a bamboo pen dipped in India ink. Thollander is best known for his unique and exquisite pen and ink illustrations, and paintings that combine pen and ink with watercolor, that depict people and places from all over California, the United States and the World. In his lifetime, he had sixty one-man shows and participated in countless group and invitational exhibits. Thollander said, "To make pictures has been the joy of my life. I would gladly begin it all again.”

In 1960, Thollander elected to become a freelance artist, pursuing his fine art interests along with commercial assignments. As the years progressed, he eventually illustrated thirty-two children’s books and twenty cookbooks, then, in 1970, began work on ten of his own books that he wrote, designed and illustrated, four of which remain in print at this time. His original book that started the acclaimed series "Back Roads of California", was published by Sunset Books for twenty-six years. Travel became a very important part of his life, and in 1974 he began to take sketching trips abroad, on which he served as escort to artists and others. By 1998 he had visited seventy-one countries.

In June of 1998, Mr. Thollander sketched a wine label for Congressman Thompson’s Congressional wine.  The original sketch hangs in Congressman Thompson’s office.
Mr. Thollander, one of the Napa Valley’s best known and most beloved artists, died on August 8, 2001.

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