TONEY, Anthony 1913-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE— See index for CA sketch: Born June 28, 1913, in Gloversville, NY; died of a lung infection September 10, 2004, in Marin County, CA. Artist, educator, and author. Toney was an award-winning painter who first came to prominence in the 1940s with his anti-fascist-themed work on both canvas and in mural form. He earned a B.F.A. from Syracuse University in 1934, then traveled to Paris to study at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and the École Superieure des Beaux Arts. While in France, he was shocked to learn about the rising tide of fascism in Europe, and he enlisted in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade that fought against Spain's General Francisco Franco. After being wounded, he went back to America and found a job painting for the Works Progress Administration during the remainder of the Great Depression. His first one-man show was in New York City in 1941, after which he exhibited regularly around the country, often at the ACA Gallery. During World War II, Toney returned to battle, this time fighting in the U.S. Army Air Forces in the South Pacific; he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters and an Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters. The G.I. Bill helped him return to school, and he earned an M.A. in 1952 at Columbia University, followed by a doctorate in education in 1955. In addition to his painting, he taught at Hofstra University in the mid-1950s and, beginning in 1953, at the New School. Toney was the author of Painting and Drawing: Discovering Your Own Visual Language (1978), and contributed to several other books and encyclopedias as well. Among his many honors are the Mintz Memorial Award, two Benjamin Altman Figure prize awards from the National Academy earned in 1975 and 1980, the 1989 Eggers Senior Alumni award from Syracuse University, the 1991 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Teachers College at Columbia University, and three first prizes from the Putnam Arts Council, earned in 1994.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, September 16, 2004, p. A23.

San Francisco Chronicle, September 25, 2004, p. B7.