Anthony Johannes Thieme was born in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam in 1888 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam and the Royal Academy at the Hague. He completed his training as an apprentice to George Hoecker and Italian Impressionist Antonio Mancini. After his studies, he journeyed throughout Europe and South America, working in stage design to support his travels.
He came to the United States in 1917 and worked as a set designer and book illustrator. By the late 1920s, he moved to Rockport, Massachusetts, an emerging art colony, where his style was influenced by Impressionism and the Dutch tradition of seascape painting. He favored painting en plein air and became known as the “Master of Light and Shadow.”
“He used to say that he was born fifty years too late. He was disturbed by the agitation and bustle of modern life.”
His studio burned down in 1946, destroying much of his work, and he traveled to Charleston, Florida, and the Caribbean for new inspiration. He exhibited widely and was a member of many art associations. He tragically took his own life in 1954 after suffering from depression.