Painted in the Tropics: The Life and Times of Swiss Artist Theo Meier

Wolfenden is proud to announce the latest book by Harold Stephens: PAINTED IN THE TROPICS, a biography of Swiss Artist Theo Meier. Born and raised in Basel, Theo left home at 23 to follow in the footsteps Paul Gauguin, and, except for short visits, he spent the rest of his life in the South Seas and in Asia. He lived for 22 years on Bali and the last 24 years of his life in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This is more than a story about an artist; it's a tale about a restless young man who went to Tahiti to paint, and about his living with natives in the New Hebrides and his walking across China with an easel strapped to his back. It is about other expat artists on Bali, Theo's friends and foes Walter Spies, Rudolf Bonnet, Le Mayeur, Han Snel, Donald Friend, Mario Blanco, Willem Hofker, Arie Smit and others. How many times have we heard it said, or said it ourselves, I wish I would have bought one of his paintings. Yes, at one time one could have bought a Theo Meier painting for a pittance. Today his paintings sell for a hundred thousand dollars or more at auction houses in Asia and Europe. Theo Meier was, to use an old adage, the last of his kind. Truly, there can never be another like him. He was a friend of author Harold Stephens for more than 30 years.