Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, Sohner was gifted in both music and art. He began taking art classes at age 7 and, as an adult, studied at the St. Paul and Minneapolis schools of art under Dewey Albinson and Cameron Booth. After a brief period of study in Paris in 1933, Sohner began exhibiting regularly at the Minnesota State Fair and at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; often winning awards for his work. Between 1938 and 1941, Sohner pursued his singing career in New York. While there, he exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum and at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel Gallery.
After returning to Minnesota, Sohner became known for his portraiture, eventually painting official portraits of two governors (Luther Youngdahl and Edward Thye) and several prominent figures at the University of Minnesota. Sohner died of a heart attack on November 27, 1962.
Creator: J. Theodore Sohner
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
Date: 1935
Identifer: accession AV1981.255.3
