Julie Thoma Wright; had auction house
CHICAGO -- Julie Thoma Wright, a founder and co-owner of Wright, the Chicago auction house that helped create the market for 20th-century modern design, died June 11. She was 49.
The cause was colorectal cancer, her husband, Richard Wright, said.
Mrs. Thoma Wright, an interior designer, founded Wright in Chicago in 2000 with Richard Wright, who was at the time a private dealer in collectible 20th-century postwar design. Mrs. Thoma Wright's vision for promoting the nascent field at auction contrasted with and eventually helped transform the traditionally dry approach at the large international houses such as Phillips de Pury, Christie's, and
"She basically brought the concept of auctions into the 21st century," said James Zemaitis, director of 20th-century design at Sotheby's in New York. "From the first, the catalogs looked like fashion or lifestyle magazines."
Auction prices for modern design now keep pace with prices for contemporary art. Mrs. Thoma Wright was something of a design object herself, dressed in vintage Chanel or Hermes.
Julie Christianne Thoma was born in Le Mars, Iowa, one of eight children. After graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in interior design, she moved to Chicago, starting a design firm, Julie Thoma Inc. She met Richard Wright and they married in 1995. Returning to residential design that year, she started a new firm, Thoma Wright Ltd.
Her first marriage, to Joseph Pagoria, ended in divorce. In addition to her husband, she leaves three sons, Nicholas Pagoria , Emerson, and Adler; her mother, Gladys Thoma; six sisters, Gloria Ohlendorf, Barbara Espeland, Janet Higgins, Nancy Groetken, Glenda Lockard, and Kelli Thoma; and a brother, Roger Thoma.
