Works by William R. Hollingsworth Jr., Eudora Welty, and Walter Anderson, as well as selections from the Ogden Museum’s Permanent Collection go on view April 18
Eudora Welty, Members of Pageant of Birds, 1930s, (c) Eudora Welty,LLL, Eudora Welty Collection
NEW ORLEANS, LA – While the 1930s and 1940s were a time of great change throughout the world, the American South, in particular, saw a significant shift from its agrarian roots to a more industrialized society. Opening April 18 are four exhibitions that showcase works by artists who reacted to and documented the regions’ metamorphosis during this era: To Paint and Pray: The Art and Life of William R. Hollingsworth Jr.; Eudora Welty: Photographs from the 1930s and ‘40s; Walter Anderson: Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art; and Southern Regionalists from the Permanent Collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.
These exhibitions showcase very different visual odysseys as these artists produced work reflecting their life and the communities around them—whether it be the naturalistic paintings of Walter Anderson, or the photojournalistic compositions of Eudora Welty. As such, each artist’s work plays an important role in shaping enduring perceptions of the South.
“A long history as an agrarian culture and a rich tradition of storytelling made the American South a perfect place for Regionalism to flourish during the years after World War I,” says Ogden Chief Curator Bradley Sumrall. “The artists in each of these exhibitions told the complex story of the South during that time of radical change.”
To Paint and Pray: The Art and Life of William R. Hollingsworth, Jr.
William Robert Hollingsworth, Jr., who lived from 1910 to 1944, remains one of Mississippi’s most significant artists. Organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art, To Paint and Pray explores Hollingsworth’s life from his school years at Jackson’s Davis Elementary and Central High School, through college at the University of Mississippi and the Art Institute of Chicago to his adulthood in his hometown as an artist. William Hollingsworth was prolific in his work, capturing the landscapes and people of central Mississippi in watercolors and oil. During his lifetime, the artist received numerous national awards for his art and exhibited across the country, from San Diego to Chicago, New Orleans, Memphis, Atlanta, and New York, to name a few. Working at the time of the great regionalists Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Grant Wood, Hollingsworth exhibited alongside those masters, and was emerging as a national figure at the time of his death. Pulled primarily from the Mississippi Museum of Art’s extensive collection of his work, along with loans from other public and private collections, this exhibition explores the life and work of this Mississippi artist. On view through July 14, 2013.
To Paint and Pray is sponsored by Adams and Reese, LLC.
Eudora Welty: Photographs from the 1930s and ’40s
Eudora Welty is one of America’s most celebrated and beloved authors. Before gaining fame through her writing, she was an aspiring photographer whose photographs from the 1930s and ‘40s have since become modern day classics. This exhibition focuses on Welty’s most productive period as a photographer and features a large selection of vintage prints from the collection of the Welty family.
During the Great Depression, Welty worked as a publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration. She traveled extensively throughout Mississippi, writing articles on the daily lives and conditions of the people. While on assignment, she took her camera along, applying her narrative eye photographing the people, places, and events around her. Welty referred to these photographs as “snapshots” because of the spontaneity in which they were made. A selection of photographs from this era created in New York City and New Orleans are also included in the exhibition.
On view through July 14, 2013.
This exhibition is supported by the Eudora Welty Foundation.
Walter Inglis Anderson: Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Walter Anderson was born in 1903 in New Orleans, La. He was a painter, potter, writer and naturalist who spent most of his life working in or around his family’s business, Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs, Miss. A small, undisturbed barrier island, Horn Island became his refuge and main inspiration. This exhibition will showcase works from the Ogden Museum’s permanent collection, as well as those from the Wesley and Norman Galen Collection. Ongoing exhibition.
Southern Regionalists from the Permanent Collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
This exhibition showcases the diversity of artists who reflected the changing times of the American South in the 1930s – 1950s. Artists included: Katherine Blackshear, Archie Bongé, Christopher Clark, Alberta Collier, Otis Dozier, Caroline Durieux, John Kelly Fitzpatrick, Campbell Gillis, Robert Gwathmey, Marie Atkinson Hull, Edmund Daniel Kitzinger, Florence McClung, John McCrady and Richard Wilt. Ongoing exhibition.
More information: http://www.ogdenmuseum.org
