November 2011

NC Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC, Features Works by Louis Orr

North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC, and Gallery C in Raleigh, NC, is presenting the exhibit, Celebrating the Art of the Coastal Plain, featuring the famous Louis Orr Carolina Suite: 51 etchings of our state’s significant architectural landmarks, on view in the Four Sisters Art Gallery, through Mar. 17, 2012.

American artist Louis Orr [1879-1961] met North Carolinian Robert Lee Humber in Paris in 1939 and [1898-1970] together they envisioned a large series of etchings of North Carolina landmarks. This exhibit of etchings presents their story and a Carolina history.

A native of Greenville, NC, Robert Lee Humber was, amongst many roles as statesman, an advocate of world peace through a World Federation and advocate for art in eastern North Carolina who worked tirelessly to found of the NC Museum of Art along with Samuel Kress. Educated as an historian Humber was an international businessman working in Paris when he befriended American artist and engraver Louis Orr. As an historian and a connoisseur of prints, he commissioned Orr for 51 historical architectural views of North Carolina in a suite of etchings, all peerless works of art let alone their primary value as historical record.

Third generation to family of engravers and printers, Orr studied art both at home and abroad at the Academie Julian in Paris. The artist built a strong reputation as a print maker specializing in architectural subjects such as the beautiful bridges and cathedrals of Paris. Many works were purchased by museums including the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Smithsonian Institute. Humber’s commission for Orr was timely, as Hitler was occupying France when both the Humber and Orr families escaped to safety and returned to North Carolina where, over the next twelve years, Orr would complete this monumental series of 51 etchings of historical sites, landscapes, houses and plantations around the state. Orr’s suite of etchings of North Carolina hang in museums, courthouses and libraries around the state and have a distinguished place in its history.

This exhibit presents the complete historic Carolina Suite.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call Everett Adelman at 252/985-5268 or e-mail to (edelman@ncwc.edu).

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