February 2000 Issue
Morris Museum of Art Presents Works by Charleston Artist William Halsey
Collages, assemblages, and sculptures celebrating the distinguished career of William Halsey (1915-1999) will be on exhibit through Mar. 26 at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, GA. A noted modernist, known as a pioneer of abstract painting in the South, Halsey drew inspiration from Charleston, SC, the historic city he loved.
The exhibition was organized by the Greenville County Museum of Art as part of the SC Arts Commission's millennial celebration, Views from the Edge of the Century. Greenville Museum director Thomas W. Styron worked with curator Martha Severens in selecting works and producing the exhibition. The exhibit, which includes works from 1951 through 1997, was not intended to be a retrospective of the artist's entire career, but rather selections that offer insights into the scope of his work.
William Halsey lived in Charleston, SC, for most of his life. But unlike the resident artists who preceded him or most of those who followed, Halsey did not paint picturesque scenes of his native city. As Severens notes, Halsey's preference for abstraction separated him from the artistic tradition of Charleston, long- steeped in conventional realism. He found inspiration in Charleston's colors, textures, and geometry. "While not picturing Charleston, he incorporates the city's essence in his materials and in the well-worked surfaces of his art."
In some instances, he literally takes the component parts from his surroundings," she writes, noting that in his constructions, Halsey used weathered boards, old balusters, keys, hooks, and buckles found in his urban landscape. In his collages and late-career oil-stick paintings, she said, "There is an energy, a passion, and a radiant color that evoke the city as it is today.'
Halsey was one of the first modern artists to call SC home. After graduating from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, he and his wife, the artist Corrie McCallum, lived in Mexico and Savannah for several years before returning to Charleston for good. As an artist and educator, he forged a vital connection between SC and the larger world of modern art. Through his 20-year career at the College of Charleston and his extensive exhibition schedule, Halsey helped promote advanced art throughout the South, and he is now widely regarded as one of the most important artists in South Carolina's history. His work has been shown in major museums including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as numerous regional museums and galleries.
It has been noted that Halsey could have lived anywhere but consciously chose to stay in the city where he was born. As American art historian Dr. William H. Gerdts wrote in his catalogue essay, Charleston, and South Carolina, ought to be very, very grateful that he stayed." Halsey mentored a generation of young artists, teaching them not only the principles of drawing and painting, but also the importance of the artistic life. When he retired from the College of Charleston in 1984, a gallery for contemporary art in the Albert Simons Fine Arts Center was named in his honor, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate of fine arts by the college in 1995. William Halsey died February 14, 1999, in Charleston.
The Morris Museum of Art is the first museum in the country devoted to the art and artists of the South with an extensive collection of paintings ranging from the late 1700s to contemporary works. The Morris is dedicated to bringing recognition to Southern art, often described as the last frontier in American art studies and the missing chapter in the history of American art.
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