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May Issue 2008
Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia,
SC, Offers Works by Alfred Hutty and Works from Ancient Art Collection
The Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC, is presenting several new exhibitions including: Found Heaven: The Lowcountry of Alfred Heber Hutty, on view through July 20, 2008, in the Museum's BB&T Focus Gallery and a new and permanent installation of works from the Museum's Ancient Art Collection in the Ray Taylor Fair Gallery.
A new installation of 24 works by Charleston Renaissance artist Alfred Heber Hutty, including one of only two pastel drawings known to exist by Hutty and a selection of etchings, drypoints, paintings and drawings by Hutty (1878-1954).
Hutty came to Charleston, SC, in 1919 when he was already in his early forties and immediately cabled his wife "Come quickly. Have found heaven." Having worked as a stained glass designer in Kansas City and at Tiffany Glass Studios in New York, Hutty had begun a long association with the Woodstock, NY, art community and with Lowell Birge Harrison, who was also a mentor of fellow Charleston artist Alice R.H. Smith. Primarily an oil and watercolor painter, Hutty did not take up etching until he moved to Charleston but quickly demonstrated his complete mastery of the medium, winning awards all over the country.
Until his death in 1954, Hutty divided his time between Charleston and Woodstock and was a founding member of the Charleston Etchers Club. Together with Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, Elizabeth O'Neill Verner, and Anna Heyward Taylor, Hutty was a member of the "Charleston Renaissance," a group of artists who visually captured the rebirth of the city in the years following the Civil War and Reconstruction. Hutty's artistic vision combined with his technique uniquely captured the haunting beauty of Charleston - its religious, residential and commercial buildings, surrounding plantations, and scenes from daily life.
The new and permanent installation of the Museum's Ancient Art Collection includes approximately 50 objects that introduce the major ancient civilizations from the Mediterranean and Near East. Examples of the earliest form of writing from 12th century B.C. Mesopotamia, are shown next to Egyptian scarabs and Greek painted vessels. The world of the ancient Romans is represented by 2nd century glass and bronze items and portrait sculpture. Many of these works have not been seen since the Museum moved to its location on Main Street in 1998. The collection has grown over the last several years with the donation of 12 fine Roman sculptures in 2002 from Pennsylvania collector Dr. Robert Y. Turner.
Roman Imperial portraiture is represented by seven superb portrait heads and a statuette of Salus, goddess of health. The only collection of Roman sculpture in South Carolina on public view shows an engaging glimpse into the lives of ancient Romans with its accompanying texts, glass and bronze implements.
Greek pottery is represented by objects from the Geometric, Archaic, Late Classical and Hellenistic Periods. A finely painted Archaic Period oil flask, Black-Figured Lekythos, circa 510 B.C. from Athens, is painted with a scene showing the Greek heroes, Achilles and Ajax playing dice with the goddess Athena intervening.
The oldest objects in the gallery, circa 12th 7th century B.C., are cuneiform clay tablets the oldest form of writing developed in the region of Sumer in southern Mesopotamia. Ancient terracotta and paint votive objects include the Horseman and Horse, circa 7th century B.C. from Cyprus, and Statuette of a Woman wearing a Pomegranate Necklace from the Greek Archaic Period, circa 580 550 B.C.
Objects from Ancient Palestine include an earthenware storage vessel and bowl, circa 17th 16th century B.C. from the Middle Bronze Age, and a dipper juglet and pitcher, circa 1300 1220 B.C. from the Early Iron Age.
Egyptian objects in the installation include Shabtis from the 26th Dynasty, circa 664 525 B.C. and also from the Ptolemaic Period, circa 332 30 B.C. Shabti figures were included in tombs to serve the deceased and were painted with magical spells from the Book of the Dead.
The installation was guest curated by Dr. Laura Voight.
For further information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Museum at 803/799-2810 or visit (www.columbiamuseum.org).
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