October Issue 1999
Margaret M. Law Exhibit at Spartanburg County Museum of Art
Margaret M. Law: Painter of Southern
Life (1871-1956 ) is an exhibition on view at the Spartanburg
County Museum of Art in Spartanburg, SC, through Nov. 21. It is
an exhibition of paintings and prints representing intimate glimpses
of life in South Carolina during the early decades of this century.
Law's images of everyday folk remind us of the social changes
that have taken place this century.
Law, a Spartanburg native, graduated from Converse College in 1895. She continued her studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, Art School in NY, the Art Students League and the Chase School (officially called the New York School of Art). She studied under the famous American artists William Merritt Chase, best categorized as a an impressionist, and Robert Henri, a realist. Because a number of social and professional restrictions discouraged a woman's success, Henri and Chase provided a more liberal environment for women and minorities. "The Eight" or the Ashcan School, lead by Henri, was a group of urban realists in NY whose style became the first uniquely American art. The belief in the dignity and worth of common folk which was the hallmark of the "The Eight" became the focus of Law's work. The flattened, simplified forms in her works also portray a modern influence.
Although known for her depictions of African Americans, she also painted still lifes and landscapes. She used a variety of media such as oils, watercolor, and printmaking (lithography, etching, woodblock, linoleum, and monotype)
In 1907, Margaret Law co-founded the Arts and Crafts Club which evolved into the Spartanburg Museum of Art and in 1936, she was the art supervisor for the Spartanburg School District.
The exhibit is part of Views From the Edge of the Century A project of South Carolina Arts Commission and Bank of America. The exhibition is sponsored by Swaim, Brown, and Elliott.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery
listings or call the gallery at 864/948-5353.
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer 427, Bonneau, SC
29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
Subscriptions are available for $18 a year.
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring
Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 1999 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston
Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts
from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts
Online, Copyright© 1999 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved
by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use
without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina
Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.