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March Issue 2006

Spartanburg Co. Museum of Art in Spartanburg, SC, Features Works from Harvey Collection

The Spartanburg County Museum of Art in Spartanburg, SC, in association with The Charleston Renaissance Gallery is pleased to present nineteen pieces of fine art from The Steven Harvey Southern Collection, on view in the Museum's Hallway Gallery through Mar. 31, 2006.

Steven Cabot Barnes Harvey (1949-1993) was a scholar and collector of American fine and decorative arts. Steven's sister, Linea Harvey described her brother as having "a great passion for and an omniscient knowledge of all things Southern. This innate connection to Southern culture and style, and particularly to Southern art, would, over the course of Steven's too few years, become a definitive characteristic and call in a life rich in joy."

Harvey was a native of Providence, RI, and began collecting at the early age of eight. While in junior high school he discovered a local art dealer. According to his sister, his first acquisition of art was a "portentous purchase". "The image, depicting the back view of a Civil War Soldier in a private moment of mourning, foretold the Southern art collector Steven would become."

Harvey graduated from Wake Forest University where he began his love affair with the South. He received a master's degree from the University of Georgia and became friends with one of the founders of the Athens Art Club. Harvey's sister wrote, "When Steven was once asked why he collected art, he replied that he did not have the talent to paint, but he did have the talent to collect."

His sister remembers helping Harvey acquire Octoroon Girl by Archibald John Motley, Jr. (1891-1981). "Steven assured me that I would be better off investing in this piece than in any bank or the stock market. He insisted I would agree once I had seen the canvas. Octoroon Girl toured three exhibitions before it finally came home to my New York City apartment. When I opened the box and unwrapped the painting to look at it for the first time, I wept. My brother Steven was endearing and enthusiastic and even a bit crazy. But he was also right, for she was and is so much more than beautiful."

The Spartanburg County Museum of Art is pleased to have the opportunity to show this painting along with others by Wayman Adams (1883-1959), Elliott Daingerfield (1859-1932), Edward Middleton Manigault (1887-1922), Hattie Saussy (1890-1978) and William Posey Silva (1859-1948) to name a few.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at 864-582-7616 or at (www.spartanburgartmuseum.org).

 

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