Feature Articles


November 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 SC 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.

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