Spartanburg, South Carolina - March 21, 2025
Parrish, Clara (1861–1925)
The Flower Garden
Oil on wood panel
4 5/8 x 7 1/8 inches
thejohnsoncollection.org/clara-parrish-flower-garden/
Clara Weaver Parrish left her wealthy Alabama family to study art abroad in the 1880s; upon her return to the United States, she enrolled at the Art Students League to work under William Merritt Chase. She painted in an Impressionist manner and also became an associate of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, where she specialized in stained glass windows for homes and churches.
A reviewer of Parrish’s 1921 exhibition at the Brooks Memorial Gallery in Memphis found the artist to be “classic in her subjects [and] a deep student fond of color, but never overdone.” Bold brushstrokes and vivid colors appear to dance across the surface of this wood panel and lend the work a certain immediacy, as if the scene had been painted in the garden’s midst.
Clara Weaver Parrish’s life was marked by privilege, great love, and grief—grief that deeply influenced her personal and professional endeavors, and found elegant expression in her oeuvre. As an artist who could “feel the tragedy,” Parrish channeled her sorrow as “inspiration for art of the highest sort.” In her hometown of Selma, Alabama, the future artist’s father had once been regarded as one of the state’s wealthiest men. And while the family fortune certainly suffered in the aftermath of the Civil War, young Clara and her sisters received a typically genteel education for the day. The Weaver household was an especially creative one, where the arts were heartily encouraged and pursued.
In light of her considerable talent, the Weavers supported their daughter’s aspirations and underwrote her enrollment at the Art Students League in New York. A relatively new institution at the time of her matriculation, Parrish flourished in the League’s atelier-style curriculum under the instruction of leading American Impressionist William Merritt Chase and classical painter Kenyon Cox. Her portraits’ “soulful and introspective quality, with their dark backgrounds and controlled use of color” can be traced to these teachers’ influence. In particular, the women in Parrish’s portraits are indeed “soulful and introspective.” Whether living model—as in the likeness she executed of her friend and fellow artist Anne Goldthwaite—or fictional character, her subjects rarely smile and, in many examples, appear to be reflective, resigned, or morose. Rendered in pencil, pastel, and oil, these sober compositions are at once descriptive and contemplative, suggestive of a strong—even if imaginary—connection between artist and model.
In 1887, Clara Weaver married William Peck Parrish, a Selma native and successful financier who soon thereafter obtained a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Living in New York then and later, Parrish exhibited widely, both in and beyond the city, at prestigious venues such as the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, the 1893 Columbian Exposition, the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago. A daughter, born in 1889 and christened Clara Weaver Parrish, died before her second birthday. Just a year later, William Parrish suffered a fatal heart attack. Not long before these devastating losses, Parrish had begun working in the stained glass studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany. In this capacity, she designed massive biblically-themed window panels for prominent churches in New York, as well as for her home parish of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Selma, which she dedicated to her family’s memory. The characteristic jewel tones and religious iconography of stained glass are evident in Parrish’s efforts in other media.
Untethered from domestic responsibilities, Parrish traveled—and painted—extensively. For a time, she kept a Paris studio on the Boulevard Montparnasse and studied with Gustave Courtois at the Académie Colorossi. Whether inculcated by Chase or her French mentors, her adoption of plein air techniques is apparent in the vibrantly colored diminutive oil, The Flower Garden. While abroad, she produced picturesque portrait etchings as well as scenes of charming French villages and historic landmarks. When World War I interrupted her foreign sojourn, Parrish returned to New York, where her studio was located in the fashionable Van Dyke Building. She regularly returned to Alabama for visits and submitted works to Southern exhibitions, including the 1910 Appalachian Exposition and smaller regional shows. Over the course of her career, Parrish was active in national women’s arts organizations and served as an officer of the Woman’s Art Club.
___________________________________
All the Small Things
TJC Gallery, Spartanburg SC
February 19, 2025 – April 4, 2025
thejohnsoncollection.org/all-the-small-things/
Size matters in art. The scale of a work when seen in person can be an essential ingredient in its visual impact. And the received canon of fine art in the West has a clear bias for BIG things—from the monumental statuary of antiquity to the massive canvases in the contemporary art scene. Indeed, for the past four hundred years, artists have been highly incentivized to “go big,” as larger works commanded more prestige. Within the hierarchy of art genres inherited from the seventeenth century and the standardized measurements that evolved in the art industries of the nineteenth century, the largest canvases and commissions have traditionally been reserved for imposing landscapes and full-length portraits. Against this grain, the present exhibition celebrates the wondrous world of small art—in this case, paintings of no more than twenty inches.
Why might an artist work on a small scale? For some the motivation may be economic. Larger paintings mean more material costs, from more paint to bigger frames and heftier shipping prices. Thus, the size of an artwork potentially reveals unequal financial challenges faced by, for instance, women artists, self-taught artists, or artists of color. At the same time, the cheaper costs of smaller works make them well-suited for preliminary studies (as with Aaron Douglas’s The Toiler) or for trial efforts with new styles and techniques (such as Theodoros Stamos’s experiments with abstraction in Flow). Smaller art is more portable, making it ideal for artists working in the plein-air tradition or those working rapidly for tourist markets. Finally, although petite paintings have historically been relegated to subjects considered mundane or insignificant, these small works can instead confer an intimacy and humanity for the artist and viewer alike.
_______________________________________
See also: www.flickr.com/photos/ugardener/albums/72177720322921517/
THE JOHNSON COLLECTION - A Private Collection for Public Good
thejohnsoncollection.org/the-collection/
Sharing the art it stewards with communities across the country is The Johnson Collection’s essential purpose and propels our daily work. Much more than a physical place, TJC seeks to be a presence in American art, prioritizing access over location. Since 2013, the collection’s touring exhibitions have been loaned twenty-five times, placed without fee in partner museums with a combined annual attendance of over 1.2 million visitors. In its showcase of over 1,000 objects, TJC’s website functions as a digital museum, available anywhere and anytime.
What began as an interest in paintings by Carolina artists in 2002 has grown to encompass over 1,400 objects with provenances that span the centuries and chronicle the cultural evolution of the American South.
Today, The Johnson Collection counts iconic masterworks among its holdings, as well as representative pieces by an astonishing depth and breadth of artists, native and visiting, whose lives and legacies form the foundation of Southern art history. From William D. Washington’s The Burial of Latané to Malvin Gray Johnson’s Roll Jordan Roll, the collection embraces the region’s rich history and confronts its complexities, past and present.
.The contributions of women artists, ranging from Helen Turner—only the fourth woman elected to full membership in the National Academy of Design in 1921—to Alma Thomas—the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at a major national museum in 1972—are accorded overdue attention, most notably in TJC's most recent publication and companion exhibition, Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection. Landmark works by American artists of African descent such as Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Aaron Douglas, William H. Johnson, Leo Twiggs, and Hale Woodruff pay homage to their makers' barrier-defying accomplishments. Modern paintings, prints, collages, and sculpture created by internationally renowned artists associated with the experimental arts enclave of Black Mountain College, including Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa, Ilya Bolotowsky, Elaine de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, and Robert Rauschenberg highlight the North Carolina school's geographic proximity to the collection's home.
Hailed by The Magazine Antiques as having staged a "quiet art historical revolution" and expanding "the meaning of regional," The Johnson Collection heralds the pivotal role that art of the South plays in the national narrative. To that end, the collection's ambitious publication and exhibition strategies extend far beyond a single city's limit or a territorial divide.
Since 2012, TJC has produced four significant scholarly books—thoroughly researched and beautifully illustrated investigations of Southern art time periods, artists, and themes: Romantic Spirits: Nineteenth Century Paintings of the South (2012); From New York to Nebo: The Artistic Journey of Eugene Thomason (2014); Scenic Impressions: Southern Interpretations from the Johnson Collection (2015); and Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection (2018). These volumes are accompanied by traveling exhibitions that have been loaned without fee to partner museums with a combined annual attendance of over 1.7 million visitors.
Smaller curated presentations rotate at the collection's hometown exhibition space, TJC Gallery. Individual objects are regularly made available for critical exhibitions such as La Biennale di Venezia, Afro-Atlantic Histories, Outliers and American Vanguard Art, Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College, 1933-1957, Alma W. Thomas: Everything is Beautiful, Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition, and Bold, Cautious, True: Walt Whitman and American Art of the Civil War Era and featured in important publications and catalogues, including The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Art & Architecture, and The Civil War and American Art.
In 2016, the state of South Carolina honored The Johnson Collection with the Governor’s Award for the Arts, its highest arts distinction. The commendation paid tribute to the Johnson family's enduring contributions: "Equally dedicated to arts advancement and arts accessibility, the Johnsons generously share their vision, energy, passion and resources to benefit the arts in South Carolina."
"Who can say what ignites a passion? Was it those three red roses frozen in blue? An awakened connection to one's geographical roots? Perhaps the familiarity of the road to Nebo? The nucleus of what was to become our collection was formed by such seemingly unrelated catalysts. Looking back, it was always the sense of place that drew George and me to beautiful pictures—pictures that capture not only the glorious landscape of the South, but that also enliven its unique culture and dynamic history." ~Susu Johnson, Chief Executive Officer.'
__________________________________________
"If you’re looking for a vibe, this is where you’ll find it. Spartanburg is one of South Carolina’s most established, respected, progressive, and diverse art communities with everything from the fine arts—ballet, symphonies, and opera—to the cutting edge—street performers, graffiti, and dance mobs.
Experience the Cultural District
Downtown Spartanburg has even been designated as a cultural district by the South Carolina Arts Commission. Within the cultural district, you can walk to and enjoy world-class art galleries, studios, music venues, breweries, culinary arts, local literature publishers, coffee shops, libraries, museums, and more. Regardless of when you visit, you’re likely to encounter live music in the streets, featuring jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, or beach music.
Come experience how we put the art in SpARTanburg."
Spartanburg, South Carolina - March 21, 2025
Parrish, Clara (1861–1925)
The Flower Garden
Oil on wood panel
4 5/8 x 7 1/8 inches
thejohnsoncollection.org/clara-parrish-flower-garden/
Clara Weaver Parrish left her wealthy Alabama family to study art abroad in the 1880s; upon her return to the United States, she enrolled at the Art Students League to work under William Merritt Chase. She painted in an Impressionist manner and also became an associate of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, where she specialized in stained glass windows for homes and churches.
A reviewer of Parrish’s 1921 exhibition at the Brooks Memorial Gallery in Memphis found the artist to be “classic in her subjects [and] a deep student fond of color, but never overdone.” Bold brushstrokes and vivid colors appear to dance across the surface of this wood panel and lend the work a certain immediacy, as if the scene had been painted in the garden’s midst.
Clara Weaver Parrish’s life was marked by privilege, great love, and grief—grief that deeply influenced her personal and professional endeavors, and found elegant expression in her oeuvre. As an artist who could “feel the tragedy,” Parrish channeled her sorrow as “inspiration for art of the highest sort.” In her hometown of Selma, Alabama, the future artist’s father had once been regarded as one of the state’s wealthiest men. And while the family fortune certainly suffered in the aftermath of the Civil War, young Clara and her sisters received a typically genteel education for the day. The Weaver household was an especially creative one, where the arts were heartily encouraged and pursued.
In light of her considerable talent, the Weavers supported their daughter’s aspirations and underwrote her enrollment at the Art Students League in New York. A relatively new institution at the time of her matriculation, Parrish flourished in the League’s atelier-style curriculum under the instruction of leading American Impressionist William Merritt Chase and classical painter Kenyon Cox. Her portraits’ “soulful and introspective quality, with their dark backgrounds and controlled use of color” can be traced to these teachers’ influence. In particular, the women in Parrish’s portraits are indeed “soulful and introspective.” Whether living model—as in the likeness she executed of her friend and fellow artist Anne Goldthwaite—or fictional character, her subjects rarely smile and, in many examples, appear to be reflective, resigned, or morose. Rendered in pencil, pastel, and oil, these sober compositions are at once descriptive and contemplative, suggestive of a strong—even if imaginary—connection between artist and model.
In 1887, Clara Weaver married William Peck Parrish, a Selma native and successful financier who soon thereafter obtained a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Living in New York then and later, Parrish exhibited widely, both in and beyond the city, at prestigious venues such as the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, the 1893 Columbian Exposition, the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago. A daughter, born in 1889 and christened Clara Weaver Parrish, died before her second birthday. Just a year later, William Parrish suffered a fatal heart attack. Not long before these devastating losses, Parrish had begun working in the stained glass studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany. In this capacity, she designed massive biblically-themed window panels for prominent churches in New York, as well as for her home parish of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Selma, which she dedicated to her family’s memory. The characteristic jewel tones and religious iconography of stained glass are evident in Parrish’s efforts in other media.
Untethered from domestic responsibilities, Parrish traveled—and painted—extensively. For a time, she kept a Paris studio on the Boulevard Montparnasse and studied with Gustave Courtois at the Académie Colorossi. Whether inculcated by Chase or her French mentors, her adoption of plein air techniques is apparent in the vibrantly colored diminutive oil, The Flower Garden. While abroad, she produced picturesque portrait etchings as well as scenes of charming French villages and historic landmarks. When World War I interrupted her foreign sojourn, Parrish returned to New York, where her studio was located in the fashionable Van Dyke Building. She regularly returned to Alabama for visits and submitted works to Southern exhibitions, including the 1910 Appalachian Exposition and smaller regional shows. Over the course of her career, Parrish was active in national women’s arts organizations and served as an officer of the Woman’s Art Club.
___________________________________
All the Small Things
TJC Gallery, Spartanburg SC
February 19, 2025 – April 4, 2025
thejohnsoncollection.org/all-the-small-things/
Size matters in art. The scale of a work when seen in person can be an essential ingredient in its visual impact. And the received canon of fine art in the West has a clear bias for BIG things—from the monumental statuary of antiquity to the massive canvases in the contemporary art scene. Indeed, for the past four hundred years, artists have been highly incentivized to “go big,” as larger works commanded more prestige. Within the hierarchy of art genres inherited from the seventeenth century and the standardized measurements that evolved in the art industries of the nineteenth century, the largest canvases and commissions have traditionally been reserved for imposing landscapes and full-length portraits. Against this grain, the present exhibition celebrates the wondrous world of small art—in this case, paintings of no more than twenty inches.
Why might an artist work on a small scale? For some the motivation may be economic. Larger paintings mean more material costs, from more paint to bigger frames and heftier shipping prices. Thus, the size of an artwork potentially reveals unequal financial challenges faced by, for instance, women artists, self-taught artists, or artists of color. At the same time, the cheaper costs of smaller works make them well-suited for preliminary studies (as with Aaron Douglas’s The Toiler) or for trial efforts with new styles and techniques (such as Theodoros Stamos’s experiments with abstraction in Flow). Smaller art is more portable, making it ideal for artists working in the plein-air tradition or those working rapidly for tourist markets. Finally, although petite paintings have historically been relegated to subjects considered mundane or insignificant, these small works can instead confer an intimacy and humanity for the artist and viewer alike.
_______________________________________
See also: www.flickr.com/photos/ugardener/albums/72177720322921517/
THE JOHNSON COLLECTION - A Private Collection for Public Good
thejohnsoncollection.org/the-collection/
Sharing the art it stewards with communities across the country is The Johnson Collection’s essential purpose and propels our daily work. Much more than a physical place, TJC seeks to be a presence in American art, prioritizing access over location. Since 2013, the collection’s touring exhibitions have been loaned twenty-five times, placed without fee in partner museums with a combined annual attendance of over 1.2 million visitors. In its showcase of over 1,000 objects, TJC’s website functions as a digital museum, available anywhere and anytime.
What began as an interest in paintings by Carolina artists in 2002 has grown to encompass over 1,400 objects with provenances that span the centuries and chronicle the cultural evolution of the American South.
Today, The Johnson Collection counts iconic masterworks among its holdings, as well as representative pieces by an astonishing depth and breadth of artists, native and visiting, whose lives and legacies form the foundation of Southern art history. From William D. Washington’s The Burial of Latané to Malvin Gray Johnson’s Roll Jordan Roll, the collection embraces the region’s rich history and confronts its complexities, past and present.
.The contributions of women artists, ranging from Helen Turner—only the fourth woman elected to full membership in the National Academy of Design in 1921—to Alma Thomas—the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at a major national museum in 1972—are accorded overdue attention, most notably in TJC's most recent publication and companion exhibition, Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection. Landmark works by American artists of African descent such as Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Aaron Douglas, William H. Johnson, Leo Twiggs, and Hale Woodruff pay homage to their makers' barrier-defying accomplishments. Modern paintings, prints, collages, and sculpture created by internationally renowned artists associated with the experimental arts enclave of Black Mountain College, including Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa, Ilya Bolotowsky, Elaine de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, and Robert Rauschenberg highlight the North Carolina school's geographic proximity to the collection's home.
Hailed by The Magazine Antiques as having staged a "quiet art historical revolution" and expanding "the meaning of regional," The Johnson Collection heralds the pivotal role that art of the South plays in the national narrative. To that end, the collection's ambitious publication and exhibition strategies extend far beyond a single city's limit or a territorial divide.
Since 2012, TJC has produced four significant scholarly books—thoroughly researched and beautifully illustrated investigations of Southern art time periods, artists, and themes: Romantic Spirits: Nineteenth Century Paintings of the South (2012); From New York to Nebo: The Artistic Journey of Eugene Thomason (2014); Scenic Impressions: Southern Interpretations from the Johnson Collection (2015); and Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection (2018). These volumes are accompanied by traveling exhibitions that have been loaned without fee to partner museums with a combined annual attendance of over 1.7 million visitors.
Smaller curated presentations rotate at the collection's hometown exhibition space, TJC Gallery. Individual objects are regularly made available for critical exhibitions such as La Biennale di Venezia, Afro-Atlantic Histories, Outliers and American Vanguard Art, Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College, 1933-1957, Alma W. Thomas: Everything is Beautiful, Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition, and Bold, Cautious, True: Walt Whitman and American Art of the Civil War Era and featured in important publications and catalogues, including The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Art & Architecture, and The Civil War and American Art.
In 2016, the state of South Carolina honored The Johnson Collection with the Governor’s Award for the Arts, its highest arts distinction. The commendation paid tribute to the Johnson family's enduring contributions: "Equally dedicated to arts advancement and arts accessibility, the Johnsons generously share their vision, energy, passion and resources to benefit the arts in South Carolina."
"Who can say what ignites a passion? Was it those three red roses frozen in blue? An awakened connection to one's geographical roots? Perhaps the familiarity of the road to Nebo? The nucleus of what was to become our collection was formed by such seemingly unrelated catalysts. Looking back, it was always the sense of place that drew George and me to beautiful pictures—pictures that capture not only the glorious landscape of the South, but that also enliven its unique culture and dynamic history." ~Susu Johnson, Chief Executive Officer.'
__________________________________________
"If you’re looking for a vibe, this is where you’ll find it. Spartanburg is one of South Carolina’s most established, respected, progressive, and diverse art communities with everything from the fine arts—ballet, symphonies, and opera—to the cutting edge—street performers, graffiti, and dance mobs.
Experience the Cultural District
Downtown Spartanburg has even been designated as a cultural district by the South Carolina Arts Commission. Within the cultural district, you can walk to and enjoy world-class art galleries, studios, music venues, breweries, culinary arts, local literature publishers, coffee shops, libraries, museums, and more. Regardless of when you visit, you’re likely to encounter live music in the streets, featuring jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, or beach music.
Come experience how we put the art in SpARTanburg."