A Life in Art : a slide lecture by Vicki Ingham

Birmingham Public Library’s Arrington Auditorium

Sunday, November 7 at 2 p.m.

The lecture is cosponsored by the Alabama Humanities Foundation

Art of the New South: Women Artists of Birmingham, 1890-1930

Birmingham Public Library Gallery
November 7, 2004 to January 4, 2005

Birmingham Historical Society and the Birmingham Public Library announce the new exhibition Art of the New South: Women Artists of Birmingham, 1890-1930, to be on display at the downtown Birmingham Public Library Gallery from November 7, 2004 to January 4, 2005. Launched to coincide with the publication of the Historical Society’s newest book Art of the New South by Vicki Leigh Ingham, the exhibit includes paintings, sketches, catalogs, scrapbooks, and photographs from the Birmingham Public Library, local families and collectors, Birmingham Museum of Art and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Visitors to the exhibit will learn about the lives and careers of early twentieth century Birmingham artists Carrie Hill, Lucille Douglass, Alice Rumph, Della Dryer, Hannah Elliott, Caroline Lovell, Carrie Montgomery, and Willie McLaughlin. Each woman emerges as a distinct personality who helped shape the arts identity of a still young and growing Birmingham. As members of the Birmingham Art Club (established in 1907 by Della Dryer and others), these painters created remarkable works of art, traveled widely to study at noted academies, shared their experiences back home, and helped establish the artistic life as an acceptable and worthwhile calling for women. "Born in the years following the Civil War--when women were expected to follow traditional paths--these were professional artists," says Marjorie White, Historical Society Director. "They were not dilettantes--most did not marry and spent a lifetime as successful artists."

"Little is known of these women today," continues White. "While researching the book and exhibit we pieced together the stories of their lives from the Library’s archival records, family collections, and the memories of those who knew them. A portrait of early Birmingham and eight incredible women took shape."

As part of the opening day celebration on Sunday November 7, Art of the New South author Vicki Ingham will deliver a slide lecture entitled A Life in Art at 2 p.m. in the downtown Birmingham Public Library’s Arrington Auditorium. The lecture is cosponsored by the Alabama Humanities Foundation. From 3-5 p.m. Ingham will autograph copies of her book at “A Studio Tea” in the Library Board Room where local artists will recreate a turn of the century studio, adjacent to the exhibition.