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MARGARET
LAW: PAINTER OF SOUTHERN LIFE As we reach the end of this century, one need only view Margaret Moffett Law's art to be reminded of the dramatic social changes that have occurred. Law's paintings and prints pulsate with intimate glimpses of life in South Carolina during the early decades of this century: fields of cotton and peaches, rural farmworkers, families gathered around the radio listening to the Rose Bowl, men drinking soda at the Spartan Mills' store, Mill women lined up at the cashiers window. All these scenes and more evoke a time-gone-by, captured with Law's sensitive eye. Law, who lived from 1871-1956, loved everyday folks and was particularly inspired by her South Carolina roots. Her paintings and prints were not only appreciated in the South but were widely exhibited and reviewed in numerous cities throughout the United States including New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and in Paris, France. It is fitting that the Spartanburg County Museum of Art host an exhibit of Margaret Law's art. Even during her years in Baltimore she returned to Spartanburg to paint during the summer months. When she moved back to teach, she lived across the street from the museum where a Montessori school now stands. She gave back to the community even while she lived out of town by co-founding the Arts and Crafts Club in 1907 which evolved to become the Spartanburg County Museum of Art. Also in 1907 she helped organize an exhibit featuring her mentor Robert Henri's Girl with Red Hair which was the first painting purchased by the Arts and Crafts Club and remains among the museum's prized possessions. Margaret Law was the fourth child of Rev. Thomas Hart Law and Anna Adger Law, a prominent Spartanburg family. Her father was among the first class to graduate from the Citadel, and served as a Confederate chaplain before becoming the first pastor of First Presbyterian Church. Her mother came from Charleston where her family had been prosperous merchants. A graduate of Converse College in 1895, Law chose to pursue her artistic training rather than settle down in Spartanburg. She continued her studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art in Philadelphia, and in New York at the Cooper Art School, the Art Students League and the Chase School (officially called the New York School of Art). Although there were a handful of Southern women at the turn of the century who left home to study in New York and Europe, it certainly was uncommon. There still existed a number of social and professional restrictions that discouraged a woman's professional success. To give this some perspective, keep in mind that women could not vote until 1920. In the art world women were often barred from educational and exhibition opportunities. The National Academy of Design, for example, prohibited women from attending anatomy classes until 1914. William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri provided a more liberal environment for women.1 Henri and "The Eight" rebelled against the conservative National Academy of Design by organizing independent non-juried exhibitions which enabled many women artists such as Law to exhibit. Law also joined the National Association for Women Sculptors and Painters which helped break the barriers for women artists. An important influence in her development was William Merritt Chase who taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art and founded the New York School of Art (the Chase School). Chase has been credited as the "most important teacher of his generation, perhaps in all of American art education."2 While Chase can best be described as an American Impressionist, neither Law nor most other Southern artists adopted the Impressionist style.3 Law's paintings contain some characteristics of Impressionism but the brushwork is not as feathery, and her palette tends to be darker. Her subject matter also differs from the carefree leisure activities typical of Impressionists. Despite some differences in style, Chase nonetheless influenced Law in a number of ways. Chase advocated plein-air painting, noting the change of palette when painting outdoors. Law took this to heart and for the rest of her life she enjoyed taking her paints and canvas (or, if she did not have stretched canvas, shirt cardboard) in her little car to the countryside to make oil sketches of the scenery. The spontaneity of her plein-air paintings is evident in the various farm scenes in this exhibit. Chase also encouraged expressive use of color and light, telling his students: "Don't hesitate to exaggerate color and light. Don't worry about telling lies. The most tiresome people--and pictures--are the stupidly truthful ones."4 This teaching influenced Law's style in the exaggerated rhythm of her workers, and the expressive use of color. In the famous Chain Gang picture, of which she made prints as well as a painting, Law captured the grace and rhythm of the workers to create a choreographed dance. In paintings such as the Cotton Picker Law enhanced the natural coloration of the skin to a reddish brown, and intensified the color of the ground to a pinkish-orange. Although Chase's teaching is apparent in Law's style, Law herself credited Robert Henri as the most important influence on her art.5 Henri taught at the New York School of Art with Chase during the first decade of the 1900s, and later at his own school and at the Art Students League. Whereas Chase stressed painterly surfaces and pictorial effects, Henri emphasized social themes.6 Unlike Chase, Henri abandoned the Impressionist style by the mid-1890s in favor of a darker palette. Henri was the leader of the so-called Ashcan School, or "the Eight," a group of urban realists in New York who first showed together in 1908. According to the art historian William Gerdts, "Henri championed "Art for Life's Sake" rather than "Art for Art's Sake."7 The belief in the dignity and worth of common folk, which was the hallmark of the Ashcan School, became the focus of Law's work. Law's slightly caricatured, informal studies of average people, with rapidly executed, expressive brushwork is characteristic of the Ashcan School's style. In addition to her studies in New York, Law trained with Charles Hawthorn in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and with Andre l'Hote in Paris. Andre l'Hote was a Cubist artist whose geometric forms had only a minor impact on Law's style. However, the flattening and simplifying of forms in her work reflects the modern influence. While studying in Paris, Law's work was exhibited and reviewed at least twice in the Revue du Vrai et du Beau during August of 1923 and 1924. Law became well-known for her depictions of African-Americans as rural or domestic workers. In choosing to depict rural blacks, Law followed a precedent established by Southern artists at least since Reconstruction. Unlike many such depictions however, Law avoided patronizing or sentimentalizing the subject matter. The Spartanburg farm scene of cotton pickers bent over cotton, which Law painted with oil on shirt cardboard, is typical of her work. It appears to be rapidly executed, with a keen interest in aesthetic concerns as seen in her repetition of form and the exaggeration of color. The blue of the skirts, for example, is repeated in the green fields. Another Spartanburg farm scene, a watercolor this time, represents three African-Americans carrying baskets on their heads from the field with arms extended. As we saw in Chain Gang, Law is attentive to the dance-like rhythm of the workers. In addition to her many depictions of people in various activities, Law also painted a number of landscapes and still-lifes, of which a sampling is on exhibit. Typical of her landscapes is the painting Maryville, Tennessee, 1941, in which trees are rendered with broad gestures, lacking in detail. Law was concerned with capturing an immediate response to nature. The expressive brushwork and color conveys the energy and mood she felt while observing the landscape. As seen in this exhibit, Law experimented with a number of art mediums. She used various print techniques including etching, lithography, woodblock and linoleum prints, as well as oil and watercolor painting. Whatever the medium, her art conveys a sense of candidness and spontaneity--like a snapshot of everyday life. To support herself, Law taught art throughout her career, first in Baltimore at Bryn Mawr College for women and Montrose Academy (a correctional school). Then in 1936 she taught in Spartanburg, becoming the art supervisor for the Spartanburg School District. Law shared her independent thinking with her students, encouraging them to use their imagination instead of copying a "realistic" style. Her teaching methods as well as her art reveals Henri's impact. Henri wrote that art school "is not a place where students are fitted into the groove of rule and regulation but where personality, originality of vision, idea, is encouraged..." Breaking from the conservative traditions of her upbringing required a strength of character and independence that remained with Law all her life. Her feisty spirit has been described by family members who recall that in her seventies Margaret Law taught herself to swim, learned to tap dance, and drove herself to Mexico. Law had been to Mexico at least once before, in 1936, when she went to study the Mexican muralists. Law has been described as a woman of small stature, yet she had a large vision for herself and humanity. This petite woman from what was then a small, provincial Southern town, went on to exhibit throughout the United States and abroad. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, the High Museum in Atlanta, the South Caroliniana Library of the University of South Carolina, as well as the Regional Museum of Spartanburg County, the Spartanburg County Museum of Art and other collections too numerous to mention. Margaret Law's dynamic spirit endures not only in the art which we still enjoy, but also in the love of humanity that she shared in her art, teaching and community service. _______ |