The Charleston Renaissance

"The Charleston Renaissance chronicles a dynamic period of Southern history, detailing the artistic legacy of native and national artists whose collective image-making led to Charleston's transformation from a faded Southern capital to a premier tourist destination. Martha Severens, as art historian, curator, and former Charleston resident, introduces readers to the city's traditions and lore, and delineates their impact on the art of the day. Through her examination of the major local figures of the period - Alfred Hurry, Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, Anna Heyward Taylor, and Verner - as well as the impressive list of visiting artists - including Birge Harrison, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, Lilla Cabot Perry, and many more - Severens expands upon the existing scholarship, adding new depth and dimension to both the period and the place. Ultimately, by connecting the artistic advances in Charleston to the greater American art scene, Severens brings clarity to the "ancient, beautiful" city's vital role in Southern art and American regionalism."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

"The essays tell how these and other individuals faced the tensions and contradictions of their time and place. While some traced their lineage back to the city's first families, others were relative newcomers. Some broke new ground racially and sexually as well as artistically; others perpetuated the myths of the Old South. Some were censured at home but praised in New York, London, and Paris. The essays also underscore the significance and growth of such cultural institutions as the Poetry Society of South Carolina, the Charleston Museum, and the Gibbes Art Gallery."--BOOK JACKET.

Based on years of research and thousands of notes left by John Bennett, Mr. Skylark is an unusually intimate biography of a pivotal figure in the Charleston Renaissance, the brief period between the two World Wars that first witnessed many of the cultural and artistic changes soon to sweep the South. The book not only examines Bennett's life but also reveals the rich tapestry of the literary and social history of Charleston. An outsider who became an insider by marrying into the local aristocracy, Bennett was perfectly placed to observe social and artistic change and to prompt it. He published the first scholarly treatise on Gullah, the language of the coastal Southern blacks, and collected African American spirituals and tales. But after breaking several racial taboos of the time, he was publicly condemned, and it was only through mentoring such writers as Hervey Allen and DuBose Heyward that he was eventually welcomed back into the heart of the city. Today, the Charleston aesthetic, which mourned the loss of beauty in a modernizing South, is often overlooked in the study of Southern literature, but Bennett, through his extensive private correspondence and notes, offers insight into the forces that shaped this cultural movement. Restored to us in all his complexity and humor, Bennett is important for his own accomplishments, but also for providing a lens through which to view southern literary history and the complexities of a changing South.

Alice Ravenel Huger Smith (1876-1958), a leader of the Charleston Renaissance, immortalized the beauty and history of the Carolina Lowcountry and helped propel the region into an important destination for cultural tourism. A lifelong Charleston resident, she helped spark the city's historic preservation movement, depicted the waning days of rice planting, and captured the mystical spirit of the Lowcountry in luminous watercolors. This beautifully-illustrated volume is a personal account of the artist's life and work that draws on unpublished papers, letters, and interviews. It includes over 200 paintings, prints, sketches, and photographs, many shared for the first time. The most comprehensive book ever made of Alice's work, it is both an important contribution to Southern art scholarship and a gorgeous addition to the bookshelves of art lovers.Published by Evening Post Books in collaboration with the Middleton Place Foundation.

A century before Boston became been the birthplace of the American Revolution, Carolina Colony was the birthplace of entertainment and leisure activities in Colonial America. Building a civilized city in the uncultivated New World was hard work, but Southern settlers made sure to leave time for life’s lighter pursuits. Every aspect of the port city elicited pleasure, from the architecture to the magnificent parks and manicured gardens. Throughout the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Great Depression, Charleston and other seaside towns along South Carolina’s coast were fertile ground for art, music, and opportunity. It’s no wonder the region has drawn famous characters for hundreds of years, from political leaders, George Washington, Thomas Heyward, Jr., and John C. Calhoun, to pirates, Stede Bonnet, Blackbeard, and Anne Bonny, and the artists, writers, musicians, and architects who ushered in the Charleston Renaissance in the twentieth century. Take a journey through Charleston’s past with a look at the talented people and inspiring events that shaped the city and surrounding region into a cultural mecca of art, music, dance, and design. Each chapter features an itinerary for a walking or driving tour to help readers celebrate the lesser-known side of Charleston’s entertaining past.

"Through the oils of [West Fraser's] mature style ... he has achieved a level of spontaneity in the plein air tradition that captures the essence of the lowcountry." So concludes the essay by Angela D. Mack that leads everyone from connoisseurs to those who simply enjoy the artistic images of the South Carolina lowcountry into a visual feast to stir the senses. The first book of its kind dedicated to the work of this plein air impressionist, Charleston in My Time: The Paintings of West Fraser celebrates the passion and independence West Fraser exhibits in his work, his amazing eye for natural light and landscapes, and his love of Charleston and the lowcountry.

Alfred Hutty was one of the founding members of the Charleston Etchers Club in 1923, a time when etchings were used by printmakers to celebrate the essence of the Holy City. Hutty captures the facets of Charleston life. Featured are approximately sixty scenes of the Low Country in etchings, pencil drawings, and drypoint.

A study of the life, work, and extraordinary influence of an innovative architect Albert Simons came of age during the vibrant years of the Charleston Renaissance in the early twentieth century. His influential social circle included artists, musicians, writers, historians, and preservationists, many supporting the cultural revival that was reshaping the city. Through his architectural design and passion for preservation, Simons contributed tremendously to the cultural environment of the Charleston Renaissance. His work helped to mold the cityscape and set a course that would both preserve the historic South Carolina city and carry it forward, allowing it to become the thriving urban center it is today. Simons brought both a sense of history and place, born of his deep roots in Charleston, as well as a cosmopolitanism developed during his years of training at the University of Pennsylvania and travels on the European continent. The melding of those sensibilities was a perfect match for the age and made him a true Charleston Renaissance Man. While he preferred the more traditional Beaux-Arts, Classical, and Colonial Revival styles, Simons had the unique ability to balance traditional and modern styles. He believed preservation in Charleston was about retaining the city's architectural heritage but doing so in a way that allowed the city to grow and progress—to be a living city. Looking forward and simultaneously looking back is quintessentially Charleston and a hallmark of Simons's life and work. Featuring more than 100 color and black and white photographs and illustrations alongside author Ralph Muldrow's compelling storytelling, this fascinating book reveals the deep connection between Simons and the Charleston cityscape. With a foreword by Witold Rybczynski, the award-winning author of numerous books including Charleston Fancy: Little Houses and Big Ideas in the Holy City, Muldrow's Charleston Renaissance Man is a celebration of Charleston's unique architectural character and the architect who embodied the Charleston Renaissance.