Select 2015 Gifts of Art

Henry Cleveland Ransom

American b. 1946

Sheetscape

oil on canvas

Georgia resident Henry Ransom produces elegant luminous paintings known for extraordinary attention to detail, intricate composition, and rich content. Listed in Who’s Who of American Art and American Artists: “An Illustrated Survey of Leading American Contemporaries,” Ransom obtained his B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the University of Georgia. His early work included figure paintings and interiors. While living and exhibiting in New York City, he developed his signature “Sheetscape” and “Earthscape” aerial still life series, one of which won the prestigious Julius Hallgarten Prize from the National Academy of Design. Ransom's exquisite paintings hypnotically transport the viewer into carefully constructed environments drawn from still life landscapes he creates in his studio and often feature found objects from the American South and his travels to the Far East. The artist's works are held in the collections of the Mint Museum of North Carolina, the Hunter Museum in Tennessee, the Montgomery Museum in Alabama, the Madison Museum of Fine Art, and the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio.

Portrait of Henrietta King Bryan Baldwin (1884-1968)

Oil on Canvas 1937

by Wilford Seymour Conrow, American (1880-1957)

Charleston Southern Belle Henrietta King Bryan (b. 1884) summered for 84 years at her family’s “Argyle” estate in Flat Rock, NC. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she married George Hull Baldwin of Savannah whose father was an early patron of the Telfair museum. American artist and Princeton graduate Wilford Seymour Conrow also summered in Hendersonville and painted Henrietta at age 53. Conrow portraits typically portray character and reflect an intimacy through personal acquaintance. His works are found in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian Amercan Art Museum, and the Hickory Museum of Art.

2015 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George Hull Baldwin III