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"Steps to Patty's Studio" is one of five paintings
by the late Mary H. Tannahili, a native of Warren
County, which is part of a retrospective scheduled
next month at Atlanta's Peachtree Gallery, Ltd. The
oil painting, shown above, was done around 1937, and
the reverse board bears the title and artist's studio
address in Provincetown, Mass. It was priced at $900
by the artist.
On the reverse board of Mary H. TannahlU's 1917
oil painting "Still Life With Magnolias" is written
"For London Exhibition," along with the address of
her New York studio and a price of $300. The paint
ing was also part of an exhibition of the National
Association of Women Artists, Inc., probably during
1918, at the American Fine Arts Society in New York.
Atlanta Gollcry OpGns Mary Tannahill RotrospGCtiv©
ATLANTA, GA.—A collection of paintings by
North Carolina artist Mary Harvey Tannahill (1863 -
1961) will be shown at Peachtree Gallery, Ltd., 2277
Peachtree Road, Atlanta, Ga., through June as the
gallery marks its second year on the Atlanta art
scene with its first retrospective exhibit.
Called an "artist's artist," Miss Tannahill was a
friend of Robert Henri of the Ashcan School and
student of Weir, Twachtman, Cox and Mowbray.
She spent most of her life in New York City and
Province town on Cape Cod, although she was born
and died in Warrenton, N. C.
Contemporary critics hailed Miss Tannahill for
"simplicity in design and excellent color scheme"
when her works were shown in the United States
and abroad during her lifetime. The paintings in
Peachtree Gallery's collection have not been exhib
ited since the artist's death. A few of the works are
on loan for this retrospective.
A member of the National Association of Women
Painters and Sculptors, now the National
Association of Women Artists, Inc., she entered
works in that group's 1914 ,1918,1926,1928 and 1932
shows and won prizes in several. Although records
of that organization, which will celebrate its cen
tennial in 1989, are incomplete, catalogues show
that "Still Life" in Peachtree Gallery's exhibit was
a part of a 1918 show designated the "Long
Exhibition."
Tannahill was also a member of the New York
Society of Women Artists, Provincetown Art
Association, Salons of America, Pennsylvania
Society of Miniature Painters, North Carolina Art
Socioty and the North Carolina Artists Club. A char
ter member and vice president of the latter group,
she was one of the early supporters of a museum in
her native state and contributed one of her paintings
which now hangs in the North Carolina Museum of
Art in Raleigh. She is also represented in the
Newark (N. J.) Museum of Art and the Biblioteque
Nationale in Paris.
The artist has been prabed for her "unique range
and primitive purity" and her works have been
called "modern and colorful." Cats and goats were
frequently included in her paintings and her beloved
Provincetown was often the setting. Adept in oil,
tempera and watercolor, Tannahill also won
critical acclaim for her wood blocks, batik and em
broidery.
Her miniatures possibly won her the most
plaudits during her life and they are treasured by
their private owners today. She will be included in
an upcoming book on miniature artists.
While the artist is listed in all the authoritative
biographical dictionaries for painters, little is
known about her life. She preferred to maintain her
privacy, letting her art reveal her personality.
Born at the family plantation, "Kinderhook," in
Warren County on January 11, 1863, she was the
oldest of the eight children of Robert and Sallie
Jones Simms Tannahill, both native North
Carolinians. Her father, a prominent cotton mer
chant, took the family to New York City where he
"amassed a comfortable fortune," according to his
New York Times obituary in 1883, and was
president of the New York Cotton Exchange after
serving as a major in the Confederate Army during
the Civil War. She was the sister of Sallie B. Tan
nahill, also an artist and art professor at Columbia
University's Teachers College.
The Tannahill Retrospective at Peachtree
Gallery, Ltd., opens April 2 and will continue
through June. The Gallery is open Tuesday through
Saturday from 11 a. m. to 4 p. m. and by appoint
ment. Telephone: 404/355-0511.