Sherman Marches South, 1990
Manning Bethea Williams, Jr. (American, 1939-2012)
Oil on canvas, 83 x 76 inches
Gibbes Museum of Art, Museum Purchase (2005.001.0002)
A native of Charleston, Williams graduated from the College of Charleston and received his artistic training at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. While at the Academy, Williams embraced modernist concepts and created bold, expressive abstract paintings. However, upon leaving the Academy to return to Charleston, Williams abandoned abstraction and returned to a representational style indicative of his classical training. Considered the preeminent history painter in South Carolina, Williams is best known for his large-scale, carefully rendered representational paintings.