When the Gibbes Museum opened in 1905, the nation celebrated what Charleston has always understood: the power of art – to inspire our imagination, heal our hurt, and nourish our souls.

Cattle in the Broom Grass, An Autumn Evening, ca. 1935, by Alice Ravenel Huger Smith

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Cattle in the Broom Grass, An Autumn Evening from the series A Carolina Rice Plantation of the Fifties, ca. 1935, by Alice Ravenel Huger Smith

Cattle in the Broom Grass, An Autumn Evening from the series A Carolina Rice Plantation of the Fifties, ca. 1935
By Alice Ravenel Huger Smith (American, 1876 – 1958)
Watercolor on paper; 18 x 13 inches
Gibbes Museum of Art (1937.009.0008)
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A native Charlestonian, Alice Smith used her art to bring attention to the beauty and heritage of Charleston and the surrounding Lowcountry region. In addition to studio practice, Smith devoted much time and energy to community activities relating to art and preservation. She was active at the Gibbes Museum of Art where she organized exhibitions of her own work as well as the work of others. She also donated objects to the museum’s collection, including this watercolor painting. Cattle in the Broom Grass, An Autumn Evening is part of a series of thirty original watercolors Smith created for the book A Carolina Rice Plantation of the Fifties, which was published in 1936.

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