John Wesley Chumley (Virginia/Tennessee, 1928-1984), "Toadstools in Sunlight," watercolor on bristol board painting, depicting a lush woodland interior with orange Jack-O-Lantern mushrooms and white mushrooms emerging around the base of tree. A vine meanders along the trunk, which is highlighted with rays of sunlight emerging from the left side of the scene. Signed "Chumley" upper right. John Chumley label with painting title and dimensions en verso. Housed under glass in a molded giltwood frame with linen mat. Sight: 16 1/2" H x 27" W. Framed: 28 1/2" H x 38 1/2" W. Note: This painting was exhibited at the show "The World of Chumley" held at The Columbia Museum of Art (Columbia, SC) in 1977. A copy of the exhibit catalog is available with this painting. Biography: John Wesley Chumley was born in 1928 in Rochester, Minnesota while his father, a Tennessee native, was in his surgical residency at Mayo Clinic. He attended McCampbell School and the Tennessee Military Institute in Sweetwater, Tennessee. His concentration on art quickly grew after a football injury. His post-graduate study under Walter Stuempfig at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts further convinced him that his field was realism and the rural countryside his stimulus. As he refined his work, there were other influential centers of art along the way -the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida, where he met his wife Bettye (Skip) Roberts; and the Fort Worth Center of Art, Fort Worth, Texas, where he was artist-in-residence from 1958-1961. In 1961 the couple moved to a 200-acre farm in Middleton, VA that provided scenery, wildlife, plants and inspiration for the artist. Chumley's character and personality were reflected in the choice of his chief medium -egg tempera, the most difficult and "slowest," although he also painted in watercolors and oil. His painstaking representation of scenery, plants, and lifelike human and animal subjects with tempera -a tedious process involving a mixture of pigment, egg yolk, and water which dried quickly -enabled him to express his perception of light. As John observed, "Light is my bag." (source: Adapted from Askart, taken from http://www.fountaincitytnhistory.info/People5-Chumley.htm with the permission of Fountain City Historian J.C. Tumblin).

PROVENANCE: Private Southern collection.

CONDITION: Painting and frame overall very good condition. Few spots of discoloration to mat.