John Wesley Chumley (Virginia/Tennessee, 1928-1984), "Columbine & Butterflies," watercolor on bristol board painting, depicting a lush woodland interior with flowering columbine emerging around a fallen tree, with two yellow swallowtail butterflies circling overhead. Signed "Chumley" lower left. John Chumley label with painting title, date of 1976 and dimensions en verso. Housed under glass in a molded giltwood frame with linen matte and gilt wood liner. Sight: 18 7/8" H x 23 1/4" W. Framed: 29 3/4" H x 33 3/4" 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 to the winning bidder of 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, "Lightis 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. Some small spots of discoloration to mat.