Scenes of American Life at the Tennessee State Museum
Scenes of American Life: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum opens today and runs through August 20, 2000 at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville.Roger Medearis celebrates the life of his remarkable grandmother in this portrait. Born during the Civil War, Susan Medearis married young and raised eleven children. Although they [the family] seldom owned more than the bare necessities, they helped cultivate the land into the lush countryside Medearis shows as her backdrop. He also acknowledges the central place religion played in her life. Despite hardship, "Godly Susan's" faith was never shaken; like her father and grandfather, three of her sons became Baptist preachers.
Source: Virginia Mecklenburg. Scenes from American Life: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).
Pictured: Roger Medearis, born 1920, Godly Susan, 1941, egg tempera on board, 27 5/8 x 23 5/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Roger and Elizabeth Medearis.
Scenes of American Life: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum opens today and runs through August 20, 2000 at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville.Roger Medearis celebrates the life of his remarkable grandmother in this portrait. Born during the Civil War, Susan Medearis married young and raised eleven children. Although they [the family] seldom owned more than the bare necessities, they helped cultivate the land into the lush countryside Medearis shows as her backdrop. He also acknowledges the central place religion played in her life. Despite hardship, "Godly Susan's" faith was never shaken; like her father and grandfather, three of her sons became Baptist preachers.