Page 36 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2015

ARTS a retrospective
BRIGHT FIELDS:
Work of pioneer Mississippi artist Marie Hull on exhibit in Jackson
story by Lynn Lofton photos courtesy of Marie Hull
The artists of Mississippi are real treasures, and none shines brighter
than Marie Atkinson
Hull. She is beloved by collectors, art students and
Mississippians who enjoy art. A major retrospective exhibition honoring Hull’s legacy opened last month and runs through Jan. 10, 2016, at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson.
Bright Fields: The Mastery of Marie Hull was curated by internationally acclaimed concert pianist and Mississippi native Bruce Levingston, who also wrote a book of the same name. The exhibition features 80 oil paintings and 35 works on paper
in various media — drawings, watercolors, gouaches — as well as a selection of rare sketchbooks used by the artist, many of which have never been publicly exhibited. The works are drawn from the museum’s collection along with those found at Delta State University, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, the University of Mississippi Museum
and private collections. BancorpSouth Bank is sponsoring the exhibition.
Hull was a frequent visitor to the
Coast to paint and sketch — notably sailboats in the Back Bay of Biloxi — and to visit with fellow artist and close friend, Walter Anderson, with whom she traded watercolors and artwork.
“Marie Hull is an artist who exemplifies some of the best of Mississippi’s creative qualities. She was a committed teacher, a perceptive and thoughtful creator, and an individual who looked both deeply at her native state as well as fearlessly explored places far beyond the borders,” said Museum Director Betsy Bradley. “Her prodigious body of work is a reflection of how transformative art can be, both for the viewer and for artists themselves.”
She added that Hull’s personal life, which spans periods of dynamic historical change including the Great Depression, both World Wars, and
36 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • October 2015
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