Queena Stovall

Queena Stovall
Born Emma Serena Dillard
(1887-12-20)December 20, 1887
Amherst County, Virginia
Died June 27, 1980(1980-06-27) (aged 92)
Nationality American
Education Randolph-Macon Woman's College
Known for Painting
Movement American Folk Art

Queena Stovall (20 December 1887 – 27 June 1980) was an American folk artist sometimes called "The Grandma Moses of Virginia."[1]

Biography

Born Emma Serena Dillard in Amherst County, Virginia, she married at age nineteen and lived on a farm.[2] After her brother persuaded her to take an art class as nearby Randolph-Macon College in Lynchburg, Stoval began painting at age sixty-two, and her career as an artist lasted about two decades. She completed forty-seven paintings before her death, most depicting everyday events of both black and white people living in her native Amherst County. During her lifetime, Stovall achieved recognition, and dealt with dealers in New York City. She sold a painting to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, as well as saw her paintings shown at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee and in 1988 at the United States Embassy in Paris, France.[3]

Legacy

The Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York holds some of her work in its permanent collection. A major exhibition of her work, entitled "Inside Looking Out, The Art of Queena Stovall" was mounted in 2018 and traveled to the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia.[4] An earlier exhibition, "Queena Stovall, Artist of the Blue Ridge Piedmont," was mounted in 1974–1975 and traveled to Lynchburg College, in Lynchburg, Virginia, October 6–25, 1974; to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia, January–March, 1975; and to the New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, N.Y., April–September, 1975.

In 2010 Stovall was posthumously honored as one of the Library of Virginia's "Virginia Women in History" for her contributions to folk art.[1] In 2017 the Virginia Department of Historic Resources approved a historic marker in her honor, to be erected near the farm where she spent 35 years of her life, the Wigwam.[5] It was erected in March, 2018.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 "Virginia Women in History: Queena Stovall". Library of Virginia. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  2. ↑ Congdon, Kristin G.; Bucuvalas, Tina (January 4, 2006). Just Above the Water: Florida Folk Art. University Press of Mississippi. p. 264. ISBN 1-57806-778-2.
  3. ↑ https://www.newsadvance.com/lifestyles/she-ll-be-forever-with-us-amherst-county-native-queena/article_7be7474f-25aa-5494-a86c-995236ac1f38.html
  4. ↑ http://give.virginiahistory.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=9366.0&dlv_id=13503
  5. ↑ Schaedel, Sydney. "New historic highway marker to honor local artist". Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  6. ↑ https://www.newsadvance.com/lifestyles/she-ll-be-forever-with-us-amherst-county-native-queena/article_7be7474f-25aa-5494-a86c-995236ac1f38.html

Further reading

  • Jones, Louis C.; Jones, Agnes Halsey (1974). Queena Stovall, Artist of the Blue Ridge Piedmont: An Exhibition. New York State Historical Association. .
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