2 minute read
On View: Special Loans
Light is easy to love. by Amy Sherald
Born in Columbus, Georgia, painter Amy Sherald has become one of the most acclaimed American artists working today. In early 2017, Sherald's gallery staged a "pop-up show" in New York that contained only five new canvases. From that exhibition, The Columbus Museum acquired its iconic painting What's different about Alice is that she has the most incisive way of telling the truth., which features a woman aiming a camera at the viewer. Sherald works slowly, creating only about one canvas per month, making her work rare. This painting, Light is easy to love. appeared in the same 2017 "pop-up show," and this is the first time the pair have been shown together since that debut. Both works feature hallmarks of Sherald's inimitable style: grayscale flesh tones, direct gazes, inspired costumes, and bright backgrounds. This extraordinary loan to celebrate The Columbus Museum's reopening is made possible by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.
John Bascombe by Edward Troye
Edward Troye (1808-1874) was one of the best-known itinerant artists to visit Columbus, Georgia in the antebellum period. During his career, Troye became celebrated as the leading equine portraitist of the time. It is estimated that he depicted over 350 steeds; many of those commissions came from racehorse owners across the South. As early as 1836, Troye visited Georgia's Lower Chattahoochee River Valley, where he painted Indian Agent John Crowell's renowned champion, John Bascombe. The thoroughbred is notable for besting the incredibly fast Post Boy, owned by a New Yorker, in the much-hyper North-South race at the Union Course racetrack in Queens, New York, on May 30, 1836. Yale University Art Gallery is collegially lending this work to make The Columbus Museum's reopening.
