The Conversation

Artist Hobson Pittman American, 1899–1972

Date1947

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions30 x 48 in. (76.2 x 121.9 cm)
Frame: 40 3/8 x 58 1/4 in. (102.6 x 148 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of the artist

Object numberG.67.32.1

On View

Not on view

ProvenanceProbably created Pennsylvania, 1947; collection of the artist; given to NCMA, 1967.
Published ReferencesJane Hall, "Hall Marks," Raleigh: The News and Observer (December 3, 1967), 8-I.

The Art Quarterly 31, no. 2 (Summer 1968), 220.

"Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 9, nos. 1 and 2 (December 1969), mentioned 4, listed 56, illus. (b-w) 32.

The World of Hobson Pittman (exhibition catalogue) (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University, 1972), cat. no. 78, illus. (b-w).

"Gift to Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art Calendar of Art Events 11, no. 3 (December 1967), briefly discussed and illus. (b-w) unnumbered page.

200 Years of the Visual Arts in North Carolina (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art), cat. no. 44, illus. (b-w).

Jane Colihan, "Painting the Southland," American Heritage 34, no. 4 (June-July 1983), 28, illus. 40.

Prentice Hall Literature: The British Tradition (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994), illus. (color) 845.

Meade B. Horne, The Poet's Palette: Selected Works by Hobson Pittman (Tarboro: Blount-Bridgers House/Hobson Pittman Memorial Gallery Foundation, Inc., 1999), illus. (color) 21.

Jonathan Stuhlman and Martha R. Severens, ed., Southern/Modern: Rediscovering Southern Art from the First Half of the Twentieth Century (exhibition catalogue) (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2023), 117, fig. 97 (illus. color) (catalogue only, not in exhibition).Exhibition HistoryWashington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, “20th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings,” March 30–May 11, 1947, no. 175, illus. (b-w). Awarded the Clark Prize, Fourth Place.

University Park, PA, Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, "The World of Hobson Pittman," November 19-December 24, 1972; Philadelphia, PA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, January 20-February 18, 1973, cat. no. 88, illus. (b-w).

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "200 Years of the Visual Arts in North Carolina," September 12-October 24, 1976, cat. no. 44, illus. (b-w).

Winston-Salem, NC, Reynolda House, "Twentieth Century American Art," December 6, 1979-January 31, 1980.

Richmond, VA, The Virginia Museum of Art, "Painting in the South," September 11, 1983-February 3, 1985,

Tarboro, NC, Blount-Bridgers House, "Pittman Flowers," April 1-May 30, 1985.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Art in North Carolina, 1912-1954: Paintings from the Permanent Collection," January 24-March 22, 1987; Lexington, NC, Davidson Art Guild, July 31-August 26, 1987.

Asheville, NC, Asheville Art Museum, "Nineteenth and Twentieth Century American Paintings from the North Carolina Museum of Art," March 5-April 28, 1991.

Lumberton, NC, Robeson County Public Library, "Art in North Carolina: 1912-1954," March 30-May 14, 1993

Buies Creek, NC, Campbell University, Taylor Bott Rogers Fine Arts Center, "Art in North Carolina: 1912-1954," March 1-30, 1995.

Franklin, NC, Macon Savings Bank for the Arts Council of Macon County, "Outreach Exhibition," June 13-August 12, 1997.
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