This huge painting is my favorite part of the Tennessee State Museum’s art collection.
Find out why this 1887 oil by George Chambers strikes a chord with so many Tennessee gardeners.
Just seeing this painting made me run home and pull out my seed catalogs!
The elderly mountain woman just looks so peaceful, staring at her rows of greens.
I love her long skirts, suitable even for working.
Here I have enlarged a photo I took of the oil painting.
Part of its appeal is the faded log cabin and weathered fence in the background.
The garden really suits its setting.
According to the information card, this painting shows the rocky, barren soil in areas like Monteagle.
Rural areas and methods of gardening persisted even after agricultural technology boosted other parts of the state.
“In The Tennessee Mountains” by George W. Chambers was originally a part of Tennessee’s Centennial Exposition. I did a little Internet sleuthing about the little-known Southern artist.
According to a website about later artist Charles Heberer, in 1887–the year this painting was completed–George W. Chambers was the director of the Watkins Institute’s School Of Fine Arts.
—>Click here for more info about the Tennessee State Museum–and why it’s such a free, fun thing to do in downtown Nashville.
—>If you like old-fashioned scenes and equipment, you’ll love visiting the Tennessee Agricultural Museum at the Ellington Agricultural Center--yet another free, fun thing to do in Nashville!
—>Tennessee gardeners won’t want to miss the historic Croft House at the Nashville Zoo, either!
