The painter George W. Morrison (1820 - 1893) was New Albany’s 19th-century artist of record and one of the most important Indiana artists during this period, and yet few people know about his achievements. While living in the extreme southern portion of the state Morrison fashioned a consequential fifty-year career that also tracked the important moments in American history. Morrison was artistically active during New Albany’s heyday which included it once being the wealthiest and most populous city in the entire state. Morrison’s artworks, in addition to their aesthetic value, are also prized as primary source documents from this time.
The Floyd County Library has had a unique relationship with this artist and in fact has the largest collection anywhere of Morrison’s artworks. The library has long been a clearing house of information on this former Floyd County resident. The works currently on view in To a Fine Effect: George W. Morrison, 1820 - 1893 in the Sally Newkirk Gallery are from the Library’s special collections now numbering 26 paintings by Morrison. The collection has grown over the years as descendants of Morrison’s sitters have donated their paintings to this collection for long term care and interpretation. Morrison’s masterpiece, his View of New Albany, first appeared as a temporary loan on the walls of the city’s original Carnegie library in 1905 and becomes a permanent gift from the founding Scribner family in 1919. The latest Morrison canvas, A Portrait of an Unknown Bride, enters our collection as a donation from the extended Morrison family in California during April 2025.
Albertus Gorman self identifies as an artist, but also has a love and a deep interest in art history. Building upon more than a century of work by earlier Floyd County Library staff, Gorman took an interest in Morrison and set about creating the most complete narrative on the artist’s career. The result will be this first book on Morrison’s art whose publication by the Floyd County Library will happen at the end of our current Morrison exhibition in August. Enough new information and artworks have surfaced recently that allow Morrison’s story to be told effectively for the first time. When it comes to Morrison’s legacy, the Floyd County Library, as the institution of note, feels the obligation to publish and share what we have learned.
Join us on Tuesday, June 24th at noon to see and learn more about this significant contributor to our local culture with Albertus Gorman, Exhibition Curator and Museum Specialist. Free and open to the public, but reservations are requested, let us know you're coming here:
https://nafclibrary.libcal.com/event/14759575
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