The Huntington Museum of Art in West Virginia has recently acquired two important paintings—the rarest of their kind by each respective artist—that relate to the history of art in the Mountain State. 

The first is an oil by noted landscape painter Thomas Doughty, Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The piece, which has a warm, glowing quality to it, portrays the intersection of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. Dated 1825, the painting was likely started one year prior when the famous ferry that gave Harpers Ferry its name was discontinued and replaced with a covered wooden bridge. “This work was an amazing acquisition for our museum as it has now become one of the earliest dated landscapes depicting West Virginia to be housed in the collection of any museum in the state,” says Geoffrey K. Fleming, executive director of the Huntington Museum of Art. “It has been a privilege to bring this work back home where it belongs.”  Thomas Doughty (1793-1856), Harpers Ferry, Virginia, 1825. Oil on canvas on board, 16¾ x 24 in. HMA Purchase, 2019.

Patrick J. Sullivan (1894-1967), Tranquility, 1939/41. Oil on canvas, 26 x 30¼ in. HMA Purchase, 2019.

Tranquility, the second acquisition, comes from Patrick J. Sullivan, one of the most famous surrealist artists to emerge from West Virginia. Completed somewhere between 1939 and 1941, the oil painting was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943, though Sullivan’s success lasted for only a brief period, and the artist eventually abandoned painting. “It had been four decades since one of his paintings appeared for sale, so it became a do-or-die moment for us,” says Fleming. “We needed to act as quickly as humanly possible to secure this work as it might have been another four decades before another became available. Being able to acquire one of his masterpieces, and one that had been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art during his lifetime, was a miraculous opportunity.”  —

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