FOLEY, Ala. (AP) – A judge’s decision June 11 quietly ended a long-running fight here among former and current city officials over a painting of the biggest naval battle of a war that pitted neighbor against neighbor.
Baldwin County Circuit Court Judge Charles Partin ruled that former Mayor Arthur Holk loaned – but did not give – the 1941 painting of the Battle of Mobile Bay to the city.
The painting, created by John McCrady for the Grand Hotel at Point Clear, was appraised at $200,000 in 2008 by New Orleans art dealers. “I said all along that I’d never given up ownership,” Holk said. “I hated to take the stand that I did, but when they said they were going to sell it, I had to do something.”
Now, Holk said, “I’d like to put it where people can see it, but I’m not sure where that could be.”
Foley Mayor John Koniar said that after learning of Partin’s ruling, city officials canceled the insurance policy on the painting and municipal crews delivered it to Holk.
“We’re not going to appeal,” Koniar said. “We’re not going to spend any more money on it.”
Holk, who was mayor from 1976 until 1996, acquired the painting in the 1980s. The Grand Hotel’s new owners were remodeling and had taken down the framed picture, which is about 7 feet long, from the Bird Cage Lounge, he said.
“I’d seen it there and when my wife and I went by, we noticed it was gone,” Holk said. “I asked what had happened to it and the manager said he’d been told to get rid of it. He asked if I wanted it and I said I did. I went over the next day and got it.”
At that time, Foley had remodeled the library but had no money left to decorate it. Holk said he loaned the painting to the library.
The painting hung in the library for about 10 years, until 1998, when it was moved to the Foley Senior Center.
After Hurricane Ivan damaged the Senior Center in 2004, the painting was taken out and eventually placed in the break room of the Foley Public Works Department, according to court testimony.
The artwork had hung in the conference room of Foley City Hall from 2008 until the ruling.
In his ruling, Partin wrote, “It appears to the court that neither party was particularly interested in the painting other than as decoration until people began making inquiries about buying the painting and it was determined that it had a value of $200,000 or more.”
In 2008, City Council members said a $200,000 painting would cost $3,600 a year to insure. Rather than spend city funds on insurance, the council voted to sell the work and devote the proceeds to municipal projects.”
The painting was commissioned in the 1930s by Capt. Edward A. Roberts, the owner of the Grand Hotel at the time. Roberts hired McCrady who was already famous as a Southern artist.
In 1937, Time Magazine described McCrady as “a star risen from the bayous who will do for painting in the South what Faulkner is doing for literature.”
Despite the artist’s national reputation, Roberts did not hesitate to have McCrady revise his painting, according to a 1947 Press-Register story. When McCrady asked the reason, he was told to do a version in which the Confederates were winning.
The painting shows the Union fleet entering Mobile Bay on Aug. 5, 1864, at the moment that the Union ironclad Tecumseh strikes an underwater mine and begins to sink. Also shown are the two lines of Union warships steaming past Fort Morgan and the four ships of the Confederate squadron moving to intercept them.
A total of 18 Union and Confederate ships, along with Southern shore batteries, took part in the battle, which the Confederates lost.
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Information from: Press-Register, http://www.al.com/mobileregister
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AP-CS-06-28-10 1311EDT