NASHVILLE – An exhibition of 50 artworks interpreting the Civil War by internationally acclaimed artist Red Grooms is on view at the Tennessee State Museum. The exhibition titled “Red Grooms: The Blue & The Gray” is the first time this body of work has been seen by the public. There is no admission charge for the exhibit, which will be on view through June 7.
Grooms, who was born and raised in Nashville, currently resides in New York City and maintains a home near Beersheba Springs, Tenn. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States, as well as in Europe, and Japan. Grooms’ art is included in the collections of more than 39 museums, including the Tennessee State Museum.
Grooms has created these paintings and sculptures over the last 18 years with the subject matter relating to many historic aspects of the Civil War. Some of the topics include the portraits of prominent generals and soldiers, profound battles, and poignant characters and events of the time.
A convergence of several factors is at the root of this body of work. In 1996, Grooms and his wife, fellow artist Lysiane Luong, built a log home with a work studio on the Cumberland Plateau.
“The surrounding landscapes and its 1860s cottages lovely maintained through generations reconnected him with his father’s tales of the family experiences during the Civil War,” explained his wife Lysiane. “Red, since childhood has been a big fan of epic films, like Quo Vadis, Samson and Delilah, and Ivanhoe, where large casts of costumed men engage in historic battles. This rekindled his fantasy of being a film director.”
“The ideas were percolating when Grooms encountered a rich trove of photographs from the 1861-65 period,” Lysiane further explained. “It all started to come together … large oil paintings of famous battles, drummers and zouaves, portraits of generals and soldiers painted on slices of cedar wood from flooring scraps salvaged from the construction of our log home. There are also images of contraband and spies on painted on wooden scraps.”
“There has been a longtime bond between Red Grooms and this museum,” said Lois Riggins-Ezzell, executive director of the Tennessee State Museum. “In 1986, the museum hosted one of Nashville’s most popular exhibitions, “Red Grooms: A Retrospective,” which encompassed three decades of his work. The museum is truly honored to have the opportunity to exhibit this “never seen” before work by one of Tennessee’s most famous artists.”
Along with Grooms’ art, the exhibition will also include an interview from a segment, which aired on NPT’s Tennessee Crossroads.
