J. Kelly Fitzpatrick, American, 1888-1953
Saturday Morning, 1935
Oil on Masonite
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama
Gift of Works Progress Administration
Central Alabama was more than just home to painter John Kelly Fitzpatrick (1888-1953). It was the wellspring of an art that provides Alabamians with a singular visual record of the state during the early twentieth century. Painting during the 1920s and through the Great Depression, Fitzpatrick captured Alabama’s rural landscape and its inhabitants at a time when their way of life was passing rapidly into history. Fitzpatrick taught at Dixie Art Colony at Lake Jordan and was the first director of the Montgomery Museum of Art School. He helped found the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and was active in many arts organizations.