UPCOMING: Florence Museum's Birthday Celebration for William H. Johnson

The Florence County Museum will celebrate the birthday of noted artist and Florence, SC native William H. Johnson on Sunday March 15, 2015. The celebration will begin at 3:00 pm with a lecture at 3:30 pm by museum curator, Stephen W. Motte on the subject of Johnson’s 1930 and 1944 return visits to Florence. The lecture will be followed by a reception with refreshments.

William Henry Johnson was born in 1901 in East Florence, an African American neighborhood bordering the Atlantic Coast Line railroad which was virtually demolished in the 1970s to make way for the McLeod Hospital campus. Working in New York and in Europe, Johsnon became an important painter of the New Negro movement or Harlem Renaissance of the early 20th century. However, he has remained little known outside of art history circles. The Florence Museum's website has a good account of his life and work here.

This is a free event, and afterwards you can see the impressive exhibit entitled "William H. Johnson: New Beginnings." It consists of nineteen of Johnson's works assembled from the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Florence Museum, the Johnson Collection, and a private collector in Denmark. This exhibit will be on display until October 5, 2015.