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Artwork

The Champion

Mabel Pugh

1891-1986

The Champion

Oil on canvas

32 1/8 in x 26 1/8 in

Undated

Label:

This sitter bears a striking resemblance to pioneering British women’s golfer and hall-of-famer Joyce Wethered (Lady Heathcoat-Amory), whom Pugh may have had occasion to meet during one of Wethered’s many American tours. In Pugh’s portrait, the champion holds in her hands a piece of paper, presumably a scorecard from a game. Whether the trophies in the background are her own or not, they are a fitting testament to this athlete’s achievements at a time when women still had to struggle for equal access to sports.

As Published In:

Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection, 2018

As Exhibited In:

Art of the Athlete, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, April 16–June 21, 2025

Face to Face: 200 Years of Portraiture from the Johnson Collection, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, October 19, 2022–January 7, 2023

Central to Their Lives: Southern Women Artists in the Johnson Collection, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA, June 30–October 23, 2018, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, November 16, 2018–January 20, 2019, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV, March 2–June 30, 2019, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN, July 28–October 13, 2019, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC, January 1–August 9, 2020, Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC, September 7–December 18, 2020, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA, February 6–July 18, 2021

To Be Someone and Not Something: Southern Women Artists’ Quest for Education, TJC Gallery, Spartanburg, SC, December 3, 2015–January 29, 2016

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