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Charleston Alley

Ink on illustration board
12 3/4 x 9 1/4 inches
1931

William Halsey grew up during the Charleston Renaissance, a multifaceted cultural renewal that took place in the Lowcountry between World Wars I and II. Halsey’s first art lessons were with one of that movement’s leaders, Elizabeth O’Neill Verner, and his early artistic instruction was based in traditional representational depictions of the scenic South. This simple alley scene, drawn when Halsey was 16 years old, shows his remarkable level of draftsmanship and intimate knowledge of Charleston’s architecture.