The Legacy of the Tryon Artists’ Colony As early as the 1890s prominent artists and writers began congregating around Tryon, North Carolina, just over the state line. Most of them arrived by rail, changing trains at Spartanburg from the Northeast and the South, or coming down on the early “Carolina Special” route from the Midwest. By World War I it was already the foremost “country colony” of artists in the South, comparable in national significance to Provincetown in New England or Laguna Beach on the West Coast. Tryon is on the south escarpment of the Blue Ridge, the gateway from South Carolina to the North Carolina mountains. Landscape painters found appealing scenery. Genre painters encountered picturesque “types.” Portrait painters found a wealthy clientele who came for the swank equestrian scene and the temperate climate. At Tryon people from around the nation and the world met and mingled in a rural atmosphere free of city stresses, yet in a sophisticated milieu. The community became nationally known for its informal yet cosmopolitan life. Spartanburg and Tryon have always been closely connected. Artists and clients went back and forth between them. Josephine Sibley Couper, for example, was a founder of the Spartanburg Arts & Crafts Club in 1907 and settled at Tryon in 1934. Some other Tryon artists closely associated with both communities were Margaret M. Law, Homer Ellertson, Nancy Bomar Stringer and Robert P. Lawrence, a charter member in 1957 of The Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg. Converse and Wofford colleges have been closely linked with Tryon’s intellectual life for many years, while Tryon Fine Arts Center and its other cultural amenities have attracted Spartanburg residents. Today the village attracts an unusual number of artists for the same reasons as a century ago. Tryon Painters & Sculptors is a group with more than 150 members. The Upstairs Gallery is a contemporary arts space with a large number of supporters and artist members, which attracts exhibitors from around the nation. The tradition of the colony is to avoid “orthodoxy” and so Tryon has always welcomed both “traditional” and “avant-garde” artists, and its vibrant art scene continues to nurture amateurs, semi-professionals, and professionals. This exhibition presents works by several contemporary professional artists from the Tryon vicinity. Some are natives of the South, while others came from other regions in the United States and one hails from Great Britain. Some of Tryon’s painters and sculptors exhibit in this area frequently, and thus are familiar to us, while others typically market their work outside the area. A prominent Tryon sculptor, for example, is nationally famous but has never done a commission in the Carolinas. The work has been selected to demonstrate the breadth of artistic vision that continues the remarkable legacy of this notable artists’ colony. -- Michael McCue Mr. McCue is a cultural historian who lives in Asheville, North Carolina. He has written several publications focusing on the Tryon colony. McCue’s most recent book Paris and Tryon: George C. Aid (1872-1938) and His Artistic Circles in France and North Carolina is in our museum shop.   For more information about the museum and its programs, visit our website at www.spartanburgartmuseum.org or use the search engine at www.sparklenet.com