Old Norfolk Academy

Artist Kenneth Harris (American, 1904-1983)

CultureAmerican

Date1951

MediumWatercolor on paper

DimensionsOverall, Image: 13 3/4 x 21 in. (34.9 x 53.3 cm)
Overall: 15 1/8 x 22 1/2 in. (38.4 x 57.2 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 x 27 in. (50.8 x 68.6 cm)
Overall, Frame: 21 1/4 x 28 1/4 in. (54 x 71.8 cm)

InscribedSigned lower left: "Kenneth Harris 1951".

PortfolioPortrait of a City series (Norfolk, VA, 1950-51)

Credit LineMuseum purchase, Norfolk Newspapers' Art Trust Fund

Object number51.45.21

On View

Not on view

DescriptionOne of a series of paintings, "Portrait of A City Series (Norfolk, Va. 1950-51)". New. Of the Cumberland St. entrance.

Label TextKenneth Harris (1904-1983) Old Norfolk Academy and Spire of Freemason Street Baptist Church, 1951 Watercolor Collection Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk Newspapers' Art Trust Fund 51.45.21 Only the two buildings that are prominently featured in this watercolor survive today: the Old Norfolk Academy (built 1840), the temple form building seen at right, and Freemason Baptist Church (built 1848), the church steeple seen at center left. They were undoubtedly preserved because both were designed by the architect, Thomas Ustick Walter, who also designed the dome of the United States Capitol. The brick houses (built early to mid-19th century) seen in the distance fronted on Freemason Street. The mansard roof row houses stood along Grigsby Place, a street that was cut though the center of the block mid-1890s. The long, low story-and-a-half building to the left of the Old Norfolk Academy served as the City Drug Dispensary in the 1920s. Exhibition HistorySoutheastern Circuit, Oct. 1952-April 1954. "Norfolk Story in Painting," exhibited at Norfolk Arena, Oct. 25-27, 1968, in catalogue. City Manager's Office, 6/11/56-6/30/65, Dept. of Public Works 11/1968-10/1977. "Kenneth Harris Watercolors," Chrysler Museum of Art, September 22, 1998 - January 10, 1999. (Community Gallery) Published ReferencesNAVY RELIEF BALL program, April 1958.