CHATTANOOGA, TN.- The Hunter Museum of American Art presents "Colonel and Mrs. James A. Whiteside, Son Charles and Servants," on view through January 26, 2003. One of the most popular paintings in the collection of the Hunter Museum of American Art is the portrait Colonel and Mrs. James A.Whiteside, Son Charles and Servants by James Cameron. The painting, done on the eve of the Civil War, portrays one of the founders of the city of Chattanooga and members of his family and household on a veranda of their hotel on Lookout Mountain. The city of Chattanooga spreads out in the valley below.

As part of the programming designed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Hunter Museum, we are mounting an exhibition in the mansion that examines the painting in some detail. The painting is fascinating from a variety of viewpoints: the sitters and their stories; the career of the artist; the setting on Lookout Mountain and its place in the development of Chattanooga; the time period of antebellum Chattanooga; and the travails of the painting itself during the Civil War and while under conservation.



The Hunter is collaborating with the Chattanooga Regional History Museum on this project. The history museum’s curator, Patrice Glass, will focus on the historical aspects of the setting while Hunter Curator of Collections Ellen Simak will examine the painting itself. Photographs of people and places related to the painting, text panels and other paintings by Cameron will make up this exhibition.