| Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC, is proud to represent the estate of Will Henry Stevens (1881-1949), one of the south’s most prolific modern masters. During his career, Stevens captured the spirit of the Southern landscape from the highlands of Appalachia to the lowlands and deltas of Louisiana.
His faithful commune with nature began in early boyhood and lasted his entire life, providing the inspiration for thousands of exquisite paintings. Proficient in a variety of media, Stevens’ poetic vision is reflected in oil, tempera, watercolor and pastels that he crafted by hand.
His quiet intelligence, keen vision, modernist disposition and technical mastery are seen throughout his body of work. Stevens drew and painted simultaneously in two styles -- one abstract, influenced by Klee and Kandinsky, and the other a lyrical body of work that is more traditional. He was a pioneer of modernism in the American South, and his representational work and objective abstractions reflect his deep love of nature, particularly the bayou and mountains. He easily translated the geometry he found in nature into non-objective abstractions as well.
John E. Cram
Director, Blue Spiral 1
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