April 2, 1930

Artist John Kelly Fitzpatrick and a Montgomery-based group known as “The Morning View Painters” founded the Alabama Art League. A native of Wetumpka, Fitzpatrick was a painter and educator who presented the life of rural central Alabama in brilliant color. His founding of the Alabama Art League led to the establishment of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, where he helped to establish the museum’s permanent collection and served as the first director of the Montgomery Museum of Art School. Fitzpatrick also worked for the Public Works of Art Program during the Great Depression and cofounded the Dixie Art Colony at Lake Jordan. His work can be seen at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Kelly Fitzpatrick Memorial Gallery in Wetumpka.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

John Kelly Fitzpatrick and Warree Carmichael LeBron. The two, along with LeBron’s mother, Sallie B. Carmichael, established the first Dixie Art Colony at Lake Jordan in 1933. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts)

John Kelly Fitzpatrick, c. 1940, on his way to paint “en plein air,” a French expression meaning “in the open air.” (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts)

J. Kelly Fitzpatrick, American, 1888 – 1953 The Sugar Cane Mill, 1933 Oil on canvas Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama, gift of Works Progress Administration (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts)

J. Kelly Fitzpatrick, American, 1888 – 1953 Monday Morning, 1934 Oil on Masonite, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama, gift of Works Progress Administration (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.