CLICK Here for a VIDEO INTERVIEW with Linda Hartough on her 2015 Masters Exhibit
I first met Linda Hartough at the 2010 PGA Show in Orlando. For years, while in corporate America I had been admiring and collecting her work. Her paintings drew me into her booth where I met her and her brother Dale. As she explained to me how she created each painting I became mesmerized by a new aspect of golf for me. Here is one of the pioneers of golf art in our midst who possesses a creative talent that allows us to take the game’s most storied golf courses home with us to enjoy whenever we want. Linda’s pictures take you there time and time again.
Last year Linda was honored by the United States Golf Association as she created her 25th consecutive golf landscape of the U.S. Open golf course. This year her work, all originals, is being shown at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia during Masters week. This is her largest show ever, with nearly 50 pieces, and it seems fitting that it is associated with The Masters. The Augusta National Golf Club found her down in Hilton Head painting landscapes of the Low Country and asked her if she would like to paint the 13th hole. That was back in 1984 when Ben Crenshaw was winning his first of two Masters. This year Gentle Ben, along with his caddie Carl Johnson, will be saying good bye as they compete together in their last Masters.
I don’t think Linda Hartough will ever say good bye to us as she continues to create special artwork that will speak, embrace and entertain us for many years to come. Here are two other articles I have written on Linda. The full press release for the exhibition, “In Celebration of Golf: Landscapes by Linda Hartough,” is below.
Linda Hartough Outlasts Tiger and Paints Her 23rd U.S. Open
Linda Hartough’s 25th U.S. Open Landscape!
Linda Hartough to Appear at Exhibition Opening at Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (March 26, 2015) – Linda Hartough, world-renowned golf-landscape artist (www.hartough.com), will attend the official opening reception April 2 of the exhibition, “In Celebration of Golf: Landscapes by Linda Hartough” at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Ga. Hartough will be present from 6:00 p.m until 8:00 p.m. to greet attendees and talk about her work. The exhibition, which will extend through April 26, including during the week of the Masters Tournament, is an exclusive showing of her work.
“I look forward to seeing everyone at the opening reception,” Hartough said. “We invite anyone interested in golf art to join us at the reception or anytime during this special exhibit, especially visitors attending this year’s Masters Tournament.”
Every piece being shown at this exhibition is a Hartough original. This represents Hartough’s largest showing ever of her original work. She is the only artist featured at the exhibit.
Hartough’s oil paintings on display include:
1) The 18th Hole, Pebble Beach Golf Links
2) The 4th Hole, Black Course, Bethpage State Park, 2002 U.S. Open Championship
3) The 16th Hole, East Course, Merion Golf Club, 2013 U.S. Open Championship
4) The 18th Hole, Lake Course, The Olympic Club, 2012 U.S. Open Championship
5) The 10th Hole, Blue Course, Congressional Country Club, 2011 U.S. Open Championship
6) The 17th Hole, Black Course, Bethpage State Park, 2009 U.S. Open Championship
7) The 12th Hole, North Course, Olympia Fields Country Club, 2003 U.S. Open Championship
8) The 17th Hole, Royal St George’s Golf Club, 1993 Open Championship
9) The 18th Hole, Lake Course, The Olympic Club, 1998 U.S. Open Championship
10) The 17th Hole, Old Tabby Links
11) The Swilcan Bridge, The Old Course, St Andrews
In addition to these oil paintings, also included in the exhibit are 36 framed Hartough drawings and watercolors.
About the Morris Museum of Art
The Morris Museum of Art, located on the Riverwalk in downtown Augusta, Ga., is the first museum dedicated to the art and artists of the American South. First incorporated as a nonprofit foundation in 1985, the Morris Museum of Art was established by William S. Morris III in memory of his parents, William Shivers Morris, Jr., and Florence Hill Morris. The collection includes holdings of nearly 5,000 paintings, works on paper, photographs and sculptures dating from the late-eighteenth century to the present. In addition to the permanent collection galleries, the museum hosts eight to ten temporary special exhibitions every year. The museum also houses the Center for the Study of Southern Art, a reference and research library that includes archives pertaining to artists working in the South.
For more information, visit www.themorris.org.
About Linda Hartough
A confirmed artist since childhood, early in her career Hartough painted landscapes, portraits and horses. In 1984, Augusta National Golf Club commissioned her to paint its famous 13th hole, an event which propelled Hartough toward specialization as a golf-landscape painter. Since then, her work has achieved a distinguished status, displayed in the permanent collections of such legendary clubs as Augusta National, Laurel Valley, Pinehurst and Pine Valley, as well as in the personal collections of such golf notables as Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd and Robert Trent Jones Sr. Known for extraordinary attention to detail in her recreation of some of golf’s most beautiful holes, Hartough imbues her paintings with admiration for the scenery’s natural beauty and respect for the game’s history and tradition, elements which seem to emerge from the canvas.
Hartough’s paintings of various holes at Augusta National Golf Club are prized by collectors the world over. In addition, Hartough painted the first of her U.S. Open series in 1990 – commissioned by the U.S. Golf Association – a 25-year series she completed in 2014, as well as her official British Open Championship series from 1990-1999.
Hartough is a Founding Trustee of the Academy of Golf Art, a professional society of golf artists established in 2004 to create an awareness and appreciation of golf art as a valuable segment of fine art.
For more information, visit www.hartough.com.