The objective of this project is to elevate the standard of regional contemporary art exhibitions by offering a professionally juried competition composed of the most competitive contemporary art and artists representing Eastern South Carolina. The competition will occur every two years beginning in 2025, and will culminate in an exhibition to be presented in the FCM Special Exhibits Gallery.

Charles Ephraim Burchfield (1893 – 1967) is one of the most unique figures in 20th century American art. His paintings, which occupy a rare niche between naturalism and abstraction, are almost a genre unto themselves.

Following a review of his work by famous Regionalist painter Edward Hopper in 1928, Burchfield became the first artist to be given a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In 1918 he was drafted into military service and stationed at Camp Jackson, Columbia. Charles Burchfield’s work as an Army camouflage designer became a catalyst for important developments in his later personal and artistic life.

This Smithsonian American Art Museum traveling exhibition will feature paintings from the collection of more than 1,000 works by William H. Johnson given to the Smithsonian American Art Museum by the Harmon Foundation in 1967. This is the first-ever curated major exhibition of Johnson’s Freedom Fighters, a series of paintings created in the mid 1940s, focusing on individuals integral to African American activism, influence, progress, and achievements.

Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Generous support for this project is provided by Art Bridges.

Additional exhibition support provided by Trustees of the Florence Museum, Florence County Museum Foundation, Eastern Carolina Community Foundation, Florence County Museum Civil Justice Fund