Hervy Cary, Sangamon River scene, oil painting, 1952.

This oil painting is 16 3/8" high x 22 3/16" wide, painted on a wood board. Signed and dated, lower right.

Hervy Wilford Cary was born 24 September 1879 in Saybrook, McLean County, IL, a son of Simpson and Margaret "Maggie" Wheeler Cary. He lived in Saybrook all of his life, never married and lived with his parents, until they both died before 1950, when he was living with a nephew. He died on 27 December 1955 in Saybrook.

Hervy was a sign painter, decorator, music composer and fine artist. Early in life he had a shop in Saybrook, IL where he worked as a sign painter. In later censuses he was listed variously as a self employed decorator and painter. In 1952, according to the Pantagraph, a Bloomington, IL newspaper, he held a one man show in which he exhibited 50 paintings. According to the article, his paintings were widely collected. One of his specialties was painting scenes along the Sangamon River. The painting in my collection was possibly painted for his 1952 exhibtion and probably depicts a Sangamon River scene. The painting is fairly dirty, as can be seen by looking at the margins which were once covered by a frame

His work, that I have seen, was what I call "prairie school", exemplified by artists like Harold Gregor, who I knew. I wish that I had discovered Cary's work before Harold died, as I would love to know if Hervy was one of his influences. Harold did not come to the Midwest until around 1970 when he took a teaching job at Illinois State University and his work with this style started after that.

I found this painting on ebay, free to anyone who would come and get it in Bloomington, IL. The owner wanted it to go to someone who collected regional paintings, and that was me! She and her husband were both collectors of art and had no place to hang this painting. It is a bit of an odd size, and I have never found a frame to fit it, so I am in the process of having a custom frame made for it.