Sold at Auction: William R. Hollingsworth

From losing his mother as a child to a forced move back to Mississippi after graduation from the Chicago Institute of Art, the influences in artist Hollingsworth’s life gave a uniquely sensitive perspective to his oil and watercolor paintings, especially his best-known works depicting African-American culture in Mississippi during the early 20th century. Painter William R. Hollingsworth, Jr. is considered a Southern treasure, an artist who used both light and sadness to depict the way of life around him.

Celebrated during his lifetime, painter William Hollingsworth collected prizes from the National Watercolor Society, Chicago Arts Club, and Southern States Art League, and he founded the Art Department at Millsaps College. His widow established an art scholarship endowment in Hollingsworth’s name at his alma mater, the University of Mississippi. The Mississippi Museum of Art displays almost 300 William R. Hollingsworth, Jr. paintings. Collectors can find an abundance of Southern-themed watercolor paintings for sale at online auction.