The Art of William O. Golding: Hard Knocks, Hardships and Lots of Experience

Telfair Museums presents the first large museum survey of the work of William O. Golding (1874-1943), an African American seaman and artist who recorded a half-century of maritime experience in more than one hundred vibrant drawings. In the 1930s, Golding was a patient at the United States Marine Hospital in Savannah, where he represented his experiences in expressive pencil and crayon drawings which combine memory, imagination and sailors’ lore. Seventy-two works will be exhibited, including 23 drawings from Telfair Museums’ permanent collection and others from the Morris Museum of Art, The Georgia Museum of Art and private collections. The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated catalog, the first devoted to this significant American artist.