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Eldridge Bagley: Son of the Soil, Soul of an Artist
Eldridge Bagley Son of the Soil Soul of an Artist Author:Eldridge Bagley, Susan Tyler Hitchcock A third-generation tobacco farmer, Eldridge Bagley began painting in the late 1970s, at about the same time that the old country ways of Southside Virginia were beginning to fade. Inspired by the work of Grandma Moses, he has created moving scenes of rural farm life, recapturing the days of hand-strung tobacco, of log barns where curing fires bu... more »rned day and night, of children chasing fireflies in the twilight. Bagley's art is not sentimental but rather includes the grit and the hardships, as well as the pleasures, of life on the farm. In his work we find the realities of rural people who are just scraping by, and a countryside being invaded by the ever-encroaching cities. He invites us to take a closer look at these dying landscapes so that we will be sure never to take them for granted. Eldridge Bagley has garnered acclaim throughout the Commonwealth and beyond for his folk art of Southside Virginia. Eldridge Bagley: Son of the Soil, Soul of an Artist includes more than forty of Bagley's finest paintings with comments by the artist about each one.« less