Painting was a hobby for Knoxville businessman and civic leader W. Russell Briscoe, one he didn't take up until his wife gave him oil paints and brushes for his 58th birthday.

Over the last 22 years of his life, the insurance executive mixed history, art, civic pride and nostalgia in some 75 paintings. Most depicted historic buildings, mountain vistas and local landmarks in bright colors and exacting details. Trains, at a Knoxville station or rolling around a rural bend, were frequent subjects.

Seventy paintings are in the Museum of East Tennessee History exhibit "Russell Briscoe: Images of Home and Heritage" opening Monday. Twenty-three are originals loaned from the Knoxville Museum of Art. Others are giclee reproductions scanned on canvas from originals found in the past five years by exhibit guest curator Edward S. "Bud" Albers Jr. of Knoxville.

It's the largest display of works by the Knoxville native.

"Russell Briscoe: Home and Heritage" shows an unfinished paint set on Briscoe's easel, along with his brushes and the tea cart he used to hold paints. Museum Curator Adam Alfrey used Briscoe family vintage toys and furniture to create a three-dimensional portrayal of the cheerful "Christmas 1909" painting. The scene includes one of two large doll houses Briscoe built and shows the same attention to detail he gave his two-dimensional work.

Painting in his home studio, the self-taught Briscoe used historic research, memories, old photographs, postcards and sketches he'd draw on envelope backs to create his art. He gave many paintings to friends, family and admirers and sold a few for $300 to $500 each, Albers said. While most paintings depict East Tennessee, a few family and friends' home places in Maryland, Michigan, Georgia and South Carolina were portrayed.

He'd paint a favorite subject, like the Second Presbyterian Church, repeatedly. "People would bug him and he would just do another one for them," said Albers.

Tiny details, from lines of bricks to signs on wagons, were hallmarks. "His perspective is right on the money, down to the rivets on a streetcar," Albers said.

The paintings "are very detailed, they are colorful. They sort of lure you into this earlier time. It's easy to get lost in some of them," said KMA Curator Stephen Wicks.

Briscoe's views were tinted by nostalgia; power lines start but disappear into the sky. He wasn't much for mixing hues or worrying about lighting or shadowing. His colors often came directly from his paint tubes. Bright blue sky, fluffy white clouds and kelly green grass were standards.

"He was more about trying to record particular historic details and make sure his scenes were clear and accurate," said Wicks. "He wanted to make sure there was a sense of clarity and that every element was recorded in a way that was easy to grasp by the average viewer."

What Briscoe painted in the 1960s and '70s were often scenes from decades and sometimes centuries past. The 1974 "Barnum & Bailey Circus Parade" shows a 1910 scene; a 1977 painting of Mount LeConte is an 1890 mountainscape. The 1961 painting of Knox County's third courthouse illustrates an 1855 building demolished in 1886. The 1963 painting "The Great Gay Street Fire" is a vivid re-creation of a destructive 1897 blaze; and 1958's "The Battle of Fort Sanders" is a Civil War scene.

"Russell Briscoe: Home and Heritage" is at the 601 S. Gay St. museum through Feb. 7. After that paintings will be hung on a rotation on the building's third-floor Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection. Reproductions will be sold at the museum; proceeds go the East Tennessee Historical Society Foundation.

Amy McRary may be reached at 865-342-6437.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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