Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- circa 1960s and 1970s (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
4 watercolor paintings
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
In 1965, Paul McConaughy sought an inexpensive method for producing limited-edition watercolor prints. He tested his idea at his alma mater by creating a series of prints depicting buildings at Cornell University. The prints were immediately popular, leading to the formation of the College Watercolor Group. The group soon expanded production to include affordable watercolor prints of college buildings from across the United States.
Modeled after the nineteenth-century approach used by Currier and Ives, the process began with a pen-and-ink drawing of a building, which was reproduced as an 8 x 10 lithograph on watercolor paper. Artists then hand-colored each print. The group offered limited-edition sets of four scenes as well as larger individual prints, available framed or unframed.
As professional artists joined the staff, the overall quality of the work improved significantly. One artist, E. B. Walden, began signing his prints using the surname Gray, derived from the watercolor pigment Davy’s Gray. Other artists adopted the same surname while using different first names, with Walden signing as Davis Gray. More than a dozen artists eventually used the Gray name, and this naming convention led to the business becoming known as Gray’s Watercolors.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This appears to be a collection of commissioned works, created sometime in the 1960's or 1970's according to the organization's web site. These were most likely done in the later part of that period, as evidenced by the citation on the picture of Lincoln Hall as the "Lincoln Music Hall" the library had already shifted, so this was after 1975 or so. Given this date, the painting of Old North (razed in 1962) was very likely done from a photograph, as the others also may have been reproduced.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
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Language of material
English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Using this inventory
- This inventory lists the collection’s materials; not all are digitized due to copyright, restrictions, or condition.
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Finding aids
Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Copyright and Use Statement
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Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Gray's Watercolors (Subject)
- Gray, Flannery (Subject)
- Gray, Allan (Subject)
- South Dakota State University (Subject)