From the Dixie Art Colony

Mark Andrew Harris, Founder and Director

Top Photo: Arthur Walter Stewart II, Portrait of Frances Burns Coleman Webb, n.d. | watercolor on board, Gift of the Estate of Frances Webb Strong, Former Alabama State Senator. | AWS-2024.AW.0001

Recently, we were contacted by Ann Creagh Strong, the daughter of former Alabama State Senator Frances Webb “Sister” Strong, who passed away on November 14, 2024, at the age of 93. “Sister” Strong, as her mother was affectionately called, was the second woman to be elected to the Alabama State Senate. “Sister” Strong was the daughter of Mem Creagh Webb, Jr. and Frances Coleman Webb. She was born and raised in Demopolis, Alabama. Her grandparents were Hannah Holliday Stewart Webb and Mem Creagh Webb, Sr. Hannah Holliday Stewart Webb was the aunt of Dixie Art Colony artist Arthur Walter Stewart, II.

Ann Strong said her mother received the nickname “sister” as the younger of two sisters. Prior to “Sister” Strong’s election to the Alabama State Senate in 1983, she was an English teacher, P.E., and track coach. She also served on the Demopolis City Council, State Elections Commission, and Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee. She was married to Gilbert Burke Strong and had five daughters.

Ann contacted us expressing her desire to donate two paintings by Arthur Walter Stewart, II, which belonged to her mother, the former Alabama Senator. During our recent visit to Alabama’s Gulf Coast, we took possession of the two watercolor portraits. One is a portrait of former Senator Strong’s mother, Frances Coleman Webb, and the other is a portrait of one of the Senator’s five daughters, Camilla Stewart Strong.

Arthur Walter Stewart II, (Detail) Portrait of Frances Burns Coleman Webb, n.d. | watercolor on board, Gift of the Estate of Frances Webb Strong, Former Alabama State Senator. | AWS-2024.AW.0001

Frances Burns Coleman Webb | Mother of Frances Webb Strong, Former Alabama State Senator. | DAC Foundation Archives | AWS-2024.PH.0001

Frances “Sister” Webb Strong | Former Alabama State Senator. and mother of Camilla Stewart Strong | DAC Foundation Archives | AWS-2024.PH.0002

With the addition of these two paintings, the Dixie Art Colony Foundation Collection includes 28 works of art by Arthur Walter Stewart, II. Stewart was a world-renowned Alabama artist. He was internationally acclaimed for his floral paintings, portraits, and landscapes. He began painting at the age of six. He was awarded his first one-person show at the age of 23 at the highly acclaimed Art Institute of Chicago.

In 1949, while in Paris, Stewart painted a portrait of well-known fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. Stewart was inducted into the Portrait Painters Hall of Fame in 1985. During his life, Stewart earned over 30 national awards and held more than 35 one-person shows in states ranging from New York to California. His paintings can be found in collections throughout the United States and Europe, including the collection of Queen Elizabeth II, England, La Scala Opera House, Malan, Italy, and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library, Austin, Texas. Locally, his paintings can be found in the collections of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Montgomery Museum of Art, and the DAC Foundation Collection, Prattville, Alabama.

Arthur Walter Stewart II, Portrait of Camilla Stewart Strong, 1958 | watercolor on board, Gift of the Estate of Frances Webb Strong, Former Alabama State Senator. | AWS-2024.AW.0001