South of Broad ~ A Picture Paints a Thousand Words!
As I get ready to start my 40” x 40” painting of the glorious St. Michael’s Church in Charleston, having just finished a painting of St. Philip’s, entitled St. Philip’s Divine Light, I find myself growing more and more interested in the city we now call home. I’ve always looked at historic homes and buildings with great appreciation for their architectural beauty and for their lasting construction. But, I also look at them knowing that if the walls could talk they could tell many an interesting story!
We recently decided to donate some of our books to the Charleston Library and volunteered to take some of our neighbors books too. Coincidentally, as I organized the books for delivery, one book jumped out at me. One that I had heard about but never read, Pat Conroy’s novel South of Broad.
I’m not exactly a voracious reader, but since South of Broad was all about Charleston, written by a southerner who loved Charleston, I thought maybe Pat Conroy would reveal some of what goes on behind the those walls and I might learn something!
I know it’s fiction, but I found it fascinating being taken along the main character’s (Leo King) paper route with him as he narrates his way through the city streets, all of which I have traveled, photographed and painted. Reading Pat Conroy’s words, and hearing how Leo describes his beloved hometown Charleston streets and homes, was right down my alley!
Speaking of alleys, Stoll’s Alley will now always creep me out at night or in the dark of early morning! It becomes the first scary scene in the book where Leo gets assaulted by a psycho in a mask. Leo’s words are poetic, “In my life already, I had fallen in love with shortcuts, alleyways, secret passageways, and cut-through easements like Stoll’s Alley and Longitude Lane. Often I came to Stoll’s Alley because of its mystery and inwardness; its narrowness was like a form of perversity or flawed design, making it my favorite getaway in the the city.”
Leo ends up living in a historic single home on Tradd Street that he inherited from an old curmudgeon in town, whom he befriended and cared for. Here is how he described his neighborhood, “The houses of Tradd Street always look like an exquisite yet mismade chess set to me, where one cannot execute a queen’s gambit or a Sicilian defense because the maker of the set has lined the street with variations of rooks, bishops, knights, and kings, but has neglected to include a pawn. The original architecture resembles the finest lacework; the gardens are hidden but generous with delicious smells.”
In another passage of the book, Leo states,“Tradd Street is a European street, not an American one. The houses push their stuccoed facades up against the sidewalks. If not for the street-lamps, darkness would give the night a sinister and claustrophobic cast.”
Mr. Conroy’s descriptive fictional prose so eloquently describes the reality. My painting 25 Tradd Street was inspired by a walk by those “exquisite” homes and hidden gardens.
25 Tradd Street by William R. Beebe, 12 x 12, Oil on board, $2200
Elliott Street, though not mentioned in the book, is also a “European street”, narrow with their “facades up against the sidewalks”. Here is my painting entitled A Look Down Elliott Street”
A Look Down Elliott Street by William R. Beebe, 30 x 30, Oil on canvas, $7200
Leo describes how a street in Charleston can lift ones spirits, “The houses along Church are set like gemstones against the sidewalk; the honeybees are working overtime in the flower boxes overflowing with lantana; the scents of jasmine and lilies of the valley catch me off guard, but the lush fragrance of a mock orange makes me happy to be alive.” The author knows Charleston and I love his flowery language. My painting Waiting Under the Crepe Myrtle depicts two of those “gemstones” along Church Street.
Waiting Under the Crepe Myrtle by William R. Beebe, 12 x 12, Oil on board, $2200
Leo rides on through town delivering papers, educating the reader, “When I turned my bicycle left on Meeting Street, the sun was high enough on the horizon for me to cut off the bike lamp. Meeting was spacious and cocky, with mansions on both sides of the street, a showboat of a street in a city brimful with them.” I love that line! Meeting Street homes have always turned my head. I have painted 3 Meeting Street and 43 Meeting Street , both historic homes with secret gardens behind wrought-iron gates. Along Meeting Street is a small Impressionist piece I painted, inspired by an early morning walk.
3 Meeting Street by William R. Beebe, 24 x 30, Oil on canvas, $5800
43 Meeting Street by William R. Beebe, 24 x 30, Oil on canvas, $6500
Along Meeting Street by William R. Beebe, 12 x 12, Oil on board, $2200
Leo also briefly mentions in South of Broad, Hyman’s Seafood and Aaron’s Deli along Meeting Street. My painting Next Stop Aaron’s Deli was inspired by the small town look of the historic architecture. Charleston has been able to keep that small town feel, a true walking city with many old fashioned storefronts.
Next Stop Aaron’s Deli by William R. Beebe, 20 x 20, Oil on canvas, $3800
“Taking a right at Broad Street, I hit the doorways of a dozen lawyers’ offices…” “I have taken the most pleasure in my lifelong study of the Broad Street lawyer, among all the opalescent inhabitants of Charleston,” Leo prides himself on knowing all of his clients along his paper route. Funny, I had noticed a number of law offices lining this grand street that runs the width of the peninsula and intersects with both Meeting and King Street. My first painting of St. Michael’s Church, entitled The Holy City, is a view looking down Broad Street past many of those law offices. What a stretch of phenomenal architecture!
The Holy City by William R. Beebe, SOLD
Broad and Meeting is the intersection known as the Four Corners of Law and is the view of St. Michael’s Church that I now have on my easel.
Here is how Leo describes, St. Michael’s,“Catty-cornered is St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in its starlight whiteness and all the assuredness that good taste can bestow on a house of worship.”
Throughout the book, Leo reminisces about his walks to Whitepoint Gardens and along the Battery, taking in along the way the activity going on inside the stately mansions on South Battery and East Bay and noting their antebellum heritage and class differences between neighborhoods. The cover of the book depicts some of those mansions. One of my paintings, Beyond the Gate, features one of those mansions, 20 South Battery. It has recently undergone a multi-million dollar restoration, restoring it into one of the grandest boutique hotels in the world. Funny, that on their website it reads “If these walls could talk”!
Beyond the Gate by William R. Beebe, 14 x 18, Oil on canvas, $2800
Leo as an adult becomes the somewhat famous daily columnist for the city’s top paper, the News and Courier, the very same paper he delivered all throughout high school. He writes, “It is a city of ten thousand secrets and just a couple of answers. Since the day I was born, I have been worried that heaven would never be half as beautiful as Charleston, the city formed where two rivers meet in ecstasy to place a harbor and a bay and an exit to the world. “
Conroy’s 500 page novel was a page turner for me, soaking up his magical words describing the Holy City of Charleston and weaving stories together as neatly as a Gullah basket. However, the many story lines grew dark at times, so it might not be for everyone. What I wanted to share with you is the author’s masterful, poetic prose describing the outward beauty of Charleston.
Unfortunately, Charleston’s real life city newspaper, the Post and Courier, panned South of Broad and called it South of the Absurd! OUCH! I guess novels and art have a lot in common; they are both subjective allowing authors and artists to open themselves up to both criticism and praise.
If a picture paints a thousand words, then it will take many more paintings to capture the essence and unique beauty of Charleston. I’m excited about starting my St. Michael’s Episcopal Church painting; creating a substantial piece that features “the most tasteful architecture of a house of worship that man can design,” says Leo King!
I hope you enjoyed Mr. Conroy’s writings. It’s sad to think that such a gifted writer has gone silent, passing away at age 70, October 26, 1945 – March 4, 2016.
“One of the joys of being an artist is having the freedom to follow my passion….”
What’s next?
Drawing by William R. Beebe