Charleston's greatest contribution to American painting was timely patronage of men of ability. Contents: Historical intro.; Art and artists from the 16th to the mid-18th cent.; Jeremiah Theus, Alexander Gordon, and the mid-18th cent.; Prosperous Pre-Revolutionary years; The Revolutionary years; Federal years; The academic tradition and native talent in the first quarter of the 19th cent.; Fraser, Allston, White, and Cogdell; The South Carolina Acad. of Fine Arts; Sculpture; Theatrical and decorative painters; The silhouettists; Backgrounds; Native talent and visiting strangers; "Female artists" and talented families; The daguerreotype and photography; Pre-war decades; and The war years -- 1861-1865. Illus. This is a print on demand publication.