Marion D. Harris was an important figure in the Wilmington Academy of Art and acted as a teacher there intermittently from 1927-1937. Harris’ work often features highly saturated colors and bright light sources, offering an alternative to many of the active artists in Wilmington of the previous generation who preferred more subdued tones. Since the Biggs is one of the few museums that focuses on artists associated with art schools in the Delaware region, acquiring work by teachers like Harris helps the Biggs reach its goal in this area of the museum’s collecting mission.
For Further Thinking: Marion Harris signed this work in the lower left corner and craftily painted the signature as if it were a carving in the table. If you were going to disguise your signature in a painting, how would you do it?