Court House Square Charleston
signed in pencil lower right below image Elizabeth O’Neill Verner
and numbered 6 (from the edition of 80),
titled in pencil lower left below image,
etching on paper, 5 7/8 x 5 5/8 inches (plate)
Born in Charleston, Verner was a highly regarded printmaker, training under Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, before continuing her studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. There she was a student of Thomas Anshutz. She returned to Charleston, where she was a founding member of the Charleston Etcher’s Club; she also was a member of the Chicago Society of Etchers, the Washington Watercolor Club, and the Southern States Art League. She was highly regarded as one of the foremost practitioners of the Charleston Renaissance, along with Anna Heyward Taylor, Alfred Hutty, and Alice Smith. She was particularly drawn to the streets of Charleston, evoking every day scenes of ordinary people and the neighborhoods they called home. Verner’s work is included in the collections of numerous public institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.