Lloyd Branson

Enoch Lloyd Branson (1853–1925) was an American artist best known for his portraits of Southern politicians and depictions of early East Tennessee history. One of the most influential figures in Knoxville's early art circles, Branson received training at the National Academy of Design in New York the 1870s. After returning to Knoxville, he operated a portrait shop with photographer Frank McCrary. He was a mentor to fellow Knoxville artist Catherine Wiley, and is credited with discovering twentieth-century modernist Beauford Delaney.

Life

Branson was born in what is now Union County, Tennessee, (then part of Knox County) to English parents.

Around the time of the Civil War, prominent Knoxville physician John Mason Boyd noticed a sketch of Ulysses S. Grant Branson had made on a cigar box, and provided financial assistance for Branson to attend East Tennessee University. By the following year, his portraits had impressed art enthusiasts to the extent that the Knoxville Chronicle described him as Knoxville's "native genius." though it's uncertain whether or not he ever visited Europe. and spent time at resorts such as Tate Springs.

In 1880, Branson and photographer Frank McCrary formed McCrary and Branson, a Photograph & Portrait Artists company that operated out of a three-story building on Gay Street in Knoxville. The company, which at times included Branson's brother, Oliver, and sister-in-law, Laura, specialized in oil-painted photographs, oil copies, crayon-and-oil sketches, and illustrated souvenirs.

Branson reached the height of his career in 1910, when his work, Hauling Marble, won the gold medal at Knoxville's Appalachian Exposition. on June 12, 1925. Most of his work consisted of commercial portraits, but his most well-known tend to depict historical scenes of the Appalachian frontier. His work is on display in the Tennessee State Museum and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, and the Knoxville Museum of Art, the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture, and the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville. One of Branson's most popular paintings, The Battle of King's Mountain, was displayed in the Hotel Imperial in Knoxville, and was destroyed when the hotel burned in 1917. The Blockhouse at Knoxville, Tennessee Assault on Fort Sanders Hauling Marble (also known as The Toilers or Rock Haulers), (c. 1890) Women at Work, 1891 California to Oregon Stagecoach, 1900 Gathering of Overmountain Men at Sycamore Shoals, 1915

Portraits

Branson painted portraits of the following individuals:

Ellen McClung Berry John I. Cox George Armstrong Custer, Lt. Col., Regular Army (United States) Joseph Estabrook James B. Frazier John Haywood Thomas William Humes Emma Elizabeth Strawn Johnson, Co-Founder and Second President of Johnson University (1925–27) Adelia Armstrong Lutz (1878) Horace Maynard Brig. Gen. John Porter McCown, C.S.A., c. 1880 (attributed) Robert J. McKinney (1885) Abram Jones Price J. G. M. Ramsey DeWitt Clinton Senter James Allen Smith Hester Thompson Stuart Montgomery Stuart Peter Turney Captain James N. Williamson, CSA (1916) Alvin C. York

Legacy

Branson Avenue in Knoxville is named in Branson's honor. His house still stands along the road, and has been purchased for restoration by the preservation group, Knox Heritage.