In Memoriam
Date1952
Mediumoil on Masonite
DimensionsCanvas: 22 × 38 13/16 inches (55.9 × 98.6 cm)
Framed: 25 11/16 × 42 9/16 × 1 7/8 inches (65.2 × 108.1 × 4.8 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase.
Object number1999.24
Copyright© Estate of Augusta Oelschig.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextSavannah-born Augusta Oelschig, produced a body of work that included expressive imagery and socially-concerned content. In the 1930s she studied with noted artists Lamar Dodd at the University of Georgia and Henry Lee McFee of the Woodstock New York artists association. In Memoriam, painted in New York, is one of a group that depicts a burned carousel in Central Park. A year after initially painting the scene, she visited again, just after her brother, a pilot, had been shot down in the Korean conflict and presumed dead. This time she found that further deterioration had allowed a shaft of light to enter, illuminating the horses so that they appeared to be in motion. She named this painting in honor of her brother, interpreting it as “life after death” in contrast to the earlier scene, representing “death.”
