May Paine was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1873 and studied with Ivan Summers, Emile Gruppe, and Alfred Hutty. An active member of the Charleston Sketch Club and the Southern States Art League, she painted the same scenes as Alice Smith and Elizabeth Verner, but with a greater modernism, startling bright colors, and rich brushwork in oils.

From the beginning, Paine's favorite subject was Charleston-its streets, buildings, and gateways-and the marshes and gardens of its historic plantations. In one cleverly crafted composition, the gates are painted with lively brush strokes and are suggested rather than defined. Vibrant patterns of light and shadow and a dramatic perspective, formed by the sunlit foreground and the steps of the background, draw the viewer into the scene.

Paine maintained a studio in her home at 47 Meeting Street, and resided in Charleston most of her life. During the 1920s she exhibited widely, in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi, as well as her native city. She died in Savannah in 1941. NRS

Biography courtesy of The Charleston Renaissance Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/charleston