Paintings
This section contains images of five examples of Carr's paintings. They were all painted and titled in 1956 or 1957 when Carr had returned to teach for a year at the High School in Huron in South Dakota. This is when he wrote The Old Timers. He annotated four of the pictures in 1973 on a return visit to Huron, when he donated a proof of his map of Beadle County that is now owned by the Dakotaland Museum.
The paintings were sold by the Friends of Huron Library in aid of the Library. They are all shown in proportion to their actual size.
(Last updated on 22/3/2023)
Acrylic paint (?) on paper, 355 x 362 mm
Assuming that neither the railway line nor the fire hydrant have moved, this is probably what the view looks like now. The red fire hydrant in the painting is now yellow, just in front of the telegraph pole to the right. To the left behind the fence is now Huron Regional Airport.
(Click to enlarge)
Acrylic paint (?) on paper, 352 x 218 mm
Carr has also written: This has now been demolished (1973). Painted by J.L. Carr who came here from England 1938 & 1956.
Virgil is a small cluster of houses, 16 miles south-west of Huron, here. The railway looks derelict but the town still has a Railroad Steet.
(Click to enlarge)
Acrylic paint (?) on paper, 345 x 250 mm
Carr has also written: Painted by J.L. Carr who taught in the High School 1956 & 1938, as an exchange teacher from England
The bridge was probably across the James River on 21st Street SE.
(Click to enlarge)
Acrylic paint (?) on paper, 330 x 282 mm
Carr has also written: Now demolished. Painted by J.L. Carr who lived here in 1938 & 1956 & whose home was in England
There is a photograph in Byron Rogers' biography of J.L. Carr (Aurum Press, 2003) showing Sally and Bob Carr standing in front of this building in about 1957. There is also an ink drawing of the school house and the fuel store next to it (but not too close, in case of fire), pasted into the copy of The Old Timers that J.L. Carr donated to the Morgan Library in New York in 1983.
Carr drew this schoolhouse on his map of Beadle County just under the town of Yale, South Dakota, which is how I know where it is. Yale is named after the university in New Haven, Connecticut. Yale, the town, is 16 miles by road from Huron, north-west of the city, rather than South West.
I thank Curtis Loesch of Huron, South Dakota for the photograph of the map.
(Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)
Acrylic paint (?) on paper, 324 x 265 mm
Carr has also written: Now torn down. Painted by J.L. Carr who lived here 1938 & 1956 & now lives in England.
Carr had started another drawing on the sheet, which can be seen at the top, but painted over it.
(Click to enlarge)