(1899-1979)
Margaret Batson was considered a "primitive painter," a term also referring to unacademically trained or outsider artists. She was born in Buffalo in 1899 and lived in Williamsville.[1] She was featured in the 1970 publication, Symbols and Images: Contemporary Primitive Artists, selected by Gregg N. Blasdel. In her featured artist statement, she describes her approach to her primitive works:
My primitives are the result of ‘doing what comes naturally’. I definitely do not set out to paint a primitive. Laws of perspective and rules governing shadows are stifling to me. Like using a computer. I love bright, gay, happy colors and good, strong well-balanced design. I could be happy painting only different versions of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, because here is the whole story of civilization and a perfect chance for an artist’s innovation.[2]
In 1976, Charles Rand Penney acquired her painting, Mark Twain’s Bar-Keep Reaches Heaven for his Collection of Western New York Art. He donated it to the Burchfield Penney Art Center in 1991. Batson died in 1979.