Intersection of Local History and Art: An Exhibition of Lucille Hobbie's Work

Published on July 01, 2018

Exhibition on view at the Morris County Library through August 31

(JPG, 219KB) Lucille Hobbie's rendering of the Morris County Courthouse graces the cover of "Historic Sites of Morris County, New Jersey." The book is available to purchase at the special exhibition price of $12.

Historic sites give our neighborhoods, downtown areas, and communities a personality with which we identify. They provide us with a sense of place and visual interest.

A renowned Morris County chronicler of this sense of place and identity was local artist Lucille Hobbie (1915-2008), who has been lauded as a visual historian-storyteller.

The Boonton native, who was self-taught and had a keen eye for detail, worked primarily in watercolor and lithographic printing. Through her artwork, she has contributed to the preservation of historic sites in Morris County that enriches our lives daily.

(JPG, 64KB) Artist Lucille Hobbie

The prints on display at the County Library are originals from the Morris County Archives, held by the Heritage Commission, and were commissioned for Historic Sites of Morris County, New Jersey. Featured in the exhibit are lithographs from the artist's Historic Morris County Series and pencil sketches that were drawn specially for the publication.

Copies of Historic Sites of Morris County, New Jersey are available to library patrons at the Morris County and local libraries. Copies are also available for purchase from the Heritage Commission at a special exhibition price of $12. Contact the Commission by phone at 973.829.8117 or by email at Heritage@co.morris.nj.us to obtain your copy.

(JPG, 29KB)The exhibit will be on view in the main lobby from July 9 through August 31. Large print exhibit text is available on request at the circulation desk.

Lucille Hobbie's work hangs in the permanent collections of the Montclair Art Museum, Newark Public Library, Colonial Williamsburg, The Seeing Eye, Morristown, and the Prudential Life Insurance building in Newark and numerous private and corporate collections. Her extensive body of work ranges from landscapes, nauticals, and churches, to many derived from her imagination. She is published in Who's Who in American Art, and participated in the National Academy Invitational Watercolor Show.

The Morris County Library is located at 30 East Hanover Avenue in the Whippany section of Hanover Township. The library is open Monday €“ Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.