This artist’s paintings are inspired by an earlier time

High above King Street in a studio designed and remodeled by the artist himself, John Carroll Doyle stirs new life into memory with his brush and palette. His memories spring from a childhood steeped in the unique beauty of the Lowcountry.

A born-and-bred Charlestonian, he grew up during the post-war era when the city was significantly smaller—without suburbs, and with the main post office on Broad Street a bustling town center.

In those days, he says the mothers of today’s sweetgrass basket vendors lined the sidewalks by the dozens, selling fresh flowers as well as the ubiquitous baskets.

“I’m old enough to remember when Porgy and Bess-like characters still roamed the streets,” he muses. Images such as these from his past inform and inspire his paintings. Doyle believes his perspective as a local gives his work an authenticity that cannot be reproduced by the many other artists who have come to Charleston to live and paint.

“There was a very European, almost Italian-type energy in the old city,” he recalls. “I recreate these memories in my paintings.” With a muse such as Charleston, the budding artist found plenty of inspiration— wooden boats at the old Charleston Yacht Basin, lavender shadows on old stucco, yearround coastal sunlight—to take him to the next level.

He enrolled in an Atlanta art school, but left after a few months, dissatisfied with the program. “I was 19 and very naïve,” he says. “The emphasis was on creativity, not skills.”

Doyle wouldn’t return to painting until he was 30. He had attended college on the G.I. Bill, served with the Coast Guard, and would now immerse himself in the work of “the masters” to hone his artistic skills.

“I’m a strong believer that everyone is born with some kind of gift,” he notes. “That plagued me till around 1970…if you have a creative spirit in you it’s not going to let you off the hook.”

He became a fan of the European and American impressionists circa 1875–1925. “My favorite painter is John Singer Sergeant,” he says. “The more I learned, I thought this man was a genius…His approach was very romantic.”

Today, ensconced in his 3,000-square-foot, light-flooded studio, Doyle paints what he knows and loves, and that encompasses a lot of territory: the water he grew up on, the dogs with which his father hunted, the colorful characters that people his world. He is a prolific—and disciplined—artist, rising every morning with the sun to paint for several hours.

His monolithic commissioned oils can be seen in clubs and restaurants as far afield as Chicago, Illinois and Alexandria, Virginia and, locally, in landmark Lowcountry establishments like Carolina’s, Tommy Condon’s, 82 Queen, A.W. Shucks, and the former Angel Fish and Miskyns.

The realistic-impressionist paintings of sailfish were a mainstay on the covers of sport fishing magazines in the 1980s, launching his career and establishing his name in the art world.

Doyle markets his paintings and giclées (high quality prints) at the John Carroll Doyle Art Gallery in Charleston’s historic district. He displays the work of only one other artist—the previous owner and respected local painter, Margaret Petterson, from whom he bought the gallery.

“I like controlling the placement of paintings in the gallery,” he notes. “It looks like a museum. If we had four or five artists, it would be difficult to present them in harmony.”

Doyle gives back to his beloved city by donating paintings to charitable organizations such as Darkness to Light, the Birds of Prey Center, and for the Heart Ball and Fur Ball.

Beyond the easel, Doyle finds outlets for his creative sensibilities in garden design and photography, and will soon add a new book, titled John Carroll Doyle, American Impressionist, to his collection.

John Carroll Doyle Art Gallery
125 Church Street
Charleston SC 29401
843-577-7344
www.johncdoyle.com