HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (Sept. 10, 2009) – Linda Hartough, world-renowned golf-landscape artist, recently entered into an agreement with the non-profit Shivas Irons Society. According to the agreement, in addition to the recently-publicized release of prints, Hartough’s just-completed 2010 U.S. Open Championship original oil painting will be available for sale exclusively from the Society for a period of ninety days. Details of the offering can be viewed at the Society’s Web site, www.shivas.org. A portion of proceeds from the sale of these works will be donated to the Shivas Irons Society.
“I look forward to a continuing relationship with the Shivas Irons Society,” says Hartough, whose work has achieved worldwide acclaim. “I take pride in my affiliation with this fine organization that provides opportunities for community, discovery and transformation through golf, including a growing focus on the creative golf arts.”
The 2010 U.S. Open Championship original oil painting, representing Number 21 in Hartough’s series, features the famed ocean-side ninth hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
“We are proud and excited for this opportunity,” says Steve Cohen, president of the Shivas Irons Society. “Linda’s golf landscapes have been acknowledged as masterworks by collectors and clubs around the world. This is an important step for us toward creating an online gallery of fine art and photography that will represent our long-held intention to be a vehicle for all of the creative arts inspired by the game of golf.”
This year marks 20 years since Hartough first was commissioned by the U.S. Golf Association to create annual paintings and prints of the U.S. Open. She is the only artist ever commissioned by the USGA and the R&A to do the annual paintings and prints for the U.S. Open and the British Open Championships.
Hartough painted the first of her U.S. Open series in 1990, when Hale Irwin won at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill. This year’s rendering was of the 17th hole at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y., site of Lucas Glover’s triumph.
A confirmed artist since childhood, early in her career Hartough painted landscapes, portraits and horses. In 1984, Augusta National Golf Club commissioned her to paint its famous 13th hole, an event which propelled Hartough toward specialization as a golf-landscape painter. Since then, her work has achieved a distinguished status, displayed in the permanent collections of such legendary clubs as Augusta National, Laurel Valley, Pinehurst and Pine Valley, as well as in the personal collections of such golf notables as Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd and Robert Trent Jones, Sr. Known for extraordinary attention to detail in her recreation of some of golf’s most beautiful holes, Hartough imbues her paintings with admiration for the scenery’s natural beauty and respect for the game’s history and tradition, elements which seem to emerge from the canvas.
Hartough is a Founding Trustee of the Academy of Golf Art, a professional society of golf artists established in 2004 to create an awareness and appreciation of golf art as a valuable segment of fine art.
For more information, visit www.hartough.com or www.lindahartoughoriginals.com.
Contact:
Sally J. Sportsman
(t) 407-248-1144
(e) sjsport@earthlink.net