A West Virginia University Libraries curator will be highlighting the states artistic heritage at 7 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 15) in Charleston.

John Cuthbert, curator of the West Virginia and Regional History Collection at the WVU Libraries, will discuss portrait and landscape artists from the late 18th to early 20th centuries in the Norman L. Fagan West Virginia State Theatre at the Cultural Center, state Capitol complex.

The programwhich is free and open to the publicwill be hosted by West Virginia first lady Gayle Manchin. It is part of a series of lectures and performances by students and faculty from WVU and Marshall University.

West Virginia has been home to several acclaimed artists, Cuthbert noted.

Its a topic that has often been overlooked,he said.Any time I talk before a group about West Virginias fine arts heritage, people are always shocked to learn how much significant fine art heritage this state has.

Cuthbert will talk about the lives and work of renowned West Virginia artists, including David Hunter Strother, Blanche Lazzell, Leslie Thrasher and Thomas Anshutz.

A Martinsburg native, Strother, whose pseudonym wasPorte Crayon,became a household name during the 1850s through his illustrated travelogues which appeared regularly in Harpers Monthly. Lazzell, a Morgantown native and WVU alumna, won international acclaim for her avant-garde work, and Thrasher, a Piedmont native, illustrated the covers of leading magazines like Liberty and the Saturday Evening Post.

Although he was not a West Virginia native, Anshutz was closely connected to Wheeling, where his mother was born. The town served as a backdrop to many of his paintings. His most famous work,Steelworkers at Noontime,received both criticism and praise for its accurate portrayal of Wheeling steelworkers taking a lunch break.

It (the painting) depicted the grit of true American life as opposed to elevated perceptions of elegance and beauty,Cuthbert said.Everyone is always amazed to learn about the number of leading artists who had connections to the state.

Cuthbert has masters and doctoral degrees from WVU . He is the author of several books, includingEarly Art and Artists in West Virginia,which was published by the WVU Press in 2000.

The West Virginia and Regional History Collection at WVU is the foremost historical archives library in the state. Its collection of West Virginia books, periodicals and newspapers is unmatched, as are its holdings of early West Virginia photographs, maps, broadsides and folk music. For more information about the collection, visithttp://www.libraries.wvu.edu/wvcollection/.