Title: Martini Time at Montpelier - Orange County, Virginia

Artist: W. Randolph Chitwood, Jr. M.D.

Date: 2019

Medium: photographic print on canvas

Dimensions: 17 1/2" x 30"

Montpelier (1764) was built by James Madison. The house and plantation were acquired by William DuPont in 1901. There, his daughter Marion DuPont, an avid thoroughbred horse breeder and steeplechase racer, founded the Montpelier Hunt Races, which continue today. The only modification to the original house was a music room remodeled in the latest Art Deco style, using laminated plywood, chrome, glass block, and plate glass mirrors. Here, she had parties and evening "martinis." This photograph is of her martini set now extant in the reconstructed replica of the music room.

"For 35 years I've been a cardiac surgeon with a passion for photography. My love of photography spans more than 50 years when as a child my father, a country general practitioner, and I built a darkroom - and the rest became history. The miracle of fine art silver gelatin printing black and white photographs became a nascent passion.

"During my college years, photojournalism for newspapers in Virginia served as my creative outlet. Then, I wanted to become a National Geographic Photographer. Before medical school, I worked briefly for the DuPont Company where I had the opportunity to learn to print color images from some fantastic and competitive photographers. There, I learned the fine art of salon printing.

"As I went on to attend medical school at the University of Virginia and in the years after, when I was in surgical residency at Duke University, my opportunities to enjoy photography became limited but remained dormant. The renaissance occurred with a photo trek to Tibet in 1999. From that time forward, as I traveled the world speaking on robotic cardiac surgery, I began to take 'photo day' side trips. My love of this amazing art reemerged. It was then that I sought out George deWolfe, an internationally known fine art photographer, who taught me to print my work digitally.

"My wife, Tammy, and I immensely enjoyed our trips to Africa, where I captured the wonderful people and the wildlife through photography. For over 50 years, she was my inspiration for living, thinking, working, and loving."

www. photographybychitwood.com
Email: [email protected]