{{short description|American painter}} {{Use American English|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox artist | name = Maud Gatewood | | image = Maud Gatewood (1954).jpg | caption = Gatewood in 1954 | imagesize = | birth_date = {{birth date|1934|01|08}} | birth_place = Yanceyville, North Carolina, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|11|08|1934|01|08}} | death_place = Durham, North Carolina | field = Painting | training = | movement = Realism, Abstract | works = }}
'''Maud Florance Gatewood''' (January 8, 1934 – November 8, 2004) was an American artist from Yanceyville, North Carolina. Art historians, museum directors, curators, and collectors recognize her as one of North Carolina's most distinguished painters.<ref>{{cite web| title=The Rising Star of Maud Gatewood| url=https://brunkauctions.com/the-rising-star-of-maud-gatewood/|accessdate=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=The Maud Gatewood Trail| url=http://library.guilford.edu/c.php?g=305544&p=2568934|accessdate=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Yanceyville, Danville to celebrate "Maud Gatewood: The Legacy"| url=https://www.newsoforange.com/caswell_messenger/news/article_28cef236-6d2d-53dc-9270-84c84450ebe6.html|accessdate=February 11, 2022}}</ref>
==Biography== === Early life and career ===
Maud Gatewood grew up in Yanceyville and attended Bartlett Yancey High School.<ref>{{cite web| title=Bartlett Yancey High School - Yan Tat Yearbook (Yanceyville, NC) - Class of 1950| url=http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/Bartlett_Yancey_High_School_Yan_Tat_Yearbook/1950/Page_47.html|accessdate=July 28, 2020}}</ref> When she was sixteen she enrolled at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina, which is presently the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.<ref>{{cite web| title=The History of UNCG| url=https://www.uncg.edu/inside-uncg/inside-history.php|accessdate=March 16, 2022}}</ref> Finishing her undergraduate coursework in 1954, Gatewood continued her art studies at Ohio State University where she received a Master of Fine Arts degree.<ref>{{cite web| title=The Rising Star of Maud Gatewood| url=https://brunkauctions.com/the-rising-star-of-maud-gatewood/|accessdate=August 5, 2020}}</ref>
In 1963, Gatewood won a Fulbright grant to study art in Austria under renowned painter Oskar Kokoschka. Returning to North Carolina, she began teaching art at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She later left her position at the school in 1973, desiring more time to paint.<ref>{{cite web| title=Maud Gatewood| url=https://art.state.gov/personnel/maud_gatewood/|accessdate=July 7, 2020}}</ref>
In 1975, Gatewood became a professor at Averett University, where she taught until her retirement in 1997. During this time, she was also the first woman elected to the Caswell County Board of Commissioners in 1976, where she advocated for economic development, land use planning, and expanded human services.<ref name="Maud">{{cite web |last=Crane |first=John |title=Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History: Hundreds of works by celebrated artist, former Averett professor coming to museum |url=https://godanriver.com/news/local/history/article_e3113190-97ec-42e0-938e-32e8ab16f47a.html |website=Danville Register & Bee |date=August 31, 2025 |accessdate=September 24, 2025}}</ref>
During her lifetime, Gatewood’s work was exhibited at museums and galleries throughout the United States, particularly in the Southeastern United States. Her paintings also entered private and institutional collections, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, D.C.).<ref>{{cite web |title=Gatewood, Maud Florance |url=https://caswellcountync.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I5945&tree=tree1 |website=Caswell County Historical Association Genealogy |publisher=Caswell County Historical Association |access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref>
Gatewood won numerous awards during her artistic career, including an art award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1972 and the North Carolina Award in Fine Arts in 1984.<ref>{{cite web| title=Maud Gatewood: Painter|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2004/11/13/maud-gatewood-painter-maud/223caa18-14b3-414e-93e5-10c68ca5748f/|accessdate=July 7, 2020}}</ref>
==Legacy== In 2025, the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History held a major retrospective exhibition of Gatewood's work, titled ''Maud Gatewood Takeover.'' The exhibition featured over 200 pieces, including paintings, drawings, and photographs, with some being publicly displayed for the first time. The exhibit highlighted her artistic journey, showcasing both abstract and representational works.<ref name="Maud"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.greensboro.com/maud-gatewood-shes-a-regional-artists-but-her-work-is-anything-but-provincial/article_7b3d59ac-101a-5f3a-be73-18547a17d833.html/ Greensboro.com] * [http://thejohnsoncollection.org/maud-gatewood/ The Johnson Collection] * [http://www.artnet.com/artists/maud-gatewood/biography Artnet] * [https://www.danvillemuseum.org/Feature/details/id/22/maud-gatewood Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History] * [https://www.gatewoodatbrahm.org/ The Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM)] ]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gatewood, Maud}} Category:20th-century American painters Category:People from Yanceyville, North Carolina Category:People from Caswell County, North Carolina Category:Painters from North Carolina Category:1934 births Category:2004 deaths Category:University of North Carolina at Charlotte faculty Category:20th-century American women painters Category:American women academics Category:21st-century American women