Painter and educator John Kelly Fitzpatrick devoted his career to presenting the life of his rural central Alabama home in his art. During the 1920s and throughout the Great Depression, Fitzpatrick focused his attention on Alabama's rural landscape and its inhabitants during a socially and economically turbulent period in the state's history. An artist, art teacher, and promoter of visual-arts organizations in the region, Fitzpatrick was one of the state's most prominent and important advocates for art and art education.

There is some dispute regarding the exact circumstances of his birth, but John Kelly Fitzpatrick was born in or near Wetumpka, Elmore County, on August 15, 1888, either in the family's home at 207 Tuskeena Street, or...