WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS ON VIEW:
“Arline Mann: The Forever House”
Customs House Museum & Cultural Center
Clarksville, Tennessee
customshousemuseum.org
August 7–October 26, 2025
Inspired by such 19th-century forerunners as Anders Zorn and Christen Købke, Arline Mann (b. 1948) is a watercolorist who creates serene scenes that capture the play of light and shadow in interiors, on cherished objects, and across landscapes. Having previously worked in theater and then corporate law, Mann now splits her time between New York City and a remarkable house in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
That home was constructed in the early 1920s by George Elder, a Chattanooga native who bought more than 3,000 acres on what became known as Elder Mountain. Acting as his own architect, he found on his land most of the necessary stone and wood, ultimately conjuring a structure spread along the mountain’s brow, mostly one room deep, and easily spotted from afar thanks to its stone water tower.
Sadly, Elder enjoyed his creation for just a few years before dying in 1926, but his family remained there another 40. Arline Mann and her husband, Bob Katz, are its fourth owners, and fortunately it has never been modernized. Mann notes, “The Elder House isn’t just a home; it’s a storybook of craftsmanship and the spirit of those who lived there. The reasons we chose the house — the wonder of it — are the same feelings I want to project in my paintings.”
Thirteen of those watercolors are on view at Clarksville’s Customs House Museum & Cultural Center in the exhibition “Arline Mann: The Forever House,” her first museum show. She begins each scene with a graphite underdrawing, then builds up with washes and softens the image with translucent layers to heighten the sense of atmosphere and reverie, even of nostalgia for a place most of us will never actually visit. In the exhibition, Mann’s views are complemented by historic photographs of the house and of Elder Mountain.
Speaking of the mountain, in the mid-1960s George Elder’s children began selling land, and now one road winds up 2 1/2 miles through raw wilderness to a neighborhood at the top encompassing more than 100 houses. Elder House is the landmark within this friendly community, where Mann intends to remain “forever.”
