My journey in early Texas art began during the summer of 1986 while I was a graduate student studying art history at Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. I had volunteered in the registrar’s department at the old Meadows Museum, and I was charged with locating and cataloguing SMU’s University Art Collection, which by default fell under the jurisdiction of the Meadows and was scattered all over campus in offices, closets, and less-than-ideal situations. One of my favorite “discoveries” was Alexandre Hogue’s exceptional painting Sage and Cedar, which was in a neglected area in an administration building. When I saw the painting I remembered hanging one of Hogue’s Dust Bowl paintings at the National Museum of American Art (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum). Hogue had been a student of Frank Reaugh, several pastels by whom were also part of SMU’s University Art Collection. As a pastel painter myself in those days, Reaugh’s work appealed to me on a visceral level. Moreover, my master’s thesis was on the early career of Reaugh—still known then as the “Dean of Texas Artists.” SMU had a tradition of encouraging research on Texas art; a custom advocated by the great Regionalist Jerry Bywaters when he was a member of the faculty. I had the distinct honor of meeting Bywaters during my time at SMU.
Having worked with Texas Regionalist art at the Smithsonian and with more Texas art objects in the SMU art collection and as an adjunct lecturer at the Dallas Museum of Art, I landed a job as curator of art at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, in Canyon, in 1987. Still, I did not consciously set out to devote a sizable part of my life’s work to championing early Texas art. Obviously, I felt a connection: The museum was home to the Frank Reaugh Collection, which, today, houses an extensive archive on the artist in addition to more than 1,000 works in pastel, oil, drawing, watercolor, photographic prints, and glass-plate negatives. And there were the H.D. Bugbee and Olive Vandruff collections (about 2,500 works plus archives and approximately 1,000 art objects plus archives, respectively) and the Bugbee Ranch, outside Amarillo. One of the first exhibitions I installed was the traveling exhibition, “Lone Star Regionalism: The Dallas Nine and Their Circle,” a Texas Sesquicentennial exhibition organized by the Dallas Museum of Art. But even with these strong ties, it just kind of happened along the way. I learned very quickly that despite the important sesquicentennial efforts of several Texas art museums, the institutional interest in early Texas art had already waned by 1990. The real interest and support for this segment of American art history was in the private sector, which seemed appropriate as it underscores Texans’ fierce independence to go our own way, official sanctioning be damned.
I had to educate myself. There were very few books on the subject, so I studied and learned at the knees of two of the most important collectors of early Texas art in the eighties, A.C. Cook, of Fort Worth, and Bill Cheek, of Dallas. I learned from these men that the support for collecting and exhibiting existed almost exclusively in the private sector; I also learned this was a grassroots movement and it was growing like mad. With so many artists and an expanding constituency, my wife and I felt the need to put together a useful directory of sorts. There had been publications attempting to catalogue early Texas artists in the late-twenties and mid-thirties, but there was no “handbook” on these artists. So, with the backing of collectors all over the state, we attempted to create a kind of “Baedeker’s” for early Texas art, a useful tool. Our efforts produced the Dictionary of Texas Artists, 1800–1945 (Texas A&M University Press, 1999), which is based strictly on exhibition records for qualification. While conducting our research, we found more than 2,600 artists—more than half of them women—who worked in Texas before the end of World War II. But we also discovered that there were few examples of works by these very artists. Nevertheless, we looked at thousands of images of early Texas art. From Tyler and El Paso to Dalhart and Orange, I traveled the state, perusing private collections and seeing many great works by Texas artists.
After 24 years at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, I suspect I have curated nearly thirty Texas art exhibitions (mainly with works borrowed from public and private collections) and delivered as many lectures on the subject as anyone. Moreover, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum now has the most comprehensive—geographically—early Texas art collection in any public collection in the state. Consequently, I’ve learned a great deal, storing bits of data here and there along the way. And I’ve put together a list of greatest hits, quintessential Texas works. The list is limited to only those works accessible to the public, so get out there and see and experience our state through a different lens. You just might be inspired to begin your own journey.
THE LIST
H.D. BUGBEE
The Cattleman
PANHANDLE-PLAINS HISTORICAL MUSEUM, CANYON
The first of five murals Bugbee painted for the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum’s Pioneer Hall beginning in 1934, The Cattleman may be Bugbee’s masterpiece. He had been painting with Taos, New Mexico, artists since the early twenties and sought their advice on this mural, especially the counsel of W. Herbert “Buck” Dunton, his closest friend amongst the group. The Cattleman shows the influence of Dunton while simultaneously exhibits Bugbee’s mastery of Palo Duro Canyon and the rich cowboy history of the Panhandle-Plains region. Additionally, the mural depicts a critical event in Texas history: Charles Goodnight bringing the first herd of cattle into Palo Duro in 1876. The Cattleman is one of my favorite murals in the state.
JERRY BYWATERS
Oil Field Girls
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN
POMPEO COPPINI
Littlefield Memorial Fountain
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN
OTIS DOZIER
Cotton Boll
DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART, DALLAS
EDWARD G. EISENLOHR
Country Church, Palo Pinto
GRACE MUSEUM, ABILENE
ALEXANDRE HOGUE
Drouth Stricken Area