D I S C O V E R Y !
Constance Forsyth July 10 - Aug 8, 2015
Wi l l i a m Re ave s F i n e A r t
D I S COV E RY ! JULY 10 - AUGUST 8, 2015
Exhibition Events Opening Reception: Saturday, July 11, 6 - 8:30 p.m. Gallery Talk - Rita Blasser: Saturday, July 18, 2 - 4 p.m. Artist Talk - Karen Lastre: Saturday, July 25, 2 - 4 p.m. Gallery Talk - Constance Forsyth: Saturday, August 1, 2 - 4 p.m.
William Reaves Fine Art | 2143 Westheimer Road | Houston, Texas 77098 | 713.521.7500 Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm and by appointment, please call 713.521.7500 or email info@reavesart.com.
Constance (Connie) Forsyth, printmaker, painter, and teacher, was born on August 18, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the second of three daughters of William and Alice (Atkinson) Forsyth. Her father was one of Indiana’s leading artists during the early part of the twentieth century, and from a young age Forsyth and her sisters accompanied him when he taught outdoor painting classes during the summer. Both parents encouraged their children to observe nature, which subsequently became the enduring theme of Connie Forsyth’s art.
campus; she gave lectures and demonstrations on printmaking for the Texas Fine Arts Association and local and state museums and served on juries for major statewide competitive exhibitions. She was a member of the Indiana Art Association, the Indiana Society of Printmakers, and the Printmakers’ Guild, a group of women printmakers in the Southwest. She was also a member of the Texas Fine Arts Association, the Texas Association of College Teachers, Texas Printmakers, and the National Association of Women Artists.
After completing a B.A. degree in chemistry at Butler University in Indianapolis in 1925, Forsyth began formal art training at the John Herron Art Institute. There she studied with Clifton Wheeler, Myra Richards, and her father; she received a diploma in 1929. In 1927–28 and in the spring of 1930 she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where she studied with Henry McCarter, George Harding, and Albert Laessle. In the summers of 1932 and 1934 she studied at the Broadmoor Art Academy (later the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center), where she studied under Boardman Robinson and John Ward Lockwood. She attended the first lithography class offered there in the summer of 1932 and developed an enthusiasm for printmaking, which became her primary medium. She also assisted Thomas Hart Benton on the Indiana murals for the Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago in 1933.
She most characteristically composed semiabstract studies of natural forms such as waves, mountains, and especially clouds. Her early work was primarily lithography, but during the 1940s and 1950s she frequently combined aquatint, drypoint, and lithographic processes to achieve a variation in textures and tones. Occasionally she added a single color as an accent. She also painted watercolors in bright, earthy colors in a style influenced by John Marin. In later years she became increasingly nonobjective and experimented with collages of torn, colored papers, often combined with overpainting. She used acrylics in patterns, texture, and calligraphy meant to suggest natural processes.
Forsyth first gained experience in teaching by offering private art lessons in Indianapolis. From 1931 to 1935 she was an instructor at the John Herron Art Institute, and in 1937 she enrolled in education courses at Butler University. She taught art at Western College in Oxford, Ohio, in the spring of 1939. In 1940 her former teacher, Ward Lockwood, hired her to help develop a program in printmaking in the University of Texas art department.. During her thirty-three years of teaching at the University of Texas Forsyth supervised many graduate students and served on numerous committees. Her teaching activities extended beyond the university
Forsyth exhibited her work widely, beginning in 1928, when she won a prize at the Hoosier Salon. She won awards at exhibitions sponsored by the John Herron Art Museum (1936, 1938, 1961), the Dallas Printmaker Society (1945), the Joslyn Memorial Museum in Omaha, Nebraska (1949), the Indiana State Fair (1941, 1946– 47, 1950, 1956–57), the Indiana Society of Printmakers (1949, 1953), the Eighth Texas General Exhibition (1946), the Texas Fine Arts Association (1946–47, 1951, 1954, 1956, 1961, 1972), and the National Association of Women Artists (1955, 1961), among others. She exhibited her work at the Witte Museum in San Antonio; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Dallas Museum of Art; the Laguna Gloria Art Museum and Elisabet Ney Museum, both in Austin; an invitational Printmaking
Exhibition at Texas Tech University in Lubbock; and annual artfaculty exhibitions at the University of Texas. The Laguna Gloria Art Museum mounted a solo exhibition of her paintings and drawings in 1946; galleries in Austin, San Antonio, and Indianapolis also sponsored solo exhibitions of her work. Nationally her work was exhibited at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the National Academy of Design and the 1939 World’s Fair (both in New York), the Kansas City Art Institute, the Library of Congress, the Denver Art Museum, and the Seattle Art Museum. She also exhibited her work in Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland, England, Japan, and India. Forsyth retired with the rank of professor emeritus in 1973. Her contributions were honored a year later by a joint retrospective with William L. Lester organized by the Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery. She continued to contribute work to the annual faculty exhibition until 1985. On March 22, 1985, the Southern Graphics Council presented her with the Printmaker Emeritus Award in recognition for her outstanding achievement in that field. Two years later, Forsyth died on January 22, 1987. Her work is represented in the Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, Austin; the Witte Museum, San Antonio; the Dallas Museum of Art; the Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin; Texas Wesleyan College, Fort Worth; the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana; Ball State Teachers College, Muncie, Indiana; and Joslyn Memorial Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, among others.
-Excerpts taken from: Kendall Curlee, “FORSYTH, CONSTANCE,” Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/ online/articles/ffo55, accessed June 07, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Clinton Adams, American Lithographers, 1900–1960: The Artists and Their Printers (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983). Jim L. Collins, Women Artists in America, Eighteenth Century to the Present (1973; rev. and enlarged ed., Poughkeepsie, New York: Apollo, 1980). Peter Haskins Falk, ed., Who Was Who in American Art (Madison, Connecticut: Sound View, 1985). David Farmer, “Constance Forsyth: Printmaker,” in The Tamarind Papers, Vol. 12, ed. Clinton Adams (Albuquerque, New Mexico: Tamarind Institute, 1989). Retrospective Exhibition of Constance Forsyth and William Lester, Huntington Art Gallery Archives, University of Texas at Austin, 1974. Vertical Files, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
Constance Forsyth • July 10 - Aug 8, 2015 No.
Artist
Title of Work
Date
1
Constance Forsyth
Clouds for Summer
2
Constance Forsyth
Clouds over Bennie’s Ranch
3
Medium
Size (inches)
c. 1964
watercolor
22.5 x 30.5
c. 1955
watercolor
22.5 x 29.75
Constance Forsyth
Colorful Mountain
no date
watercolor
12 x 16
4
Constance Forsyth
Evening Mesa
c. 1958
watercolor
15 x 21
5
Constance Forsyth
Gentle but Threatening
no date
watercolor
22.5 x 29
6
Constance Forsyth
Gray Storm Clouds
no date
watercolor
15.5 x 22.5
7
Constance Forsyth
Old Cedar Roots
no date
watercolor
16.75 x 22
8
Constance Forsyth
Puffy Clouds
no date
watercolor
16.5 x 22.5
9
Constance Forsyth
Rainy Mountain Day
no date
watercolor
17 x 22.75
10
Constance Forsyth
Red and Yellow Rocks, West Texas
no date
watercolor
14.25 x 22.5
11
Constance Forsyth
Red Mountain
no date
watercolor
15.5 x 22.75
12
Constance Forsyth
Stormy Weather
no date
watercolor
15.5 x 22.5
13
Constance Forsyth
Swirling Clouds
no date
watercolor
15.25 x 22.25
14
Constance Forsyth
Yellow Mountains
no date
watercolor
16 x 22.5
15
Constance Forsyth
Yellow Trees
no date
watercolor
16.5 x 22.5
1. Constance Forsyth, Clouds for Summer, c. 1964, watercolor, 22.5 x 30.5 inches.
2. Constance Forsyth, Clouds over Bennie’s Ranch, c. 1955, watercolor, 22.5 x 29.75 inches.
3. Constance Forsyth, Colorful Mountain, no date, watercolor, 12 x 16 inches.
4. Constance Forsyth, Evening Mesa, c. 1958, watercolor, 15 x 21 inches.
5. Constance Forsyth, Gentle but Threatening, no date, watercolor, 22.5 x 29 inches.
6. Constance Forsyth, Gray Storm Clouds, no date, watercolor, 15.5 x 22.5 inches.
7. Constance Forsyth, Old Cedar Roots, no date, watercolor, 16.75 x 22 inches.
8. Constance Forsyth, Puffy Clouds, no date, watercolor, 16.5 x 22.5 inches.
9. Constance Forsyth , Rainy Mountain Day , no date, watercolor, 17 x 22.75 inches.
10. Constance Forsyth, Red and Yellow Rocks, West Texas, no date, watercolor, 14.25 x 22.5 inches.
11. Constance Forsyth, Red Mountain, no date, watercolor, 15.5 x 22.75 inches.
12. Constance Forsyth, Stormy Weather, no date, watercolor, 15.5 x 22.5 inches.
13. Constance Forsyth, Swirling Clouds, no date, watercolor, 15.25 x 22.25 inches.
14. Constance Forsyth, Yellow Mountains, no date, watercolor, 16 x 22.5 inches.
15. Constance Forsyth, Yellow Trees, no date, watercolor, 16.5 x 22.5 inches.
Constance Forsyth (1903-1987) Birth: August 18, 1903, Indianapolis, Indiana Death: January 22, 1987, Austin, Texas Education • Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana. B. A. Degree in Chemistry 1925 • John Herron Art School Indianapolis, Indiana, 1925-26, 1926-27, 1928-29. • Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1927-28. Spring 1930. • Broadmoor Art Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Summers 1932 and 1934 Selected Exhibitions • John Herron Art Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana • Fort Wayne Art Museum, Fort Wayne, Indiana • Lyman Galleries, Indianapolis, Indiana • Print Exhibitions, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California • Print Exhibitions, The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio • New York World's Fair Exhibition, New York, New York: 1939 • Annual Indiana Artists Exhibition, John Herron Art Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana: 1940, 1942, 1946-49, 1951, 1955, 1957, 1959 • Indiana State Fair Exhibition, Indianapolis, Indiana: 1941, 1946, 1949, 195052, 1954-57 • Indiana Society of Printmakers Annual Exhibition, Indianapolis, Indiana: 1941, 1944, 1947-51, 1953 • Texas Print Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas: 1941-45, 1947 • University of Texas Art Faculty Exhibition, Austin, Texas: 1941-85 • 116th Annual Exhibition, The National Academy of Design, Graphic Arts Section, New York, New York: 1942 • Texas Fine Arts Association, Spring Jury Exhibition, Laguna Gloria, Austin, Texas: 1942, 1944-48, 1950-54, 1956-57, 1959, 1961 • “Texas General,” Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas: 1942-46, 1957 • Texas Printmakers, traveling exhibition: 1942-59, 1961-62 • National Exhibition of Prints Made During Current Year, The Library of Congress, Washington, DC: 1943, 1953, 1955-56, 1958-59 • Annual Exhibitions of Western Art, Denver, Colorado, Art Museum: 1943, 1945-46, 1948, 1953 • Texas Fine Arts Association Annual Fall Membership Exhibition, Laguna Gloria, Austin, Texas: 1943, 1945-47, 1949-61 • Annual Exhibition, Hoosier Salon, Indianapolis, Indiana: 1944, 1949-51, 1953, 1955-58, 1961
• “Mountains and Plains Exhibition,” Denver, Colorado: 1945 • Solo Exhibition, Laguna Gloria, Austin, Texas: 1946 • “American Prints Today,” John Herron Art Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana: 1946 • Annual Exhibition Watercolors, Prints and Drawings, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA: 1948, 1959 • Annual Graphic Arts Exhibition, Joslyn Memorial Museum, Omaha, Nebraska: 1948-49 • Southwestern Print and Drawing Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas: 1949, 1951-52, 1956, 1958, 1961 • Solo Exhibition, Bright Shawl, San Antonio, TX: 1951 • Second Mid-America Annual, Nelson Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri: 1951 • Joint Exhibition with Kelly Fearing, Texas Western College, El Paso, Texas: 1952 • Texas Contemporary Artists Exhibition, Knoedler Gallery, New York, New York: 1952 • Annual Exhibition, Society of American Graphic Artists, New York, New York: 1952, 1954 • Annual Exhibition, National Association of Women Artists, National Academy Galleries, New York, NY: 1953-55, 1957-58, 1960-61 • The Texas Watercolor Society, Annual Exhibitions, Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, Texas: 1953, 1956, 1961 • Eighth Annual National Print Exhibition, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York: 1954 • Biennial Exhibition, 50 Indiana Prints, John Herron Art Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana: 1954, 1956, 1958 • Texas Fine Arts Association, Traveling Exhibitions: 1954-58, 1960, 1961 • National Association of Women Graphics Exhibition, Argent Galleries, New York, New York and circuit: 1955-57 • 1st Graphic Exhibition, Texas Western College, El Paso, Texas: 1955 • D. D. Feldman Exhibition, Dallas, Texas and circuit: 1955 • University of Texas Art Faculty Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas: 1956 • National Association of Women Artists Water Color Exhibition, Argent Gallery, New York, NY, and circuit exhibition: 1957-58 • University of Texas Faculty Exhibition, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA and Southern Methodist University, Dallas: 1957 • National Association of Women Artists, Foreign Exhibition, Kunst Museum, Bern, Switzerland; Ciano Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland; Lyceum, Lugano, Switzerland: 1957 • Annual Drawing and Small Sculpture Show, Ball State Teachers College Art Gallery, Muncie, Indiana: 1958, 1961 • University of Texas Art Faculty Exhibition, Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, Texas: 1958
• Joint Retrospective, Constance Forsyth and William Lester, Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, Austin, Texas: 1974 • D. D. Feldman Exhibition, Laguna Gloria, Austin, Texas and circuit: 1959 • “Made in Texas by Texans,” Contemporary Arts Museum, Dallas, Texas: 1959 • 16th Annual Print Exhibition of the Library of Congress, Traveling Exhibition: 1959 • Artists Annual Exhibition, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana: 1960 • University of Texas Art Faculty Exhibition, Waco; Fifth Avenue Gallery, Fort Worth; Invantory Gallery, Austin,Texas: 1960 • Joint Exhibition, Oils and Watercolors, National Association of Women Artists and Japanese Women Artists, Municipal Museum of Art, University Park, Tokyo, Japan and The Riverside Museum, New York, New York: 1960 • University of Texas Department of Art Faculty Traveling Exhibition, circulated to Texas museums and institutions: 1960-61 • American Painting Today (invitational), Grand Rapids Art Gallery, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1961 • Exhibition of Drawings, University of Texas Art Department Faculty, Humboldt State College, Arcata, California: 1962 • The Prints of Constance Forsyth, Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, Austin, Texas: 1993 Selected Awards • Fort Worth Art Association Award, Fifth Annual Texas Print Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas: 1945 • N. S. Von Phul Print Purchase Prize, 8th Texas General Exhibition, Collection of Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas: 1946 • First Print Prize, Texas Fine Arts Association Fall Membership Exhibition: 1947 • Purchase Award, Indiana Society of Printmakers, Indianapolis: 1949 • Purchase Award, Joslyn Memorial Museum, Omaha, Nebraska: 1949 • Birdwell Memorial Prize, 25th Annual Hoosier Salon Exhibition, Indianapolis: 1949 • Robert G. Payne Award, Texas Fine Arts Association, Spring Exhibition, Laguna Gloria, Austin: 1951 • The Eve Clendenin Prize, 63rd Annual National Association, Women Arts, National Academy Gallery, New York, New York: 1955 • Water color award, Texas Fine Arts Association Fall Membership Exhibition, Laguna Gloria, Austin, Texas: 1956 • Art Center Award, Texas Water Color Society, 7th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas: 1956 • Dallas Print Society Fund Purchase Award, 6th Southwestern Print and Drawing Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts: 1956
• Purchase award from Depauw University Purchase Fund, Hoosier Salon, Indianapolis, Indiana: 1961 • Naomi Goldman Prize, Annual Exhibition, National Association of Women Artists, New York, New York: 1961 • Printmaker Emeritus Award, Southern Graphics Council, 1985 Selected Collections • Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas • Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas • Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas • The McNay Museum, San Antonio, Texas • Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana • Joslyn Memorial Museum, Omaha, Nebraska • Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, Texas • Texas Wesleyan College, Fort Worth, Texas • Ball State Teachers College, Muncie, Indiana
About William Reaves Fine Art
H OUSTON’S T EXAS- C ENTERED G ALLERY William Reaves Fine Art, established 2006 in Houston, Texas, is dedicated to the promotion of premier Texas artists of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focusing particularly on historically significant artists active in the state during the period of 1900-1975. Now beginning its ninth year, the gallery showcases many of the region’s most accomplished and recognized talents, all of whom have significant connection to the state of Texas and have evidenced the highest standards of quality in their work, training, and professionalism in the field. The gallery exhibits artists working in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, works on paper, and photography. In addition to its general focus on Early Texas Art, the gallery places special emphasis on the rediscovery and presentation of early and mid-century works by Houston and South Texas artists. William Reaves Fine Art is the foremost provider of Texas Modern Art, which includes mid-century masters and pioneering expressionists working in the state. In order to promote interest and broaden knowledge of earlier Texas art, the gallery supports related gallery talks, community events, scholarly research, and publication related to its subject, artist, and period. William Reaves Fine Art also represents a dynamic group of contemporary artists, known as the Contemporary Texas Regionalists, actively showing their works in annual gallery exhibitions as well as traveling exhibitions throughout the state. Most recently, The Houston Press voted William Reaves Fine Art Houston’s Best Art Gallery for 2013. Additionally, William Reaves Fine Art is a comprehensive gallery offering fine art appraisals, consultation, brokerage, and sales services. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm and other times by appointment. Gallery Contact: Sarah Foltz, Director sarah@reavesart.com
William Reaves Fine Art 2143 Westheimer Road • Houston, Texas • 77098 • www.reavesart.com Tel : 713.521.7500 • Contact : INFO@reavesart.com