Hill Country Love Affair: Interpretations of a Texas Heartland W i l l i a m R e a v e s F i n e Ar t • O c t o b e r 1 8 – No v e m b e r 1 6 , 2 0 1 3
P l e a s i n g H ill C o u n t r y V i e w s b y Ov e r 3 0 T e x a s A r ti s t s , Spa n n i n g 8 5 Y e a r s Randy Bacon • Mary Baxter • Joy Carrington • Emma Richardson Cherry • Margie Crisp • Keith Davis • Ruth Duncan • Santa Duran • Jon Flaming • Henri Gadbois • Robert Harrison • Alexander Hogue • Carl Hoppe • Lee Jamison • Laura Lewis • William Montgomery • Ancel Nunn • George Demont Otis • Noe Perez • Harold Roney • Porfirio Salinas • Jeri Salter • William Slaughter • Debbie Stevens • Bob Stuth-Wade • Rolla Taylor • Robert Wood • among others •
Hill COuntry Love Affair: Interpretations of a Texas Heartland October 18 – November 16, 2013
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 26, 2013 5 - 8pm
Noe Perez, Evening Colors, 2013
Devotion to Place: Texas Artists and the Texas Hill Country As the exhibition title implies, A Hill Country Love Affair is an art exhibition celebrating the glories of the Texas Hill Country. Here for the viewing is a fine selection vintage and contemporary paintings by over thirty Texas artists, all of which feature this beloved sector of the state in one form or fashion. The works shown have been executed by their respective artists over a period of roughly eighty-five years. It is a lovely assemblage of artworks featuring the grand mix of wildflowers, wildlife, rivers, lakes and vistas which characterize in the Hill Country environs. A visit is certain to bring pleasant viewing for all who attend, as this is a worthy exhibition simply based on the beauty of the works alone.
Texas in the 1850s, Texas painters have been inclined to give romantic interpretations to the lofty hills and rocky riverbeds endemic to the area. The twentieth century ensued with impressionist painters such as the Onderdonks, notably Robert and Julian, and “Papa” José Arpa achieving popular acclaim by virtue of their stunning canvases of verdant Texas hills and scrubby South Texas countryside that surrounded their San Antonio homes. Their painterly output, coupled with their notable prowess as art teachers, helped to inspire a popular movement of “bluebonnet painters” and set dozens of would-be protégées scouring about the Texas hills in search of flower-covered vistas to paint.
However, beyond being merely a collection of pretty paintings, this exhibition underscores that most fundamental quality of true Texas art - a profound “sense of place”. It has been noted that the best of Texas paintings marvel us because they connect to the archetypical spirit and instinctive nature of place which looms quietly (and sometimes not-soquietly) within the collective consciousness of all Texans. Perhaps no other spot within the bounds of the Great State is more evocative of genuine “Texas place” than the Texas Hill Country, and as the paintings on the walls attest, the region has beckoned to Texas painters since art first blossomed in the State. Indeed, Texas artists have been engaged in a mad love affair with the Texas Hill Country since the very beginning, and the masterworks in art which have resulted from their enduring romance are at least part of the reason that this rugged Texas heartland is revered today as one of the state’s most identifiable environmental treasures.
By the end of the Roaring Twenties, Texas and San Antonio had evolved as the epicenter of the arts for the South and Southwest. San Antonio’s energetic Art League, underwritten by its “patron-in-chief”, Edgar B. Davis, boldly offered a heralded national painting competition which encouraged both Texas painters, as well as American counterparts from other states, to capture farming, ranching and other scenic landscape of the Texas Hill Country and its adjacent territories. Several of the artists who actively participated in these San Antonio Competitive Exhibitions, as these events were formally titled, are shown in this particular exhibition, including Emma Richardson Cherry, Alexander Hogue, Peter Hohnstedt, Eloise Polk McGill, Gilbert Neumann, Harold Roney, Rolla Taylor and others. Other notable exhibitors include Oscar E. Berninghaus, Adrian Bewer Dawson Dawson-Watson, W. Herbert Dunton, Edward G. Eisenlohr, Frank Tenney Johnson, Audley Dean Nicols, and Ella K. Mewhinney.
Starting with the likes of Hermann Lungkwitz or Friedrich Richard Petri, notables among a first wave of immigrant artists settling in Central
The 30s and 40s introduced yet another wave of hill-country painters onto the Texas scene. Foremost among these were Robert Wood and
Porfirio Salinas, and strong examples of their works are found here as well. These artists extended the landscape traditions started by Onderdonk, Arpa and others, turning out exquisite canvases populated with their own fields of flowers, dusty roads, spreading live oaks and blooming cacti. Their works resonated with Texans of the era and found homes among the most prominent of Lone Star families.
strong brushwork and careful overlay of paint to capture the unique light and texture of the land they paint. Artists such as Jeri Salter, Erik Sprohge and Hunter George bring Hill Country settings to life through exquisite works on paper, while Jon Flaming and Keith Davis prefer more whimsical, colorful abstractions (and in Davis’ case—found objects and carved wood) to convey the distinctive qualities of the vicinity.
The allure of the Texas hills did not escape the attention of the artists/ instructors of the newly formed University of Texas art department either. These professors, along with a bevy of talented students, sketched and painted the Austin countryside prolifically, albeit with more abstracted, avant-garde style then their San Antonio-based contemporaries. In this show, examples by Constance Forsyth, William Lester and Everett Spruce speak to their affinity for the hard-scrabble farms and rocky streams which dotted the vicinity.
And so on it goes. A long and continuous line of Texas painters inspired by this glorious place, moved to capture its beauties and character in paint. The paintings here constitute a tribute to both subject and artists, and attest to the instinctive draw which this ground has held for Texas painters over time. Through A Hill Country Love Affair we invite you to experience your own personal journey to this special Texas place. We have little doubt you’ll enjoy it, and that you will concur with us in affirming: Long live Texas, long live Texas art, and God bless the Texas hills!
Returning to studios after the war, Salinas and other Texas painters continued to pursue their fascination with Hill Country subject matter, painting wonderful examples throughout the middle and latter scores of the twentieth century. Others, such as William Slaughter followed their lead. One of the grand artists to emerge in Texas after the war was Ancel Nunn, whose painting here of the German-engineered Sisterdale School House offers a sensitive tribute to the elegant legacy of indigenous structures which stand as monuments in time in these Texas Hills. Texas painters of the present century have been likewise smitten by this storied landscape, finding new and inventive ways to paint and preserve the timeless qualities of the Texas Hill Country. Artists such as Mary Baxter, Noe Perez, Robert Harrison, Lee Jamison and Laura Lewis lend their respective forms of impressionism to this classic subject matter. Randy Bacon, Bob Stuth-Wade and Debbie Stevens use measured, yet
Bill Reaves President, William Reaves Fine Art
Hill Country Love Affair: Interpretations of a Texas Heartland October 18 - November 16, 2013 Artist
Title of Work
Date
Medium
Dimensions (inches)
1
Randy Bacon
Fort McKavett #1
2013
oil on canvas
18 x 24
2
Randy Bacon
Fort McKavett #2
2013
oil on canvas
18 x 24
3
Randy Bacon
San Saba River at the Presidio
2013
oil on canvas
18 x 24
4
Randy Bacon
Llano River
2013
oil on canvas
18 x 24
5
Randy Bacon
Pecans (Menard)
2013
oil on canvas
10 x 14
6
Mary Baxter
Cattle Near Quihi
2013
oil on canvas
30 x 42
7
Mary Baxter
Ducks in the Rain
2013
oil on canvas
30 x 24
8
Mary Baxter
Two Cattle Egrets on a Rocky Point
2013
oil on canvas
30 x 36
9
Joy Carrington
Basket of Cactus
no date
oil on canvas
24 x 18
10
Joy Carrington
Hill Country Bluebonnets
no date
oil on board
10 x 16
11
Joy Carrington
Trees & Lake
no date
oil on canvas
24 x 36
12
Emma Richardson Cherry
Blue Bonnets & Indian Blankets
no date
oil on board
17 x 11½
13
Margie Crisp
Righteous
2013
egg tempera on panel, 24k gold, water gilded
8½ x 7½
14
Margie Crisp
Endangered Species Icon: Black-capped Vireo
2013
egg tempera on panel, 24k gold, oil gilded
11 x 14
15
Keith Davis
Woodpeckers and Cactus
2013
acrylic on wood
26½ x 17 x 9
16
Keith Davis
A Window on Texas: Spring in the Hill Country
2013
acrylic on wood
36 x 31 x 8
17
Keith Davis
A Window on Texas: Crows in the Kitchen
2013
acrylic on wood
29 x 26 x 9½
18
Keith Davis
A Window on Texas: Evening Song
2013
acrylic on wood
26 x 26 x 6
19
Keith Davis
Rabbit and Cactus
2010-13
acrylic on wood
21 x 13 x 5.5
20
Ruth Duncan
Landmark Inn at Castorville from the River Road
no date
oil on board
11½ x 15½
21
Santa Duran
Los Helotes Creek
1964
oil on canvas board
16 x 20
22
Stella Texas Elmendorf
Untitled (Barn)
1928
oil on canvas on board
12 x 16
23
Jon Flaming
Along the Road (Number 1)
2013
oil on canvas
18 x 24
Hill Country Love Affair: Interpretations of a Texas Heartland October 18 - November 16, 2013
24
Jon Flaming
Cattle, Cotton, Cactus 2
2013
oil on canvas
48 x 60
34
Constance Forsyth
Turkey and Rooster (Stand-off)
1956
litho crayon on paper
15 x 21
35
Henri Gadbois
Ann's Trees
2009
oil on canvas
9 x 12
36
Henri Gadbois
From the Terrace, Ingram
1978
oil on canvas
24 x 30
37
Henri Gadbois
Gray Day on the Guadalupe
2012
oil on canvas
6½ x 8½
38
Robert Harrison
Hill Country Verbena
2013
oil on canvas
23½ x 29½
39
Robert Harrison
Springtime in May
2013
oil on canvas
18 x 24
40
Alexander Hogue
Texas Snow
1925
oil on canvas on board
12 x 16
41
Peter Lanz Hohnstedt
Landscape
no date
oil on board
18 x 24
42
Carl Thomas Hoppe
Untitled (Bluebonnets)
no date
oil on canvas
12 x 16
43
Carl Thomas Hoppe
Landscape of Pinks
1954
oil on canvas
19½ x 23½
44
Lee Jamison
A Blue Heron
2013
oil on canvas
12 x 48
45
Lee Jamison
Morning and Evening and Night
2013
oil on canvas
30 x 40
46
Lee Jamison
First Light
2013
oil on canvas
36 x 60
47
Laura Lewis
Good Night
2005/2013
oil on panel
25 x 48
48
Laura Lewis
Hilltop
2009
oil on panel
40 x 24
49
Laura Lewis
Rhapsody in Blue (Martin Ranch)
2013
oil on panel
20 x 48
50
William Lester
Dry Pastures
1943
watercolor
18 x 20
51
William Lester
Farm
c.1944
oil on masonite
20½ x 26
52
Eloise Polk McGill
Untitled (Bluebonnets)
no date
oil on canvas board
16 x 26
53
William Montgomery
Nueces River: Rio Grande Leopard Frog and Coppery Dancer
2013
oil on canvas
30 x 42
54
William Montgomery
Tropical Parulas on Hackberry Creek
2013
oil on canvas
20 x 16
55
Gilbert Franz Neumann
Hill of Bandero
1927
oil on panel
9 x 12
56
Ancel Nunn
Sisterdale Schoolhouse
1972
acrylic on panel
31 x 23½
57
George Demont Otis
Untitled (Laundry Day)
no date
oil on canvas
16 x 20
Hill Country Love Affair: Interpretations of a Texas Heartland October 18 - November 16, 2013
58
Noe Perez
Evening Colors
2013
oil on canvas
20 x 30
59
Noe Perez
Hilltop Blooms
2013
oil on canvas
30 x 24
60
Ernst Raba
San Antonio, Texas
1925
oil on canvas
16⅛ x 20⅛
61
Harold Roney
Shimmering Sunlight
1926
oil on canvas board
12 x 13½
62
Porfirio Salinas
Road to Utopia
c.1950
oil on canvas
20 x 24
63
Porfirio Salinas
Untitled (Landscape)
no date
oil on board
6x8
64
Jeri Salter
Finding a Way Though the Fog
2013
pastel
12 x 21
65
Jeri Salter
Patchwork Barn
2013
pastel
12 x 21
66
Jeri Salter
Reflections
2011
pastel on panel
30 x 38
67
William Slaughter
Untitled (Winterscape)
no date
oil on canvas
23½ x 35½
68
Erik Sprohge
Hope: Hilltop, Guadalupe Ranch Estates
2013
watercolor
21¼ x 14
69
Erik Sprohge
River Rock: North Fork, Guadalupe
2013
watercolor
19¼ x27
70
Erik Sprohge
Cliff Face: North Fork Guadalupe
2013
watercolor
21½ x 29½
71
Debbie Stevens
Longhorns of Willow Creek
2013
oil on canvas
24 x 48
72
Debbie Stevens
80% Chance
2013
oil on panel
24 x 24
73
Bob Stuth-Wade
Early Afternoon, Sulphur Springs
2013
acrylic on paper mounted on panel
15⅝ x 19⅝
74
Bob Stuth-Wade
Buck Point, Dry Years
2013
acrylic on paper mounted on panel
19⅝ x 15⅝
75
Bob Stuth-Wade
Cathedrals on the Colorado
2012
acrylic on canvas
32 x 19
76
Rolla Taylor
Cactus
1901
oil on canvas
9½ x 13¼
77
Rolla Taylor
Privilege Creek, Bandera Road
no date
oil on canvas board
16 x 20
78
Rolla Taylor
San Jose Mission, S.A.
no date
oil on canvas board
11½ x 15½
79
Robert Wood
Untitled (Cactus)
no date
oil on board
12 x 16
80
Robert Wood (attributed)
Hill Country Road
no date
oil on canvas
25 x 30
1. Randy Bacon, Fort McKavett #1, 2013, oil on canvas, 18x24 inches
2. Randy Bacon, Fort McKavett #2, 2013, oil on canvas, 18x24 inches
2. Randy Bacon, Llano River, 2013, oil on canvas, 18x24 inches
4. Randy Bacon, Pecans (Menard), 2013, oil on canvas, 10x14 inches
5. Randy Bacon, San Saba River at the Presidio, 2013, oil on canas, 18x24 inches
6. Mary Baxter, Cattle Near Quihi, oil on canvas, 30x42 inches
7. Mary Baxter, Ducks in the Rain, 2013, oil on canvas, 30x24 inches
8. Mary Baxter, Two Herons on a Rocky Point, 2013, oil on canvas, 30x36 inches
9. Joy Carrington, Trees and Lake, no date, oil on canvas, 24x30 inches
10. Joy Carrington, Basket of Cactus, no date, oil on canvas, 18x24 inches
11. Joy Carrington, Hill Country Bluebonnets, no date, oil on board, 10x16 inches
12. Emma Richardson Cherry, Blue Bonnets & Indian Blankets, no date, oil on canvas, 17x11.5 inches
13. Margie Crisp, Endangered Species Icon: Black-capped Vireo, 2013, egg tempera on panel, 24k gold, oil gilded, 11 x 14 inches
14. Margie Crisp, Righteous, 2013, egg tempera on panel, 24k gold, water gilded, 8.5x7.5 inches
15. Keith Davis, Rabbit, 2010-2013, acrylic on wood, 21x13x5.5 inches
16. Keith Davis, A Window on Texas: Spring in the Hill Country, 2013, acrylic on wood, 36 x 31 x 8 inches
17. Keith Davis, A Window on Texas: Crows in the Kitchen, 2013, acrylic on wood, 29 x 26 x 9½ inches
18. Keith Davis, A Window on Texas: Evening Song, 2013, acrylic on wood, 26 x 26 x 6 inches
19. Keith Davis, Woodpeckers and Cactus, 2013, acrylic on wood, 26½ x 17 x 9 inches
20. Ruth Duncan, Landmark Inn at Castroville from the River Road, no date, oil on canvas, 12x16 inches
21. Santa Duran, Los Helotes Creek, 1964, oil on canvas board, 16x20 inches
22. Stella Texas Elmendorf, Untitled (Barn), no date, oil on canvas, 12x16 inches
23. Jon Flaming, Along the Road (number 1), 2013, oil on canvas, 18x24 inches
24. Jon Flaming, Cattle, Cotton, Cactus 2, 2013, oil on canvas, 48x60 inches
25. Constance Forsyth, Turkey and Rooster (Stand-off), 1956, litho crayon on paper, 15x21 inches
26. Henri Gadbois, Ann’s Trees, 2009, oil on canvas, 9x12inches 27. Henri Gadbois, From the Terrace, Ingram, 1978, oil on canvas, 24x30 inches 28. Henri Gadbois, Gray Day on the Guadalupe, 2012, oil on canvas, 6½ x 8½ inches
29. Robert Harrison, Hill Country Verbena, 2013, oil on canvas, 23½ x 29½ inches
30. Robert Harrison, Springtime in May, 2013, oil on canvas, 18x24 inches
31. Alexander Hogue, Texas Snow, 1925, oil on canvas board, 12x15 inches
32. Peter Hohnstedt, Untitled (Landscape), no date, oil on board, 18x24 inches
33. Carl Hoppe, Landscape of Pinks, 1954, oil on canvas, 20x24 inches
34. Carl Hoppe, Untitled (Bluebonnet), no date, oil on canvas, 12x16 inches
35. Lee Jamison, A Blue Heron, 2013, oil on canvas, 12x48 inches
36. Lee Jamison, First Light, 2013, oil on canvas, 36x60 inches
37. Lee Jamison, Morning and Evening and Night, 2013, oil on canvas, 30x40 inches
38. William Lester, Dry Pastures, 1943, watercolor, 18x20 inches
39. William Lester, Farm, c.1944, oil on masonite,
20½ x 26 inches
40. Laura Lewis, Good Night, 2005-2013, oil on panel, 25x48 inches
41. Laura Lewis, Hilltop, 2009, oil on panel, 40x24 inches
42. Laura Lewis, Rhapsody in Blue (Martin Ranch), 2013, oil on panel, 20x48 inches
43. Eloise Polk McGill, Untitled (Bluebonnet), no date, oil on canvas board, 16x26 inches
44. William Montgomery, Nueces River Rio Grande - Leopard Frog and Coppery Dancer, 2013, oil on canvas, 30x42 inches
45. William Montgomery, Tropical Parulas on Pulliam Creek, 2013, oil on canvas, 26x20 inches
46. Gilbert Neumann, Hill of Bandero, 1927, oil on panel, 9x12 inches
47. Ancel Nunn, Sisterdale Schoolhouse, 1972, acrylic on panel, 31x23½ inches
48. George Demont Otis, Untitled (Laundry Day), no date, oil on canvas, 16x20 inches
49. Noe Perez, Evening Colors, 2013, oil on canvas, 20x30 inches
50. Noe Perez, Hilltop Blooms, 2013, oil on canvas, 30x24 inches
51. Ernst Raba, San Antonio, Texas, 1925, oil on canvas, 16⅛ x 20⅛ inches
52. Harold Roney, Shimmering Sunlight, 1926, oil on canvas board, 12 x 13½ inches
Shimmering Sunlight listed in the Third Annual Exhibition of Work by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1927
53. Porfirio Salinas, Road to Utopia, c.1950, oil on canvas, 20x24 inches
53. Porfirio Salinas, Untitled (Landscape), no date, oil on board, 6x8 inches
54. Jeri Salter, Finding a Way Though the Fog, pastel on paper, 12x21 inches
55. Jeri Salter, Patchwork Barn, 2012, pastel on paper, 12x21 inches
56. William Slaughter, Untitled (Winterscape), no date, oil on canvas, 23½ x 35½ inches
57. Everett Spruce, Untitled (Landscape with Sun), no date, pen and ink, 10Âź x 13 inches
61. Debbie Stevens, Longhorns of Willow Creek, 2013, oil on canvas, 24x48 inches
62. Debbie Stevens, 80% Chance, 2013, oil on canvas, 24x24 inches
63. Bob Stuth-Wade, Cathedrals on the Colorado, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 32x19 inches
64. Bob Stuth-Wade, Buck Point, Dry Years, 2013, acrylic on paper mounted on panel, 19½x15½ inches
65. Bob Stuth-Wade, Early Afternoon, Sulphur Springs, 2013, acrylic on paper mounted on panel, 15½ x 19½ inches
left 66. Rolla Taylor, Cactus, 1901, oil on canvas, 9½ x 13¼ inches bottom left 67. Rolla Taylor, Privilege Creek, Bandera Road, no date, oil on canvas board, 16 x 20 inches bottom right 68. Rolla Taylor, San Jose Mission, S.A., no date, oil on canvas board, 11½ x 15½ inches
69. Robert Wood, Untitled (Landscape with Cactus), no date, oil on board, 12x16 inches
70. Attributed to Robert Wood, Hill Country Road, c. 1940, oil on canvas, 25x30 inches
WILLIAM REAVES FINE ART
Upcoming Fall 2013 Exhibition Schedule Hill Country Love Affair: Interpretations of a Texas Heartland October 18 – November 16, 2013
Opening Reception: October 26th, 5-8pm The Texas Watercolor Tradition November 22 – December 21, 2013
Opening Reception: November 23rd, 5-8pm Holidays at the Haley The Haley Memorial Library, Midland, Texas December 5 – 11, 2013 Opening Reception: December 5th, 5-8pm Lecture with Dr. Michael Grauer: December 7th, 1pm
William Reaves Fine Art 2313 Brun Street • Houston, Texas • 77019 Tel: 713.521.7500 Email: INFO@reavesart.com www.reavesart.com