D a n R. S t e w a r t
A Modernist Perspective at Home and Abroad
D a n R. S t e w a r t
A Modernist Perspective at Home and Abroad
F e b r u a r y 18 - M a r c h 19, 2022
2143 Westheimer Road Houston, TX 77098 www.foltzgallery.com
This catalog was published to accompany the exhibition “Dan R. Stewart: A Modernist Perspective at Home and Abroad,” curated by Sarah Foltz, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas, February 18–March 19, 2022 Copyright © 2022 The Estate of Dan R. Stewart. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form without written permission of the publishers. Published by Foltz Fine Art, LLC, 2022 Photography and Catalog design by Foltz Fine Art, LLC
F o r e w o rd Dan R. Stewart: A Modernist Perspective at Home and Abroad On view from February 18 – March 19, 2022, Foltz Fine Art presents Dan R. Stewart: A Modernist Perspective at Home and Abroad – a mid-century “rediscovery” exhibition for artist and architect Dan R. Stewart (1926-2013). Like many post-war American artists, Stewart’s life and art reflect its era, coming of age in a time of greater access and travel opportunities abroad which allowed more artists to explore and paint their changing world. During his time at the American Academy in Rome in the late 1950s, Stewart cultivated a Modernist sensibility, combining his passion for modern art and architecture that indelibly left a mark on the artist’s work for the rest of his life. Born in 1926, Dan R. Stewart examined the world around him as both artist and architect. While his professional goal was to become an architect, he always sought to weave a spatial or architectural association in his art. He received his architectural education at Cooper Union, University of Cincinnati (BArch) and MIT (MArch) before winning the Rome Prize in Architecture in 1955. As a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome, he explored the interconnected relationship between art and architecture and continued that tradition throughout his life. Though the award was for a one-year residence, his explorations provoked such interest that he was asked to stay on for a second year. After his return to the States, Stewart plied his trade as an architect, working for Eero Saarinen before joining CRS in Houston in 1961. Throughout his life, Stewart’s passion for art and architecture combined with his love for travel. As a result, he painted and traveled extensively to every continent except the Arctic and Antarctic with stints living abroad in Rome, Italy; Santiago, Chile; Istanbul, Turkey; Cairo, Egypt; Tokyo, Japan; and Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. While he was an avowed Modernist, Stewart spent a lifetime visiting and ruminating over man’s ancient creations, be they building, sanctuary, sculpture, or painting. Stewart also loved flying and surveying earth’s features, and man’s interventions, from above. He was equally enthralled by maps of all kinds and would mark his route as a way of chronicling his explorations. It is thus no wonder that one can sense an aerial or plan expression when one looks at many of his oil and acrylic compositions. His favorite medium was oil on canvas, but he also painted with acrylics on board as a way of sketching out his ideas or when traveling overseas. Stewart passed away in 2013, and his artwork remained in the family’s modernist home in Houston near Rice University. Aside from exhibiting his early work in the 1950-60s through galleries and museums in the United States, Stewart had little interest in showing his work publicly, and the majority of his paintings remained in his studio, occasionally selling them privately. At this time the Stewart family and Foltz Fine Art are pleased to present this treasure trove of incredible, modernist paintings created over the span of five decades, chronicling his travels and explorations both nearby and abroad. This retrospective exhibition contains over 70 paintings, including early works from his student days at the American Academy in Rome in 1955-1957, immense canvases with heavy impasto depicting various locales in South America and Europe in the 1960s, to later works depicting sites in the Middle East and Asia as well as explorations throughout his adopted home state of Texas. In Stewart’s evolving presentation of abstract expressionism rooted in a sense of place, whether a city scape or geological curiosity, there is something for everyone 3
in this fascinating examination of the life and work of this little-known American modernist. Through this reassessment, we hope to keep Dan R. Stewart’s art and legacy alive. —Sarah Foltz Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas February 2022
Foltz Fine Art (formerly William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art) is a legacy gallery in Houston, Texas, dedicated to elevating premier Texas artists—from Early Texas Masters and Mid-Century Pioneers to Contemporary Artists. The gallery started in 2006 as William Reaves Fine Art and has since welcomed Sarah Foltz as Gallery Director in 2013 and becoming sole owner in 2017. In her new role, Sarah continues to uphold the gallery’s strong reputation as a trusted art advisor, secondary market specialist, and champion of Historical, Modern and Contemporary Texas art. Prior to joining the gallery, Sarah completed her M.A. in Art History at Southern Methodist University where she focused her thesis research on contemporary Texas regional and Latin American art; and before this, she received her B.A. in Photojournalism at the University of Texas at Austin. Sarah is also an accredited member of the Appraisers Association of America.
The Life and Times of Dan R. Stewart: A Narrative Biography By Joslin Stewart
Early Years – 1926-1946: Dan Robert Stewart was born on January 8, 1926, in Detroit, to a life where relocation and travel would become as natural as breathing. Dan’s parents were both from Richland Center, Wisconsin, but were married in Detroit, Michigan, where Dan’s father, Earl, worked as a Clerk at the time. His father later worked as a Sales Engineer for the steel industry, and his mother, Maude, was a housewife as was the tradition of the time. They had their daughter Carol Rae in Kansas City, Missouri, returning to Richland Center before moving back to Detroit, where Dan was born. Eventually, they returned yet again to Richland Center where Dan spent his pre-teen years. He later recalled the difficulties of making his way to and from school through the deep snow, uphill, both ways, during the brutal Wisconsin winters. During those formative years, Dan grew to adore his Uncle Glen Monroe Householder, a cattle judge who managed Wisconsin State dairy farms, worked for the Holstein Company in Vermont for a time, and was the first person inducted into the Dairy Hall of Fame. Dan and his cousins would join Uncle Glen on his circuits through both Wisconsin and Vermont, where Dan would visit during the summer months. During these circuits he learned about Holstein cows and to turn his head away whenever he saw a Guernsey (or any other) cow. It was likely in these early years that Dan honed his superb skills as a storyteller, mixing in just enough hyperbole to captivate his audiences. It was also during his early years that he picked up his carpentry skills as well as his interest in the art of construction from his father, who had a knack for such things since his own father, John N. Stewart, had been a Canadian lumberjack. From his mother, Dan learned an interest in painting from a young age. It was she who exposed him to art and hired a painting teacher to provide instruction to the various media available. His first known painting is of his teacher’s German Shepherd, which he painted in
1938 when 12 years old. He was fond of recalling that he learned how to mix oil paints while painting this image. As with many families, the Great Depression forced Earl to relocate his household while in search of work. This necessitated a move from the small-town environment of Richland Center, Wisconsin, to the New Jersey suburbs of New York City in 1939. This was a big change, but the move also expanded Dan’s horizons dramatically. While Dan generally enjoyed his teenage years in New Jersey, sadly, tragedy struck the family in 1942 when Earl passed away of a heart attack one day past his 50th birthday. Dan was 16 years old and although he lost his hero, he was fortunate to still have his Uncle Glen and his friend’s fathers, one of whom had access to an airplane. It was through this connection, that he developed his lifelong love of airplanes and flying. Unsurprisingly, after graduating high school in 1944, he enlisted in the Army Air Corp to indulge this new passion while serving his country in World War II. He relished this newfound view of the earth from above. Later in life, he recalled the magic of seeing Lake Okeechobee reflecting the moonlight during his nighttime B-17 training missions over Florida. The sensation of seeing objects from an aerial perspective was both illuminating and liberating for Dan. Architecture Education – 1946-1955: When he was discharged from the Army Air Corp at the close of World War II, along with the great number of other men and women in the armed forces, Dan took advantage of the GI Bill to expand his education. A friend convinced him to go to The Cooper Union in New York City. (She was one of the relatively few women studying at Cooper during that period.) New York City had always held an allure for Dan. During high school, he would use the excuse of taking his mother to musicals, which he generally disliked, to see Manhattan. While his focus at Cooper Union was Architecture, and he became dedicated to becoming an Architect, he also used his time to expand his development in painting through his art and art history classes. It was at Cooper that Dan developed into a purely Modernist Architect. Though none of his school project drawings survive, one can 5
see his Modernist focus in a project he constructed in his mother’s back yard, possibly as a school project. Behind the traditional circa 1940 house at 27 Beveridge Street, West Englewood (now Teaneck), New Jersey, he merged the design skills learned at Cooper with the construction skills he learned from his father to construct an all-season, clearly Modern octagonal Tea House with rubble stone fireplace and chimney. As a testament to his abilities as both an architect and builder, the Tea House stands to this day (72-73 years as of 2021).
By 1951, he was exploring in a more ambiguous language in a series that he called “Equivocations”. Painted through 1953, these were his first investigations in his search for a more abstract language to painting that might parallel his Modernist approach to architecture. It was, in essence, a rethinking of how both architecture and painting had been done before this point in history. The 1953 “Equivocations” were done after his graduation from The University of Cincinnati while back in New Jersey, when working for the firm Antonin Raymond & L. L. Rado in Manhattan (1952-1954) on Modernist projects.
Because The Cooper Union did not have an accredited program in Architecture in the 1940s, Dan had to complete his Architectural schooling at another institution in order to attain his professional degree, a Bachelor of Science in Architecture. There was a strong relationship with the University of Cincinnati at that time so Dan, along with several other Cooper students applied to and were accepted to the UC architecture program. One of the classmates and close friends who joined Dan at UC was John Hejduk. “Big John” is probably best known for returning to Cooper as a professor and Dean of Architecture, and is noted for having had a profound interest in the fundamental issues of shape, organization, representation, and reciprocity. They remained close friends throughout their lives.
Dan R. Stewart and Donna Ann Kinzel were married in Indianapolis, Indiana, on September 11, 1954, just before moving to Boston, Massachusetts to begin Dan’s Master in Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During Dan’s tenure at MIT between 1954 and 1955, the architectural program was in its heyday with Pietro Belluschi as Dean (Rome Prize winner in 1954), Kevin A. Lynch (author of Image of the City) on the City Planning faculty and with visiting critics including Eero Saarinen, Buckminister Fuller, Minoru Yamasaki (Lambert – St. Louis Int’l Airport, later the original World Trade Center towers, New York City), Eduardo Catalano (self-named house in Raleigh, North Carolina with hyperbolic paraboloid roof) and John M. Johansen (One of Harvard Five, later designing the architecturally daring Mummers Theater in Oklahoma City). With that group of esteemed architectural critics, Dan’s singular focus was on his architectural studies during the yearlong Masters program. He experimented with dramatic circular, umbrella-like folded plate roof forms that drew attention to his talents.
While one of the most notable events that occurred at the University of Cincinnati was that Dan R. Stewart met his future wife, Donna Ann (Kinzel) Stewart, it was also during his 1949 to 1952 tenure that he began to reevaluate his approach to painting. Through 1950, when he was visiting his uncle in Brattleboro, Vermont, American Academy In Rome – 1955-57: he still attempted to paint his subjects in a realistic “At the end of World War II artists from all over the U.S. began to head for Italy where, for the past six years, they fashion though it was no longer a satisfying approach.
have swarmed the hillsides and made Rome the rival of Paris as art headquarters.” -Life Magazine, ‘Haven of Art & Study’, December 23, 1957
Untitled, Equivocation, 1953, oil on canvas, 24x36 in.
This interest provided a springboard for further studies after Dan, in March of 1955, won the Rome Prize Fellowship in Architecture. This award was for one year of independent study at the American Academy in Rome beginning that September, and, while it greatly impacted the development of his architecture, it wholly transformed his approach to painting. Rome, in the years after World War II, was the nexus of an emerging creative energy, attracting artists, writers and filmmakers to
explore and draw inspiration from its ravaged beauty, timeless vistas, with the added lure of affordability and the dolce vita. Though the award was for a one-year residence, his explorations provoked such interest that he was asked to stay on for a second year. Other Academy Fellows from that time who had positive impacts on both his art and architecture are: Leon Goldin (Abstract Expressionist); Berthold “Tex” Schiwetz (Sculptor who had taken charge of Carl Milles studio at the American Academy in 1955); Warren Platner (Rome Prize and two time Fulbright Scholar who worked for Eero Saarinen, recommended Dan to Eero, and became a renowned architect, interior designer and furniture designer); Marion Greenstone (Artist & Fulbright Scholar 195455 and 1955-56; as well as Cooper Union Art School); James Wines (Architect with the firm SITE); Robert Venturi (Pritzker Prize winning architect and author); and Ralph Ellison (renowned African American author of An Invisible Man and other works). As a Fellow at the American Academy during this time, under the direction of the dynamic Laurance P. Roberts, Dan was among those young artists and architects who would flourish at the advent of Abstract Expressionism. He was profoundly impacted by this new artistic direction and his work departed from the exacting precision and technique that defined his earlier paintings and architecture, to the more energetic and emotive nature that had taken hold during this heady period. While New York City is considered the birthplace of Abstract Expressionism, a parallel track was happening in Rome, where contemporaries like Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly and Leon Goldin (also scholars in Rome at this time) were also pushing the boundaries. Dan’s time in Italy was the start of his prolific travel adventures, touring Europe for months on a ‘54 BMW motorcycle with his young wife, Donna, and accompanied by their close friends, the artist Leon Goldin and his wife Meta. An architect by profession, Dan left Rome in 1957 for an offer from Eero Saarinen’s studio where he would be a valued protege of the Modernist icon.
Dan and Donna Stewart with Leon and Meta Goldin on their European motocycle tour, 1954.
Hills, Michigan, just down the road from Cranbrook Institute and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Affleck House. Of note, when Dan had lived in Richland Center, Wisconsin, (the birthplace of Frank Lloyd Wright), he lived just down the road from Wright’s Taliesin School. But it wasn’t Wright’s architecture that Dan gravitated to, but rather the modern design approach of Eero Saarinen. Although the lifespan of Saarinen’s firm was tragically brief (1950-61 when Saarinen died during an operation), many notable architects passed through the office, including Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo, Gunnar Birkerts, Robert Venturi, Ralph Rapson, Cesar Pelli and Hungarian architect / photographer Balthazar Korab with many of these luminaries signing a hand-drawn farewell tribute poster given to Dan when he eventually departed at the end of 1960. Another of Dan’s colleagues, Jack Goldman, who traveled through Europe on the Plym Fellowship, would become Dan’s life-long friend after spending part of his fellowship at the American Academy in Rome in 1957. He became an incredible supporter of the arts in Mount Vernon, Illinois.
At Saarinen’s office, Dan worked on the iconic TWA Terminal, (with Warren Platner largely responsible for the interiors) as well as the John Deere Headquarters, a naturally rusting Cor-Ten steel design which presented an “earthy, rugged” appearance. Saarinen originally designed the campus buildings of concrete, and Dan vividly recalled when Eero came into the office to declare that the design was to be scrapped. The team was to pull multiple “all-nighters” so that they could present Post Academy – 1958-63: After returning to the United States in August 1957, the altered design to William Hewitt, President of John Dan went to work for Eero Saarinen in Bloomfield Deere. The final design was symbiotic with the landscape 7
and “sympathetic to the trees” in its “down to earth” patina and articulation. It was on the John Deere project that he befriended Associate Paul Kennon, who would later move on to Caudill, Rowlett & Scott (CRS) and lure Dan to Houston, Texas.
ceiling panel system that allows the center to have such varied performances. The 800 hexagonal acoustic ceiling elements can be raised or lowered to alter the sound characteristics within the hall or even change its seating capacity by hiding the upper balcony. The building won the only American Institute of Architects’ Honor Award It is in this rich, modernist design atmosphere, with in 1967. multiple historically groundbreaking projects being developed around him that Dan Stewart explored After working for three years on a project centered in his new direction in Abstract Expressionist painting. downtown Houston, Dan’s subsequent projects would He painted prodigiously and further cultivated the all be international developments, primarily focused abstract approach he had developed while at the in the education sector. In 1963, CRS won a two-year American Academy in Rome. His preferred medium Ford Foundation grant to develop schools in Santiago, was oil paint, laying down layers with both brush and Chile, and Dan was selected as the key person on this palette knives that formed raised edges around his team. He and his family moved to Santiago in March strokes, thus creating a dynamic, three-dimensional of 1964, returning to Houston in March of 1966 (having texture. The inspirations for Dan’s paintings were also gained a new member of the family in 1964). Dan primarily rooted in his observations of the natural did an incredible amount of traveling in Chile during this world around him, but almost all give the impression period, but also explored Central and South America, of an aerial vantage point. From the moment he first both for business and pleasure, providing him with flew, Dan was enamored of an aerial point of view and much inspiration for his painting subjects. He found he overlaid that with an architectural observation of the varied, dramatic and sometimes stark landscapes of his subjects, breaking them down into a mixture of Central and South America stimulating, exploring both plan, elevation and sectional interpretations. While the range of earth tones and humankind’s interventions at Saarinen’s office, Dan entered his paintings in the into the natural environment, whether this be subtractive Detroit Artists Market, The Detroit Institute of Art and or additive in nature. Detroit Museum of Fine Art shows and competitions, both selling pieces and winning awards. Upon returning to Houston in 1966, Dan’s primary architectural focus was school development in Jamaica, Texas leads to Central & South America – 1960-69: though he was also tasked with business development Dan left Saarinen’s office at the end of 1960 and in South America, Central America and the Caribbean. joined the Houston-based architecture firm CRS in While he continued to travel extensively, he also used early 1961. His first project was to work on the Jesse this period to survey the variety that Texas had to offer, H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in Houston, from the Gulf shores, Big Bend National Park, West focusing much of his effort on developing the movable Texas and the Hill Country to the pine forests & rivers of East Texas. He would lay down base coats of paint using brushes and large spatulas then layer the paint defining the essential elements of his subject using various palette knives. The layers of paint could become quite thick with earlier strata becoming visible as he ran over this rough texture with new paint. This was intentional though he occasionally had the happy accident that he preferred over his original intent. Sometimes, he reached a juncture when he knew the piece he was working on was not headed in the desired direction and he would scrape the many layers from the canvas and begin anew. Designed by Caudill, Rowlewtt & Scott, the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in Houston had a moveable cieling to adjust acoustics. (Photo Credit: Fiona McGettigan)
The family moved into 2135 Southgate Blvd., the only one story courtyard-centric house in the Rice University neighborhood in Houston. It was designed by Charles
“Chuck” Thomsen, an associate at CRS who was moving to New York to lead that office. For the Stewart family it was a wonderful experiment in “modern living” as it was the only truly modern house in the area. It was here that Dan and Donna began accumulating original Mid-Century Modern furniture that they kept for the rest of their lives, passing many iconic pieces down to their children. Though he loved his association with CRS as well as living in Texas, toward the end of the decade Dan felt the need to move closer to his mother in New Jersey. He thus explored employment options in the northeast of the country. In 1969, he became a partner at the firm Meyer, Ayers, Saint & Stewart in Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore – 1969-75: As the youngest addition to this firm, Dan’s primary focus while in Baltimore was architecture, though he continued to paint in earnest. His first “studio” was in the enclosed terrace at 14 Yorkview Drive above the Timonium (now Maryland State) Fairgrounds. He then set up shop in the large 3rd floor “attic” space at 212 Ridgewood Road in Roland Park, Baltimore. Dan learned quickly that both spaces could become quite cold in the Baltimore winters, requiring many clothing layers and a few unit heaters so he could focus on his painting. Fortunately, oil paints do not easily freeze at cold temperatures, and he knew that keeping them in conditions above 32 degrees between painting sessions likely kept them from oxidizing and evaporating. Dan also relived his Rome days by purchasing a used BMW motorcycle, using it to clear his head from the trials and tribulations of both work and family life. His children still have fond memories of being taken on rides to Big Boy Restaurant for Sunday breakfast then around Loche Raven and the Maryland horse farms. The rolling hills with white fences and twisting roads made for fun and magical motorcycle rides. Return to CRS in Houston – 1975-81: By the time 1975 rolled around, it became apparent to Dan that some of the old hands at Meyer, Ayers, Saint & Stewart were stuck in their ways and continued to resist more modern approaches in the field of architecture. He missed international travel immensely and wanted to open his children’s eyes to the world outside of the United States. Dan’s mother had passed away in 1974 so the family was no longer tied to living in the northeast of the United States. CRS was opening an
office in Beirut, Lebanon, to use as a regional center and this “Paris of the East” seemed the perfect place to give his children an international education and to use as a base for travel in the region. The Stewart children were registered in Beirut schools, apartments and offices were rented, the Roland Park house and vehicles were sold, and everything was packed, and on its way when a major civil war broke out in Lebanon between the various religious groups in the region. It became obvious that this conflict was not going to be easily resolved and, in fact, it lasted until 1990. The family and their possessions were rerouted to CRS’s home office in Houston with the children quickly enrolled in schools in the Westchester area while living in a Sheraton Hotel. Despite this whirlwind of events, it at least felt to all that they were returning home since they knew Houston so well. Dan, however, was committed to completing the on-going projects CRS had in Bahrain and his back-and-forth travel carried on through 1979 with him spending months at a time in Manama the capital. The family moved to 13731 Queensbury Street in September that year with Dan taking over what would have been the larger ground floor Master Bedroom for his art studio and office while the very small front room, barely large enough for the bed, became the parent’s bedroom. But it was evident that Dan was ready to paint as much as he could when he was in Houston. During this period, Dan began using more and brighter colors in his paintings, and this more vibrant approach stayed with him for the rest of his life. He and his family also explored throughout Texas, though spent much time visiting friend’s ranches in and around Roundtop, traveling around the New Braunfels area and along the Texas coast. While Dan was overseas, Donna happened to spot a lot for sale in the Southampton side of Rice University on the opposite side of the campus from where they had lived on Southgate. She rallied her relatives to help purchase one of the few remaining open lots in this area. For the next year Dan worked on various design options for their dream house. He was able to hire a contractor in need of work during Houston’s 1979-80 economic downturn when the city’s economy was almost exclusively oil and gas based. But that was likely the only way the Stewart’s could afford to build a house in the City of Houston at that time so they oddly, and with guilt, felt they were fortunate there was an economic downturn. 9
Living Overseas – 1982-85: With the economic downturn continuing to impact CRS’s workload, Dan made a move to DMJM in early 1982, seeing opportunities to travel and live overseas. He worked on multiple international projects, and in 1984 lived in Tokyo, Japan, for six months before spending a full year in 1984-85 in Cairo, Egypt, working on a series of local health clinics across the metropolis. Donna maintained the house in Houston while traveling back and forth to these locations in three month increments, and Dan was even visited in Cairo by his son while on a Rice University study abroad program. While Dan brought his painting supplies with him, he found that it was simply too dusty both in the city and within his apartment to paint, even with windows taped closed. Despite constant cleaning, a layer of gritty dust kept showing up on everything. He did, however, travel extensively when in both Japan and Egypt, finding inspiration during this period for numerous future paintings. Boston and Istanbul – 1986-90: Though he enjoyed traveling and living overseas, Dan felt he was too removed from his painting, needing to find a place to reconnect with his art. With the economic downturn still affecting the architectural profession in Houston, he joined his son in Boston working first with the firm of Childs Bertman Tseckares, Inc. (CBT) on multiple urban projects, then being recruited by his son’s firm, Jung|Brannen Associates, Inc. for his extensive design experience and management skills. During his three years in Boston, he approached painting with renewed vigor. Having been immensely inspired by his earlier travels, he worked on a series of multiple canvases at the same time. Dan began to include more gold leaf as a way to reflect light, make the paintings glow and to counter Boston’s interminably bleak winters. Jung|Brannen then gave Dan an opportunity he could not pass up, living in Istanbul, Turkey, while working on a project for the firm. Though this project only lasted for one year, Dan and Donna traveled throughout Turkey with Dan finding inspiration for future works upon returning to the United States. Saudi Arabia – 1991-1994: As the Istanbul projects were winding down, a former CRS associate, Frank Lawyer, recommended that Dan apply for the position of Visiting Professor of Architecture at King Fahd University of Petroleum &
Dan Stewart with colleagues and students at graduation ceremony during his visiting professorship in Architecture at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Minerals, in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, because he was retiring. This is the same campus that Dan helped design and develop when he was at CRS in the mid to late 1970s in Houston, and was best known at the time for its contemporary Islamic design. He jumped at the chance to teach since he had always wanted to step into that realm of the profession and had been told repeatedly by colleagues that he was a born instructor. He was accepted for the position and quickly realized that the academic calendar offered many opportunities to explore not only Saudi Arabia, which was generally off limits to foreign tourists, but to the Middle East and South Asian regions. Fortunately, the turmoil created by the First Gulf War had generally subsided by the time his tenure began and there were few places off limits to travel. One of the favorite aspects of Dan’s teaching was that he was able to return to freehand sketching as he illustrated various techniques to his students. He would gladly join the class on their sketching and drawing assignments and even became their model when the assignment was for the class to draw a subject’s portrait. For his design classes, he used Islamic, Western and Asian examples he knew first-hand from his travels to illustrate the lesson’s point, relishing the analytic time he needed to prepare for the various classes he taught. Dan was well known for the breadth of his knowledge on history, art and architecture and received distinguished teaching awards for his work. During his tenure at KFUPM, Dan found enough time between his teaching commitments and his travels to produce small paintings and studies in acrylic. While he had always preferred oil paints, because the paints would stay wet longer and he could return day after day, mixing colors and creating thicker layers and ridges, he
loved the quick, sketch-like qualities of acrylic paints. With these, he explored ideas for the larger oil canvases he anticipated doing when he returned home to Texas. His campus apartment became a smaller version of his Houston studio with a multitude of images and explorations from his earlier travels covering the walls. He also painted acrylic images inspired by Dan and Donna’s cross-country U.S. trips from Houston to Indianapolis, Indiana, to visit Donna’s sister Nell, or to Boise, Idaho, to visit their daughter Arin, beginning in 1991 while on break from teaching and continuing to 2010. They would take different routes on each trip in order to see parts of the country and national landmarks they had not seen before. Permanent Return to Houston – 1995-2013: After his three-year teaching stint in Saudi Arabia came to an end, Dan relished his time living in Houston, fully utilizing the studio he modeled after the space he had at the American Academy in Rome. He began painting a series of large, medium, and small canvases in oils that were inspired by his Egypt and Turkey travels, but also explored quick acrylic studies on these subjects as well. His wanderlust, however, never ended, with Dan and Donna splitting their travels between domestic crosscountry trips in their Volvo station wagon and overseas travels to both Europe and Asia. In Europe, he and Donna went on a series of “cathedral tours” with a local tour guide and like-minded friends, focusing primarily on French cathedrals. It was during these trips that he became enamored with the stained-glass windows, even taking up this expressive medium upon his return from the first of these trips. Dan began filling their home’s ground floor windows with
Stained glass installation at Stewart’s Queenby Residence in Houston, Texas.
stained glass panels, becoming more adept at the art as he completed each piece. The Stewart house became known for the colored light one would experience when entering. Once the windows each had a stained glass insert, Dan shifted to making stained glass lamps, so the house became filled with color both during the day and at night. While Dan Stewart was both a national and international traveler and his paintings as well as his stained glass works of art were inspired by both national and international locations, his life revolved around his adopted home of Texas. He loved Houston and made it the base from which he and Donna explored both the United States and the world. Dan was also immensely attracted to the cosmopolitan nature of Houston as well as it’s vital art scene. He and Donna were members of the Museum of Fine Arts and Contemporary Arts Museum, and regularly visited The Menil Collection, Rothko Chapel and Cullen Sculpture Garden, as well as many other museums and galleries. Dan loved visiting the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, where he submitted and sold one of his stained-glass pieces. Dan and Donna were regular subscription ticket holders to the Houston Symphony that performed at Jones Hall, the facility that Dan first worked on when he joined CRS in 1961 and whose innovative acoustic design still worked magnificently. Dan also displayed and sold his paintings in the vibrant gallery scene, including Houston’s Dubose Galleries. Since their arrival to Houston in the 1960s, it was seen as a thoroughly modern city, home to NASA and the Astrodome, a source of inspiration and possibilities. And while both Dan and Donna were more attuned to the cutting-edge modern architecture and art design that they loved, they also appreciated that not far from the city’s outskirts, the more traditional beauty of Texas was easily accessible.
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D a n R. S t e w a r t Paintings, 1955 - 2009
American Academy Studio, Studio Lighting, 1955 oil on canvas 19.50 x 23.50 in
EUROPE
Albino Region, South of Roma, 1957 oil on canvas 15.50 x 27.50 in
Ravello, 1960 oil on canvas 39.50 x 55.50 in 13
La Citta S. Oreste, Italia, 1959 oil on canvas 27.50 x 35.50 in Exhibition History: 1960, Michigan Artists, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI.
Hilltown, 1959 oil on canvas 31.75 x 35.75 in
La Piazza, 1960 oil on canvas 22.75 x 35.75 in
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Il Monasterio, 1961 oil on canvas 46 x 58 in Exhibition History: 1962-63, 24th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX; Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX; Corpus Christi Art Foundation, Centennial Art Museum, Corpus Christi, TX; and Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, TX.
L’Abruzzi, Italia, 1961 oil on canvas 33.25 x 49.25 in Exhibition History: 1966-67, Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1966, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX; Juror: Richard Diebenkorn.
Pireus Harbor, Athens, Greece, 1961 oil on canvas 33.50 x 49 in
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Castel Gandolfo, Italia, c. 1961 oil on canvas 36 x 50 in Exhibition History: 1961-62, 23rd Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX; San Antonio Art League, Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, TX; and The Museum, Texas Tech, Lubbock, TX.
Orvieto, Italia, 1964 oil on canvas 25 x 50 in
Chiesa Abruzzi, c. 1970 oil on canvas 15.50 x 43.75 in
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Lago Braccacio, Italia (Castel Gandolfo), c. 1969 oil on canvas 22 x 22 in
Piazza San Marco, c. 1971-72 oil on canvas 20 x 28 in
Monte Cassino, Italia, c. 1973 oil on canvas 25 x 34 in
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Alpine Chalice, Switzerland, c. 1970 oil on canvas with gold leaf 24 x 18 in
Mt. Etna Eruption, Italia, c. 2009 oil on canvas 10 x 18 in
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THE AMERICAS
Red Cabanas, Mexico, 1963 oil on canvas 34 x 50 in
La Ciudad, Chile, 1964 oil on canvas 23.50 x 32 in
El Cobre Earthquake, Chile, 1964-65 oil on canvas 31.50 x 45.50 in
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Veracruz, Mexico, 1963 oil on canvas 40 x 44 in
La Cosecha Harvest, Chile, 1965 oil on canvas 31.50 x 45 in
Chugiacamata Mines, North Chile, 1966 oil on canvas 47.50 x 72 in
27
The Beach, 1966 oil on canvas 48 x 28 in
Downtown, c. 1968 oil on canvas 36.50 x 31.50 in
Machu Picchu, Peru, c. 1967 oil on canvas 48 x 72 in Exhibition History: 1968, Third Annual Juried Gulf Coast Art Exhibit, The Mobile Art Gallery, Mobile, Alabama 29
Brazos Crossing, c. 1979 oil on canvas 29.50 x 49.75 in 31
Rio Grande Village, Big Bend Park, c. 1983 oil on canvas with gold leaf 40 x 34 in
South Coastal Border, Texas, c. 1976 oil on canvas with gold leaf 14 x 18 in
Finding Clams, c. 1976 oil on canvas 9 x 12 in 33
Oil Spill, c. 1977 oil on canvas 16 x 12 in
Big Bend, Texas, c. 1983 oil on canvas 16 x 12 in
Red Anchor, Gulf Coast, c. 2005-06 oil on canvas 42 x 54 in
35
Finding Gulf Oil Divide, c. 2005 oil on canvas 16 x 36 in
New Braunfels, Texas , c. 1978 oil on canvas board 16 x 20 in
Rice Fields, South Texas Coast (Wetlands), c. 1978 oil on canvas board 16 x 20 in
37
Lava Flow, South of Santiago, Chile, c. 1968-69 oil on canvas board 20 x 16 in
Boston Harbor, c. 1988-89 oil on canvas board 12 x 16 in
Eagles Nest, c. 2008 oil on canvas 28 x 20 in
39
ASIA
Suez Canal, c. 1981 oil on canvas 24 x 20 in
Sahara Desert, c. 1980 oil on canvas with silver leaf 28 x 40 in
4 Pyramids of Saqqara, Egypt, c. 1987-88 oil on canvas 36 x 42 in
41
Two Bridges Across Zamalic Island and Cairo, c. 1996 oil on canvas with gold leaf 23 x 23 in
Acid Rain, c. 1987-88 oil on canvas 36.50 x 48 in
East and West Divide, The Bosphorus, Turkey, c. 1999 oil on canvas 36 x 28 in
43
Bosphorus, Turkey, c. 1995-96 oil on canvas 16 x 22 in
Golden Horn Dividing Istanbul, c. 1999-2000 oil on canvas with gold leaf 28 x 32 in
45
Rice & Bamboo, c. 1985-86 oil on canvas 27.50 x 20 in
Bamboo Thicket, Japan, c. 1985-86 oil on canvas board 20 x 16 in
Seeds of Gold, c. 1987-88 oil on canvas with gold leaf 48 x 48 in
47
Golden Palace, Yangtze Crossing , c. 1997-98 oil on canvas 42 x 54 in
D a n R. S t e w a r t Stained Glass, 1995 - 2013
Five Planets Stained glass, copper foil 24 x 20 in (each); 24 x 100 in. (overall)
51
Three Gorges Dam, Yangste River stained glass 27 x 27 in
Tectonic Collision stained glass 27 x 27 in
Two Match Heads Burning stained glass, copper foil 27 x 27 in
A Perfect Red Square stained glass, copper foil 27 x 27 in 53
Rose Window stained glass 44 in (diameter)
Lunet stained glass 22 x 44 in
Asparagus stained glass 27 x 27 in
Four Cobs stained glass 27 x 27 in 55
Radiation - Study stained glass 14.5 x 11.5 in.
Radiation stained glass, copper foil 27 x 27 in
Horseshoes - Study stained glass 12.25 x 9.25 in
Horseshoes stained glass, copper foil 27 x 27 in 57
Flowers stained glass 27 x 27 in
Tulips Stained Glass 15.5 x 21.5 in
Dan R. Stewart (American, 1926-2013)
more churches, mosques and temples than any man had a Dan R. Stewart was a lifelong learner and examined right to in his lifetime and was particularly inspired by the the world around him as both artist and architect. In soaring heights of Gothic cathedrals where large expanses his youth, he developed an affinity for the expressive of glass were incorporated. nature of oil painting that sustained him through his entire life. While his ultimate goal was to become Dan loved flying and surveying earth’s features, and Man’s an architect, he always sought to weave a spatial or interventions, from above. He was equally enthralled architectural association in his art. He received his by maps of all kinds and would mark his route as a way architectural education at Cooper Union, University of chronicling his explorations. It is thus no wonder that Cincinnati (BArch) and MIT (MArch) before winning one can sense an aerial or plan expression when one looks at many of his oil and acrylic compositions. His the Rome Prize in Architecture in 1955. favorite medium was oil on canvas, but he also painted As a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome he with acrylics on board as a way of sketching out his ideas explored the interconnected relationship between or when traveling overseas. He spent years designing and art and architecture and continued that tradition constructing ever more elaborate stained-glass windows throughout his life. Though the award was for a one- and lamps, but he also delved into mosaics, silk screen, year residence, his explorations provoked such interest wood block and calligraphy. that he was asked to stay on for a second year. It was during his tenure at the Academy that his wanderlust found an outlet. Understanding that a major tenet of the fellowship was to explore, he and his wife, Donna, traveled extensively throughout Europe on a BMW motorcycle. It was also at the Academy that he found his stylistic approach to painting, learned to play billiards and grew to love all things Roman. After his return to the States, Dan plied his trade as an architect, working for Eero Saarinen before joining CRS in Houston. Travel became a central preoccupation of his life, and throughour his career he lived in Rome, Italy; Santiago, Chile; Istanbul, Turkey; Cairo, Egypt; Tokyo, Japan; Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; and very nearly Beirut, Lebanon (but the 1975 civil war preempted that move). Additionally, he traveled to every continent except the Arctic and Antarctic. While he was an avowed Modernist, he spent a lifetime visiting and ruminating over Man’s ancient creations, be they building, sanctuary, sculpture or painting. He was particularly intrigued by those generated through religious motivations. Dan marveled at the inspiration and human spirit, as well as the technological skill and inventiveness behind the construction of these works of art and architecture. Dan Stewart was a deeply religious man, but not in the biblical sense. He visited
Education 1946-1949 1949-1952 1955 1955-57
Certificate in Architecture, The Cooper Union, New York City, NY BS Architecture, University of Cincinnati MA Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston Rome Prize Fellowship in Architecture, American Academy in Rome
Selected Exhibitions & Awards 1955-57 Awarded Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome 1960 Detroit Artists in the Pennsylvania Academy Show, Detroit Artists Market, Detroit, MI 1960 Michigan Artists Abroad, Detroit Artists Market, Detroit, MI 1960 Annual Exhibition for Michigan Artists, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI 1961-68 Exhibited at Dubose Gallery, Houston, TX 1961-62 23rd Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX; San Antonio Art League, Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX; Beaumont Art 59
Museum, Beaumont, TX; and The Museum, Texas Tech, Lubbock, TX. 1962-63 24th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX; Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX; Corpus Christi Art Foundation, Centennial Art Museum, Corpus Christi, TX; and Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, TX. 1963-64 25th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX; Centennial Art Museum, Corpus Christi, TX; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, TX; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX; Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX; and University of Texas, Austin, TX. 1966-67 Texas Painting and Sculpture 1966, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX 1967 Art League Exhibition, Houston, TX 1968 Third Annual Juried Gulf Coast Art Exhibit, The Mobile Art Gallery, Mobile, AL 2003 Craft Houston 2003: National Juried Exhibition, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX
PL AT E S PAINTINGS American Academy Studio, Studio Lighting, 1955 oil on canvas 19.50 x 23.50 in Albino Region, South of Roma, 1957 oil on canvas 15.50 x 27.50 in Ravello, 1960 oil on canvas 39.50 x 55.50 in La Citta S. Oreste, Italia, 1959 oil on canvas 27.50 x 35.50 in Hilltown, 1959 oil on canvas 31.75 x 35.75 in La Piazza, 1960 oil on canvas 22.75 x 35.75 in Il Monasterio, 1961 oil on canvas 46 x 58 in L’Abruzzi, Italia, 1961 oil on canvas 33.25 x 49.25 in
Lago Braccacio, Italia (Castel Gandolfo), c. 1969 oil on canvas 22 x 22 in Piazza San Marco, c. 1971-72 oil on canvas 20 x 28 in Monte Cassino, Italia, c. 1973 oil on canvas 25 x 34 in
Downtown, c. 1968 oil on canvas 36.50 x 31.50 in Machu Picchu, Peru, c. 1967 oil on canvas 48 x 72 in Brazos Crossing, c. 1979 oil on canvas 29.50 x 49.75 in
Alpine Chalice, Switzerland, c. 1970 oil on canvas with gold leaf 24 x 18 in
Rio Grande Village, Big Bend National Park, c. 1983 oil on canvas with gold leaf 40 x 34 in
Mt. Etna Eruption, Italia, c. 2009 oil on canvas 10 x 18 in
South Coastal Border Texas, c. 1976 oil on canvas with gold leaf 14 x 18 in
Red Cabanas, Mexico, 1963 oil on canvas 34 x 50 in
Finding Clams, c. 1976 oil on canvas 9 x 12 in
La Ciudad, Chile, 1964 oil on canvas 23.50 x 32 in
Oil Spill, c. 1977 oil on canvas 16 x 12 in
El Cobre Earthquake, Chile, 1964-65 Big Bend, Texas, c. 1983 oil on canvas oil on canvas 16 x 12 in 31.50 x 45.50 in Veracruz, Mexico, 1963 oil on canvas 40 x 44 in
Red Anchor, Gulf Coast, c. 2005-06 oil on canvas 42 x 54 in
La Cosecha Harvest, Chile, 1965 oil on canvas 31.50 x 45 in
Finding Gulf Oil Divide, c. 2005 oil on canvas 16 x 36 in
Orvieto, Italia, 1964 oil on canvas 25 x 50 in
Chugiacamata Mines, North Chile, 1966 oil on canvas 47.50 x 72 in
New Braunfels, Texas, c. 1978 oil on canvas board 16 x 20 in
Chiesa Abruzzi, c. 1970 oil on canvas 15.50 x 43.75 in
The Beach, 1966 oil on canvas 48 x 28 in
Pireus Harbor, Athens, Greece, 1961 oil on canvas 33.50 x 49 in Castel Gandolfo, Italia, c. 1961 oil on canvas 36 x 50 in
Rice Fields, South Texas Coast (Wetlands), c. 1978 oil on canvas board 16 x 20 in
61
Rice & Bamboo, c. 1985-86 oil on canvas 27.50 x 20 in
Asparagus stained glass 27 x 27 in
Bamboo Thicket, Japan, c. 1985-86 oil on canvas board 20 x 16 in
Four Cobs stained glass 27 x 27 in
Seeds of Gold, c. 1987-88 oil on canvas with gold leaf 48 x 48 in
Radiation - Study stained glass 14.5 x 11.5 in.
Suez Canal, c. 1981 oil on canvas 24 x 20 in
Golden Palace, Yangtze Crossing, c. 1997-98 oil on canvas 42 x 54 in
Radiation stained glass 27 x 27 in
Sahara Desert, c. 1980 oil on canvas with silver leaf 28 x 40 in
STAINED GLASS
Lava Flow, South of Santiago, Chile, c. 1968-69 oil on canvas board 20 x 16 in Boston Harbor, c. 1988-89 oil on canvas board 12 x 16 in Eagles Nest, c. 2008 oil on canvas 28 x 20 in
4 Pyramids of Saqqara, Egypt, c. 1987-88 oil on canvas 36 x 42 in Two Bridges Across Zamalic Island and Cairo, c. 1996 oil on canvas with gold leaf 23 x 23 in Acid Rain, c. 1987-88 oil on canvas 36.50 x 48 in East and West Divide, The Bosphorus, Turkey, c. 1999 oil on canvas 36 x 28 in Bosphorus, Turkey, c. 1995-96 oil on canvas 16 x 22 in Golden Horn Dividing Istanbul, c. 1999-2000 oil on canvas with gold leaf 28 x 32 in
Five Planets Stained glass, copper foil 24 x 20 in (each); 24 x 100 in. (all) Three Gorges Dam, Yangste River stained glass 27 x 27 in Tectonic Collision stained glass 27 x 27 in Two Match Heads Burning stained glass, copper foil 27 x 27 in A Perfect Red Square stained glass, copper foil 27 x 27 in Rose Window stained glass 44 in (diameter) Lunet stained glass 22 x 44 in
Horseshoes - Study stained glass 12.25 x 9.25 in Horseshoes stained glass 27 x 27 in Flowers stained glass 27 x 27 in Tulips stained glass 15.5 x 21.5 in
2143 Westheimer Road Houston, TX 77098 www.foltzgallery.com