Pioneering Women Three Modernists in Houston
Dorothy Hood Stella Sullivan Leila McConnell
Pioneering Women Three Modernists in Houston Dorothy Hood - Leila McConnell - Stella Sullivan
Houston is known for its booming and viNew York, finishing in 1941. After the completion of brant art community, bolstered by a milieu of galler- her studies, Hood moved to Mexico City and married ies, museums of world renown, and artists that have the Bolivian composer-conductor, Velasco Maidana. established a firm foundation for the art scene of our She remained in Mexico for the next nineteen years, great Bayou City! This cultural phetraveling frequently throughout nomenon can be credited to the Central and South America as well emergence of modernism in Texas as the United States. In 1961, Hood during the mid-twentieth century. and Maidana returned to Houston, Houston artists helped propel this where the artist initiated a teachcultural uprising through their ing career at the Museum School original adaptation of predomiof Art (now the Glassell School nant American modernist artistic of Art), which lasted from 1962 – currents. Thus, a vivacious period 1976. of abstraction blossomed in Texas, nourished by the dominant role Although Hood’s exhibition Houston artists played not only in profile was already established pricreating artistic masterpieces, but or to her return to Houston, havin the education of future gening shown in a traveling exhibition erations of artists. Three pivotal at the Museum of Modern Art in figures during this period include New York in 1959, she embarked Dorothy Hood, Leila McConnell, on an ambitious exhibition record and Stella Sullivan. William Reaves once back in her native state. Fine Art is honored to present this During this period, Hood showed exhibition featuring these three at various locations, such as The stellar artists – shown together Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, for the first time in our Houston Rice University, The Witte Memo1. Hood, Winter and Sea gallery! In this exhibition, we have rial Museum in San Antonio, and selected a group of works by each had many gallery exhibitions, including shows at artist, primarily focusing on their production from Meredith Long & Co. in Houston. In 1973, the artist the 1960s through 1980s, a period when all three was awarded the highly-esteemed Childe Hassam artists are in Houston working simultaneously, yet Purchase Price from New York’s American Academy independently, and actively involved in the Houston of Arts and Letters. Hood’s achievements in Houston art community. and the state at large were recognized in 1984 when Art League of Houston awarded her the prestigious Although Hood, McConnell, and Sullivan title of Texas Artist of the Year. can proudly claim a Texas heritage and residence, they all spent various points of their careers study Leila McConnell was born in 1927 in Los ing and formulating their talent outside of the Lone Angeles, California, but moved with her family to Star state. Dorothy Hood was born in Bryan, Texas in Houston at the young age of six. McConnell enrolled 1919 and raised in Houston, later relocating to the at the Rice Institute at age sixteen, pursuing a degree east coast where she studied at The Rhode Island in architecture since the art department had yet to School of Design and The Art Students League in be founded. While at Rice, she studied under instruc-
tor James Chillman (who also served as director 1959. McConnell was well-known on the exhibition of The Museum of Fine Arts, circuit, showing in the MFAH’s Houston). McConnell credits Annual Exhibition of Work Chillman as one of the most inby Houston Artists and Texas fluential figures in her educaGeneral Exhibitions. The artist tion, teaching her an excellent also established a local gallery sense of design and proporcareer, exhibiting initially with tion. After graduation, the Polly Marsters and the Housartist continued her studies at ton Artists Gallery, followed by the Museum School of Art in Cushman Gallery, Ben DuBose, Houston. In 1949, McConnell and Leslie Muth. migrated back to California for a summer study at the San Houston native Stella Francisco School of Fine Arts, Sullivan was born in 1924. where she met many influLike McConnell, Sullivan atential American modernists, tended the Rice Institute, such as Mark Rothko. While her graduating with a degree in work at Rice nurtured in McCoarchitecture in 1945. Sullivan’s nnell a strong traditional and father, brother, and uncle were figurative artistic education, all architects, and upon her her studies in San Francisco graduation from Rice, Sullivan 18. McConnell, Busy Landscape introduced the young artist worked for her father assisting to other creative styles, openin architectural drafting. Sullivan coning a new artistic path she would later follow. These tinued her education by enrolling in private classes concepts resonated with the young artist, and were at the Houston Museum School of Art from 1949 – reinforced by McConnell’s 1950, under the instruction trip to Italy in 1960, where of Ola McNeill Davidson. she was inspired by the In 1950, however, Sullivan bright patinas and colors of moved to Michigan where the Italian stucco buildings. she attended the School of These experiences and Detroit Society of Arts and McConnell’s Italian excurCrafts, later transferring sion came to fruition in her to the Cranbrook Acadwell-known “sky paintings” emy of Art in Bloomfield developed in the sixties, Hills, Michigan, where she known for their atmograduated with her Master spheric color and ethereal of Fine Arts degree in 1954. tones. Beginning in 1961, Sullivan served as art instructor at Similar to Hood, the Museum School of Art McConnell also taught at in Houston, and in 1962, the Museum School of Art the artist began teaching in Houston from 1950at the University of Hous37. Sullivan, Jerusalem Eye 1968, taking a brief hiatus ton. She continued teaching at these two in the fifties while raising institutions for most of the sixties, until her two children with fellow Houston artist Henri opening her own studio in 1971, entitled The Stella Gadbois (the couple married in 1956) and working Sullivan School of Art. for Houston architect Hamilton Brown from 1954-
Sullivan has had numerous one-woman exhibitions at such venues as The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Cranbrook Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Houston galleries such as Lowell Collins Gallery and Leslie Muth Gallery. She has also participated in many group exhibitions including shows at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, and Art League of Houston, just to name a few. Additionally, Sullivan has received numerous accolades during her career, including the Houston Artists Exhibits: Schlumberger Award, the Contemporary Arts Museum of 12. Hood, Untitled-Red Houston Purchase Prize, and numerous awards at the Art League of Houston. These facts alone attest to the pivotal place these artists hold in the history of Texas modernism. It is for these reasons that this exhibition was conceived, bringing together a selection of fine examples from each artist’s career that demonstrate their artistic productivity and continued legacy in our city’s art scene. Their exhibition and teaching records have made a lasting impression in the art history of our city and state, working in Houston at the same time and teaching at the Museum School during relatively 17. McConnell, Summer the same period. Despite these common factors, all three artist’s careers are hallmarked by a distinctive artistic originality pivotal to the foundation of Houston modernism. Yet, certain crosscurrents can be seen in their creative production.
Among the works by Hood included in this exhibition are a group of drawings created by the artist in the 1960s. These drawings show the impact of the artist’s life and studies in Mexico, and the influence of Mexican and European surrealists. Hood created many drawings inspired by figurative, flora, and fauna motifs, such as her Butterflies of the Future (1967), which were highly admired by contemporaries, leading to a one-woman exhibition in 1974 entitled Dorothy Hood Drawings at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. Her drawings were also lauded by James Soby, curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, who included one of her drawings in a 1959 traveling exhibition entitled Figures and Faces. These works contain organic, biomorphic forms that similarly inhabit the surfaces of her painted compositions. Two such paintings seen in the present exhibition are Night Totems (c. 1965) and Untitled – Red (undated). Both works exemplify Hood’s ability to transform organic substance into atmospheric spaces that manipulate color and depict subtle gradations of light washing across the surface of the canvas, achieving a raking, water-like effect. McConnell achieves similar atmospheric tonalities in her “sky paintings,” seen in many of her sixties and seventies compositions exhibited in this show, such as Yellow Sun over Water (c. 1975). While Hood employs a more vibrant and striking color palette, McConnell’s work exudes a more transcendent mood achieved through her meditational and ethereal color scheme.
Poignant geometric elements subtly accompany McConnell’s atmospheric compositions, drawing the viewer’s eye into the work through her incorporation of orbits and horizontal bars, as seen in Summer (1976). In 1976, McConnell branches outside of painting and begins to experiment with the medium of collage. These works push McConnell towards a stronger geometric period in her paintings, leading to a more characteristically hard-edge style, such as her Untitled (1985). McConnell paints within these two realms of modern abstraction throughout the seventies and eighties, creating works like The Sign (1975) that similarly exemplify a hard-edge style.
sition, as seen in Sullivan’s Moonrising (1980).
35. Sullivan, God’s Eye
Such geometric tendencies appropriately appear in Sullivan’s pieces considering her strong architectural background, which heavily influences her work in all media. Similar to McConnell, Sullivan experienced a figurative phase with her portrait paintings, but later ventured into a more geometric focus. Works such as God’s Eye (1978) show geometric forms imbued with vibrant, saturated colors. This painting, among others in this exhibition, is part of what Sullivan refers to as her “Eye of God” series. Prior to these later 1970s paintings, Sullivan executed a series of prints that encouraged her to embark on her “Eye of God” series, many of which are seen in this exhibition. Her serigraph entitled Ovare (1972) shows her early experimentation with geometric abstraction. In addition to their geometric stylistic similarities, both McCon40. Sullivan, Moonrising nell and Sullivan incorporate in many of their works a circular or geometric symbol that highlights a central focus in the compo-
Putting stylistic crosscurrents aside, these artists have each established their own, strong legacies in the Houston modernist art scene. Although Hood passed away in 2000, she continues to leave a lasting impression on future generations of Houston artists through the integrity of her work and current exhibitions. McConnell and Sullivan continue to create and impact present day artists in Houston and the state at large, constantly developing their artistic achievements. This three-woman exhibition is long overdue, and is a must see event of the season! Please join William Reaves Fine Art in reveling in the work of these three Houston modernist pioneers! -Sarah Beth Wilson and Leslie Thompson
Artist Bio: Dorothy Hood Selected Biographical and Career Highlights • • • • • •
1919, Born in Bryan, Texas 1937-1940, Studies at The Rhode Island School of Design, Providence 1941, Studies at The Art Students League, New York 1943-1961, Lives in Mexico City and Puebla, Mexico 1961-1972, Instructor at the Museum School of Art, Houston 1973, Wins the Childe Hassam Purchase Price, American Academy of Arts
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and Letters, New York 2000, Dies at Houston residence
Selected Exhibitions • • • • •
1963, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas 1965, Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, Texas 1970, The Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas 1971, Rice University, Houston, Texas 1978, McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas
Selected Collections • • • • • • •
Baylor University, Waco, Texas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Rice University Collection, Houston, Texas The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
Artist Bio: Leila McConnell Selected Biographical and Career Highlights • • • • • • • •
1927, Born in Los Angeles, California Family moves to Houston at age 6 Attends Rice Institute at age 16 Studies at Museum School of Art, Houston 1949, Attends the San Francisco School of Fine Arts 1950-1968, Instructor at Museum School of Art, Houston 1954-1959, Works for Houston architect Hamilton Brown 1960, Visits Italy
Selected Exhibitions • • • • • •
Annual Exhibition of Work by Houston Artists Texas General Exhibition DuBose Gallery Leslie Muth Gallery Brazos Projects Early Rice Art, Rice University, Houston, Texas
Selected Collections •
The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
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The Old Jail House Art Center, Albany, Texas
Artist Bio: Stella Sullivan Selected Biographical and Career Highlights • • • • • • • •
1924, Born in Houston, TX. 1945, Earns B.A. in architecture from Rice Institute 1949-1950, Studies at Museum School of Art, Houston, 1950-1951, Studies at School of Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, Detroit, Michigan 1954, Earns MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 1961-1970, Instructor at Museum School of Art, Houston 1962-1966, Instructor at University of Houston 1971, Opens the Stella Sullivan School of Art, Houston
Selected Exhibitions • • • • •
1954, Cranbrook Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 1962, Museum School of Art, Houston, Texas 1968, Houston Baptist College, Houston, Texas Leslie Muth Gallery, Houston, Texas Lowell Collins Gallery, Houston, Texas
Selected Collections • • • • • •
Texas Institute for Research and Rehabilitation, Houston, Texas Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, Houston, Texas Anderson, Greenwood and Company, Houston, Texas Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Houston, Texas D.D. Feldman Collection, Dallas, Texas Bank of the Southwest, Houston, Texas
Exhibition Checklist Artist
Title
Date
Medium
Size (inches)
1. Hood
Winter and the Sea
c. 1963
oil/canvas
58x35
2. Hood
Fear
1964
pen/ink
26x20
3. Hood
Night Totems
c. 1965
oil/canvas
70x60
4. Hood
Butterflies of the Future
1967
pen/ink
26x20
5. Hood
Furred Flower II
1967
pen/ink
26x20
6. Hood
Space Rider
c. 1975
oil/canvas
90x70
7. Hood
De Santa Cruz y El Beni
n/d
collage
32x20
8. Hood
Untitled
n/d
watercolor
11x12 1/2
9. Hood
Untitled
n/d
pen/ink
29x20
10. Hood
Untitled
n/d
ink wash
8 1/2x14 1/4
11. Hood
Untitled
n/d
pen/ink
13x20
12. Hood
Untitled - Red
n/d
oil/canvas
36x36
13. McConnell
The First Bar of Peace
1961
oil/canvas
24x36
14. McConnell
Elipse in Blue
1968
oil/canvas
24x24
15. McConnell
The Sign
1975
oil/canvas
50x30
16. McConnell
Yellow Sun Over Water
c.1975
oil/canvas
48x36
17. McConnell
Summer
1976
oil/canvas
48x36
18. McConnell
Busy Landscape
1979
oil/canvas
40x30
19. McConnell
Fall
1979
oil/canvas
48x36
20. McConnell
Golden Tail
1979
oil/canvas
16x20
21. McConnell
Poles of the Mountain
1979
oil/canvas
48x36
22. McConnell
Yellow Day
1979
oil/canvas
48x36
23. McConnell
Green Scape with White Ring
1980
oil/canvas
48x36
24. McConnell
Delicate Day
c.1980
oil/canvas
48x36
25. McConnell
Untitled
1985
oil/canvas
40x30
Artist
Title
26. McConnell
Untitled
1986
oil/canvas
48x36
27. McConnell
Rolling Hills
1988
oil/canvas
24x36
28. McConnell
The Next Step
1988
oil/canvas
48x36
29. McConnell
Wings
c.1999
oil/canvas
16x20
30. Sullivan
Eye of God, 9/13
1972
serigraph/paper
22x17
31. Sullivan
Ovare, 12/14
1972
serigraph/paper
23x14 1/2
32. Sullivan
Trinity, 6/10
1972
serigraph/paper
22 x 15 1/4
33. Sullivan
Ojo, 13/32
1974
serigraph/paper
5x5
34. Sullivan
Symbols of the Eucharist #3
1974
acrylic/canvaspaper 20x16
35. Sullivan
God’s Eye
1978
oil/canvas
20x16
36. Sullivan
Happy Eye
1978
acrylic/canvas
24x12
37. Sullivan
Jerusalem Eye
1978
acrylic/canvas
24x24
38. Sullivan
Trinity
1978
oil/canvas
25x18
39. Sullivan
Four Red Eyes
1979
acrylic/canvas
30x20
40. Sullivan
Moonrising
1980
acrylic/canvas
36x18
41. Sullivan
God’s Eye - Built on a Square
c. 1980
tapestry
60x48
42. Sullivan
Double Crosses
n/d
tapestry
54x41
43. Sullivan
Birds of a Feather
1980
oil/canvas
16x20
44. Sullivan
Vortex
1980
oil/canvas
12x18
45. Sullivan
God’s Eye #2
2000
oil/canvas
13x13
46. Sullivan
God’s Eye #3
2007
oil/canvas
10x10
Date
Medium
Size (inches)
1. Hood Winter and the Sea, c.1963 oil/canvas 58x35 inches
2. Hood Fear, 1964 pen/ink 26x20 inches
3. Hood Night Totems, c. 1965 oil/canvas 70x60 inches
4. Hood Butterflies of the Future, 1967 pen/ink 26x20 inches
5. Hood Furred Flower II, 1967 pen/ink 26x20 inches
6. Hood Space Rider, c. 1975 oil/canvas 90x70 inches
7. Hood De Santa Cruz y El Beni, n/d collage 32x20 inches
8. Hood Untitled, n/d watercolor 11x12 1/2 inches
9. Hood Untitled, n/d pen/ink 29x20 inches
10. Hood Untitled, n/d ink wash 8 1/2x 14 1/4 inches
11. Hood Untitled, n/d pen/ink 13x20 inches
12. Hood Untitled-Red, n/d oil/canvas 36x36 inches
13. McConnell The First Bar of Peace, 1961 oil/canvas 24x36 inches
14. McConnell Elipse in Blue, 1968 oil/canvas 24x24 inches
15. McConnell The Sign, 1975 oil/canvas 50x30 inches
16. McConnell Yellow Sun Over Water, c.1975 oil/canvas 48x36 inches
17. McConnell Summer, 1976 oil/canvas 48x36 inches
18. McConnell Busy Landscape, 1979 oil/canvas 40x30 inches
19. McConnell Fall, 1979 oil/canvas 48x36 inches
20. McConnell Golden Tail, 1979 oil/canvas 16x20 inches
21. McConnell Poles of the Mountain, 1979 oil/canvas 48x36 inches
22. McConnell Yellow Day, 1979 oil/canvas 48x36 inches
23. McConnell Greenscape with White Ring, 1980 oil/canvas 48x36 inches
24. McConnell Delicate Day, c.1980 oil/canvas 48x36 inches
25. McConnell Untitled, 1985 oil/canvas 40x30 inches
26. McConnell Untitled, 1986 oil/canvas 48x36 inches
27. McConnell Rolling Hills, 1988 oil/canvas 24x36 inches
28. McConnell The Next Step, 1988 oil/canvas 48x36 inches
29. McConnell Wings, c.1999 oil/canvas 16x20 inches
30. Sullivan Eye of God, 9/13, 1972 serigraph/paper 22x17 inches
31. Sullivan Ovare, 12/14, 1972 serigraph/paper 23x14 1/2 inches
32. Sullivan Trinity, 6/10, 1972 serigraph/paper 22x15 1/4 inches
33. Sullivan Ojo, 13/32, 1974 serigraph/paper 5x5 inches
34. Sullivan Symbols of the Eucharist #3, 1974 oil/canvas paper 20x16 inches
35. Sullivan God’s Eye, 1978 oil/canvas 20x16 inches
36. Sullivan Happy Eye, 1978 acryllic/canvas 24x12 inches
37. Sullivan Jerusalem Eye, 1978 acryllic/canvas 24x24 inches
38. Sullivan Trinity, 1978 oil/canvas 25x18 inches
39. Sullivan Four Red Eyes, 1979 acryllic/canvas 30x20 inches
40. Sullivan Moonrising, 1980 acryllic/canvas 36x18 inches
41. Sullivan God’s Eye- Built on a Square, c.1980 tapestry 60x48 inches
42. Sullivan Double Crosses, n/d tapestry 54x41 inches
43. Sullivan Birds of a Feather, 1980 oil/canvas 16x20 inches
44. Sullivan Vortex, 1980 oil/canvas 12x18 inches
45. Sullivan God’s Eye #2, 2000 oil/canvas 13x13 inches
46. Sullivan God’s Eye #3, 2007 oil/canvas 10x10 inches
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