Amerindian art
The earliest forms of artistic expression are the frescoes drawn by Native Americans in caves. Texas, in particular the Lower Pecos region near the Mexican border, has revealed thousands of incised or painted drawings on rock. Dating back to pre-Columbian times (4,000 years ago), these petroglyphs feature an animal as a central figure. For this reason, archaeologists readily link them to hunting rituals.
Among the most famous, the White Shaman's Shelter features a superb polychromatic narrative composition. Fantastic and symbolic figures intertwine in this eight-metre-long work. Recent studies have shown that it illustrates the cosmogonic myths of Central American peoples, notably the Aztecs.
Towards modern art
The Spaniards introduced religious art to Texas in the 17th century. The works were intended to decorate the missions.
Painter-explorer George Catlin (1796-1872) travelled extensively throughout America to paint the daily life of the Indians. Catlin immersed himself in the heart of the tribes to document the indigenous culture. He brought together his patient pictorial work to found theIndian Gallery in 1838. At the time, Texas was not yet part of the United States.
The doyen of Texas painters, Frank Reaugh (1860-1945) drew his inspiration from local flora and fauna. The Great Plains were among the themes that Dean treated in drawing, painting and photography. He opened one of the first art schools in Dallas.
Modern art makes its debut with abstract frescoes, including those by Seymour Fogel. Born in New York in 1911, this expressionist painter and sculptor turned to abstraction. He set up his studio in a barn in Austin. Texas commissioned several murals from him for its public buildings in the 1950s and 1960s. He returned to New York in 1959, having influenced the emergence of the Texas modern art movement. To be discovered at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
Sculptor Charles Umlauf, born in 1911, began teaching at the University of Austin in 1941. He donated his studio and home, now the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum, to the city. Between neo-classicism, expressionism and lyricism, some sixty works are displayed in a garden that hosts numerous cultural events.
Robert Rauschenberg
Rauschenberg was born in Port Arthur in 1925. A precursor of Pop Art, Rauschenberg grew up in a modest family. He joined the army, and at the same time enrolled in art courses in Kansas. Painting, sculpture, art history, music and fashion all fascinated the artist, who continued his training in Paris in 1948. Two encounters marked his beginnings: the precursor of Abstract Expressionism, Willem De Kooning, and the painter Susan Weil, whom he married in 1950 and who often served as a model.
Back in the United States, he collaborated with composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham, with whom he remained very close. At his first exhibition in 1951, his White Paintings, or white monochromes aimed at reducing painting to its essentials, received a lukewarm reception. But in 1952, he took part in what is considered the first happening in the history of art, with John Cage, at Black Mountain College. The untitled event brought together several artistic fields. The same year, he embarked on a long journey with Cy Twombly, during which he began the motley collages that were to become one of his signatures.
On his return, Rauschenberg settled in New York. His relationship with the painter Jasper Johns influenced his "neo-dada" research into the boundary between the art object and the everyday object. In 1964, while continuing his collaboration with Merce Cunningham, he became the first American artist to win a prize at the Venice Biennale. In 1975, after a trip to Israel, he explored his work in photography. The Centre Pompidou devoted an exhibition to him in 1981.
He returned to painting, but applied it to metal to reflect the environment back to the viewer. Rauschenberg, who enjoyed success during his lifetime, became a patron of the arts, donating part of his fortune to charity. The artist died in 2008 in his huge studio on Captiva Island, Florida.
Marfa and the avant-garde
The wide-open spaces of Texas lend themselves to monumental installations.
Artist Donald Judd (1928-1994) turns the town of Marfa into a cultural center. In 1965, Judd published Specific Objects, one of the founding manifestos of Minimalist art. Initially an expressionist painter, Judd purified his aesthetic to proscribe any reference to identifiable figures. For his three-dimensional objects, he embarked on a quest for locations that would guarantee optimal installation. To this end, he first acquired a five-storey building in New York. But as his sculptures took up more and more space, he headed west. In 1971, he converted a vast ranch house in Marfa, Texas, into an exhibition space. He took up permanent residence there in 1972, then bought a piece of desert that became the Chinati Foundation. Today, this center for conceptual art houses works by Carl André, Richard Long and Claes Oldenburg, among others.
In Marfa, avant-garde meets Wild West culture. Open-air galleries and contemporary art installations are multiplying, such as Prada Marfa, a parody of a luxury shop window designed by Scandinavian duo Elmgreen & Dragset. Installed in the middle of the desert, 45 km northwest of the city.
Outdoor sculpture
Shortly afterwards, in 1974, in North Texas, a millionaire from Almarillo backed the development of Cadillac Ranch. This monumental sculpture, imagined by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, was built near the old Route 66, on desert land halfway between Los Angeles and Chicago. Financed by Stanley March, it takes the form of ten Cadillacs with their noses buried in the sand. The wrecks of the cars, planted in the ground as they are, leave visitors free to add their marks or even steal certain elements. Visits are free of charge, making Cadillac Ranch at once a work of Land Art, street art, a Dadaist manifesto against consumer society, and an installation referencing megaliths.
The Cadillacs are repainted over the years, to mark events or appear in clips, ads and documentaries. These timeless stars are now available in digital versions.
Throughout Texas, sculptures can be found in public spaces and sculpture parks. Dedicated to contemporary sculpture, the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas (in the downtown arts district) combines a museum and a sculpture garden, which houses an installation from James Turrell's Sky Space series. It consists of luminous chambers that invite visitors to experience light in total immersion. There are over 75 of them worldwide. The Renzo Piano-designed museum features sculptures by Brancusi, Calder, Matisse, Henry Moore, Rodin and many others.
In Houston, Barnett Newman's sculpture Broken Obelisk (1963-1967) stands in front of the Rothko Chapel. Standing 7.50 m high, the inverted obelisk is inspired by the codes of ancient Egypt, while the chapel, commissioned from Rothko by collectors Jean and Dominique de Ménil, is intended to be a place of meditation at the heart of a collection of paintings.
Graffiti & Co
Designated the Visual Arts Capital of Texas, the small town of San Angelo is brimming with cultural attractions. Numerous art galleries nestle in the streets of the historic center. Explore them to spot regional talent.
On the streets, every October, the open-air art competition draws crowds. And all year round, in addition to the two free open-air museums, street-art brings its colors to life. The association Art in Uncommon Spaces oversees artistic events in public spaces. In particular, it is behind the fifty or so frescoes that stretch along Paintbrush Alley in downtown San Angelo.
Mosaics and sculptures can be seen on the San Angelo Riverwalk and Red Arroyo Trail. Installation enthusiasts head for City Park and Concho Community Park. From there, on the banks of the Concho River, a detour to San Angelo's Museum of Fine Arts is an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in Mexican influences and colonial art, as well as Texan creation.
The Pop'Art Museum, housed in a former bowling alley, is a fine extension of San Angelo's colorful discovery.
In Austin, a vacant lot surrounded by huge concrete walls was earmarked for a housing project on Baylor Street, until Shepard Fairey took it over. Other street artists joined the pope of street art, transforming the plot into an evolving work of art. The HOPE Outdoor Gallery quickly became one of the largest open-air galleries on the continent. In 2021, HOG was forced to relocate near the airport, to 741 Dalton Lane.
Houston's graffiti community is proud of its diversity. All ethnic and social origins share public space. A first series of 10 murals was commissioned in 2022 to brighten up the city. To name but a few, on the façade of the Four Seasons Hotel (1115 Austin St., Houston, TX 77002), Emily Ding has painted a bucolic landscape entitled Loving Houston; Case Maclaim's giant cyclist Social Equity pedals over the Scanlan Building (405 Main St.); Ana Marietta's romantic Sharing the World graces the Cotton Exchange Building (202 Travis St.) Titles like sweet promises..
Art in New Mexico
The state aroused the interest and fascination of many talented artists. In 1915, a global movement even emerged. Called the Taos Society of Artists, this colony was founded by a number of painters attracted from the 1890s onwards by the historical and ethnographic wealth of the pueblo, but also by the beauty of the landscapes of the Taos region. At the heart of this movement, different artistic currents were able to express themselves in complete freedom, contributing to the richness of an ecosystem and the dissemination of Amerindian culture that went far beyond the borders of the city, the state and even the country. The founding members of this artists' society were Joseph Henry Sharp, Bert Geer Phillips, Ernest Leonard Blumenschein, William Herbert Dunton, E. Irving Couse and Oscar E. Berninghaus. Some of their works are on display at the Taos Art Museum at Fechin House. Mabel Dodge Luhan, a wealthy patron of the arts, played an important role in promoting this organization, which attracted other talented artists to northern New Mexico. How could we fail to mention the modernist Georgia O'Keeffe. Considered one of the major painters of the 20th century, she was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, attended the avant-garde art scene in New York, before discovering New Mexico in 1929 and eventually settling here permanently. It was in Taos that she produced one of her major works: The Lawrence Tree. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum is dedicated to her in Santa Fe, and the most ardent fans will go as far as Abiquiú to visit the Georgia O'Keeffe Home and Studio, where she died in 1986. British-born painter Dorothy Brett also fell in love with the state, particularly Taos, where she stayed from 1924 until her death in 1977. Tommy Wayne Cannon, known as T. C. Cannon, was also a Native American artist of international renown. Sadly, he lost his life in 1978 in Santa Fe at the age of 31 as the result of an automobile accident. And these are just a few of the many painters and sculptors who found inspiration in the landscapes and scenes of life in this state.
