Flashback : Dallas

A Miscellany: History, Ads, Pop Culture

Category: Art

April 7, 2014

Frank Reaugh or Mark Rothko?

reaugh_meteor_nd_ransom-smu_2“Meteor” by Frank Reaugh (undated)

by Paula Bosse

This is a wonderful (and very uncharacteristic) work by Frank Reaugh, the pastelist who is known for his depictions of cattle and longhorns. Reaugh (1860-1945) lived and taught in Oak Cliff, and his small, delicate, impressionistic works in pastel are not only highly collectible, but are also a glimpse of the waning days of the open, unfenced Western Plains. The word “iconic” is thrown away too much these days, but below is an example of the iconic work of Frank Reaguh.

reaugh_gray-hill_nd_ransom-smu“Gray Hill and Rain” by Frank Reaugh (click for larger image.)

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Sources & Notes

Both “Meteor” and “Gray Hill and Rain” are undated works from The Frank Reaugh Art Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin. Both works are pastel on paper. (And for those wondering, “Reaugh” is pronounced “Ray.”)

The entire collection can be viewed here.

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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.

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April 2, 2014

Alexandre Hogue’s “Calligraphic Tornado” — 1970

by Paula Bosse

Since the season is upon is, it seems like a good time to post Alexandre Hogue’s wonderful “Calligraphic Tornado” (1970), quite a departure from his more widely known Depression-era landscape paintings. I love this.

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Sources & Notes

Image and text from Nature’s Forms/Nature’s Forces: The Art of Alexandre Hogue by Lea Rosson DeLong (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1984), p. 168. (This is a great monograph on the Dallas Nine artist, but it appears to be becoming difficult to find at affordable prices. There are a couple that should be scooped up quickly, here. It was issued only in softcover.)

A previous post from me on Hogue (one of my favorite artists) — with another uncharacteristic example of his work — is here.

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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.

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March 24, 2014

Alexandre Hogue and the Lost “Dead Eye Dick” Bookplate — 1927

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by Paula Bosse

I am a huge fan of the paintings and prints by the Dallas Nine group, and Alexandre Hogue — one of the members of the group — has always been one of my favorite artists. I stumbled across this early, uncharacteristic work by him last night while looking for something else. I was browsing though a digital bookplate collection (…as one does…), and when I saw the thumbnail image of this western scene, I wondered who had drawn it. The citation had no artist attribution and noted merely that it was produced for the University Club of Dallas. As I have a background in rare books and Texas art, I thought I might know the artist, so I checked the signature. I never expected this drawing to have been done by Alexandre Hogue.

The bookplate was executed by Hogue for the University Club, a group whose well-heeled and literate members met in a tony downtown penthouse. It was done in 1927 when Hogue was working as an art instructor at the Dallas YWCA; his own work had begun to attract positive critical attention, but he had yet to make a big splash. I’ve checked various sources, but I don’t see mention anywhere of Hogue doing this sort of thing. Was he commissioned? Did he do it on spec, hoping to possibly network with influential members and perhaps improve his chances of showing his work there? Whatever his reason, things seem to have paid off, because he was showing his art at the club and participating in group shows there by 1928.

So here it is, art-lovers, a heretofore mostly (if not totally) unknown piece of Alexandre Hogue-iana from 1927 — a little piece of anonymous ephemera which has been stashed away for years in a bookplate collection in Illinois.

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Sources & Notes

This bookplate is from the John Starr Stewart Ex Libris Collection, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It can be seen here.

If you are unfamiliar with Alexandre Hogue’s work, see here for a few examples of his work as well as those of his fellow Dallas Nine artists.

Also, there is a show featuring Hogue’s works currently on at the Dallas Museum of Art. For details see here.

And a short, informative video, presented by Susan Kalil, author of Alexandre Hogue: An American Visionary, can be viewed here.

Another uncharacteristic example of Hogue’s work, is the incredible “Calligraphic Tornado” (1970), which I’ve posted here.

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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.

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March 18, 2014

Dallas Skyline by E. M. “Buck” Schiwetz — 1961

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by Paula Bosse

This drawing reminds me of those wonderful telephone book covers (the ones with all the hidden jokes and intricate details) that I used to pore over as a child. (By the way, when clicked, this image is absolutely HUMONGOUS. )

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From the booklet Five Years Forward: The Dallas Public Library, 1955-1960 (more of which can be accessed here).

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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.

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March 18, 2014

George Dahl’s Sleek Downtown Library — 1955

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by Paula Bosse

This little 31-page booklet was issued to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Dallas Public Library. The library was built on the site of the old (beautiful!) Carnegie Library and was vacated when the current library (the J. Erik Jonssen Central Library) opened on Young St. in 1982. Unbelievably, the building has remained empty for over 30 years.

This is the only downtown building I have very distinct memories of from childhood. My mother took us to the library often, and I LOVED that place. I loved the building, the space, the books, the adventure of being downtown — I loved everything but that creepy sculpture of the kid standing in the hands that hung on the outside of the building!

This great library was designed by the legendary (and prolific!) Dallas architect, George Dahl. He moved easily from the streamlined grandeur of the Art Deco buildings of Fair Park to the sleek mid-century-modern-cool of this wonderful downtown library.

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I know there are fans of this sculpture (“Youth in the Hands of God” by Marshall Fredericks), but I’m afraid I am not one of them. I loved art as a child (in fact, I can remember checking out framed art reproductions from this very library), but, as I said, even as a kid, I strongly disliked that creepy sculpture. The kid was fine, it was those giant disembodied hands. When the library moved to its current location in 1982, this sculpture was left behind to languish for years inside the empty building. It was eventually sold, and the boy and the hands are now resting comfortably in retirement, somewhere in Michigan.

3DPL_lobbybertoiaThere was a huge controversy about the Harry Bertoia sculptural screen seen above, hanging over the circulation desk. (I LOVED this piece as a kid!) The mayor — R. L. Thornton — HATED it, and the brouhaha-loving newspapers launched themselves into the fray by running apoplectic editorials which, of course, only fanned the flames of outrage. After the “scandal” died down, the art was eventually given the okay to stay, but not before a lot of people made a lot of noise about how the city of Dallas had wasted the $8,500 it had spent on the commission. Unlike the discarded hands sculpture, the screen was moved to the new library, where it remains today.

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5DPL_familylivingThis is how I remember the library. Lots of space, cool furniture, and flooded with light.

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8DPL_globe

9DPL_planningcomm

10DPL_checkingoutI LOVE this photo!

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14DPL_schiwetzcropA detail of the front cover artwork, by Texas artist E. M. “Buck” Schiwetz. I love the driver in the cowboy hat (he must have been awfully small or that car must have been awfully big to accommodate that hat). The energetic frisson of downtown Dallas in the Mad Men era is dampened a bit by those damn hands on the building that seemed to follow you everywhere you went!

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Sources & Notes

All images from the booklet Five Years Forward: The Dallas Public Library, 1955-1960, compiled and written by Lillian Moore Bradshaw and Marvin Stone. Drawings by E. M. (Buck) Schiwetz. Photographs by C. D. Bayne. (Dallas: Carl Hertzog for Friends of the Dallas Public Library, 1961). (Photos from the archives of the Dallas Public Library.)

More on the history and construction of the Old Dallas Central Library (as well as tidbits about the ridiculous controversy regarding the commissioned art) is here.

Even MORE on the artwork scandals (the hands, the hands, the HANDS!) as well as photos of the beautiful Carnegie Library that was razed to build the 1955 library can be found here.

And just because it’s weird, here’s a postcard showing an early, possibly even creepier depiction of the “hands” sculpture (if those are the “hands of God”…). I guess they wanted to get a postcard out before the sculpture was finished and installed.

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I’ve posted one further image from this booklet — a drawing of the 1961 Dallas skyline by E. M. “Buck” Schiwetz  — here.

UPDATE — Dec., 2017: The Dallas Morning News has moved its operations to the long-vacant library, insuring this wonderful building’s continued existence for many more years! More here.

Click pictures for larger images (some are MUCH larger — click twice!).

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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.

 

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