DeForrest Judd – Sketches of Texas Regions: Big Bend, Caddo Lake, Gulf Coast

DeForrest H. Judd, a native of Hartsgrove, Ohio, lived most of his life in Dallas, Texas, working as an artist and teaching at Southern Methodist University. Judd taught numerous students at SMU and at summer workshops in Arkansas, New Mexico, and Texas.

DeForrest Judd graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1938 and received a post-graduate scholarship to continue his studies at the Institute in 1939. From 1940 to 1942, he studied at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center under the center’s director, Boardman Robinson, and Texas artist Otis Dozier. During World War II, Judd served in the United States Army.

His academic career as professor of painting, drawing, and design began in 1946 when he moved to Dallas to teach at Southern Methodist University and the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. In 1967, Judd was promoted to full professor at SMU. He retired from the University in 1981. Judd continued to live in Dallas and devote his time to art until his death in 1992. 

Judd received numerous awards for his work, and while teaching at SMU his work was featured in many one-man shows in Texas including the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (1946), Southern Methodist University (1950, 1965, 1969, 1981), Elizabet Ney Museum (1952), Sul Ross State College (1957), Texas Tech Museum (1959), Fort Worth Art Center (1962), and the Beaumont Museum of Art (1971). His work was also exhibited in art centers and museum exhibitions around the country including, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (one of twelve Texas artists selected for the exhibition American Painting Today, 1950), Denver Art Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, and the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Judd’s work was also accepted into the permanent collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Dallas Museum of Art, and Southern Methodist University.