Southwestern Art and Artists from the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

By Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum and Panhandle-Plains Historical Society collections

The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum has one of the oldest, largest, and finest art collection between Fort Worth, Texas and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Collection focuses on art and artists influential in the Texas Panhandle region.

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The Quiver Maker (1918) by Eanger Irving CousePanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

The Quiver Maker

Perhaps the best known of all Taos artists because of reproductions of his paintings on Santa Fe Railway calendars from 1922 to 1934, Couse first visited Taos in 1902.  He summered there every year--except 1904--before settling there in 1928 where he was a founder of the Taos Society of Artists .Johnie Griffin Collection

The Conference (1918) by Ernest Leonard BlumenscheinPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

The Conference

A Taos Society of Artists founder, Blumenschein first saw Taos in 1898 while on a sketching trip with Bert Phillips.  Blumenschein moved to Taos permanently in 1919, where he was considered the most accomplished painter of the group. James D. Hamlin Collection. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Winter Camp of the Sioux by William Herbert DuntonPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Winter Camp of the Sioux

At the suggestion of Ernest Blumenschein, Dunton first visited Taos in 1912 before moving there in 1915.  He gave up his successful illustration career in favor of easel paintings and was a founder of the Taos Society of Artists.  Winter Camp of the Sioux was shown in the 1916 Taos Society of Artists exhibition tour and was the first major Taos painting in the PPHM collection.Susan Janney Allen Collection. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Chief Flat Iron-Sioux (1900) by Joseph Henry SharpPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Chief Flat Iron-Sioux

Called the father of the Taos art colony, the Cincinnati-born Sharp studied at the McMicken School of Design (later called the Cincinnati Art Academy), and in Belgium, Germany, and France.  He began painting American Indian portraits on the northern Plains about 1900, including this one painted at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Johnie Griffin Collection. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Master of Ceremonies—Santa Clara (1925) by Gerald CassidyPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Master of Ceremonies—Santa Clara

A Kentuckian raised in Cincinnati, Cassidy studied with Frank Duveneck and in New York at the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design.  After a European tour Cassidy settled briefly at Denver before moving to Albuquerque in 1890 seeking relief from tuberculosis.  He moved to Santa Fe in 1912 becoming its third resident artist. Johnie Griffin Collection. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Taxco Women and Boy (1937) by Edmund Daniel KinzingerPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Taxco Women and Boy

Kinzinger studied in Germany and at the University of Iowa before teaching at Baylor University.  He showed in most of the major Texas exhibitions during the 1930s, including the Texas Centennial, the Greater Texas and Pan American, and Texas Panorama, and at the Art Institute of Chicago and the New York World's Fair in 1939.Gift of David and Beth Dike.Now on display in the PPHM Texas Gallery.

Building a Fire by Odon HullenkremerPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Building a Fire

A Santa Fe artist beginning in 1933, Hullenkremer studied in his native Hungary and at the Academie Julian in Paris.  He produced artwork for the New Deal in New Mexico, including a mural of work on Conchas Dam near Tucumcari.  Hullenkremer gave up painting to work as a community leader and received the 1946 American Red Cross Medal of Honor.Gift of Dr. and Mrs. William S. Wallace II and is currently on exhibit in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Boneta, Comanche (1897) by Elbridge Ayer BurbankPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Boneta, Comanche

Known as the painter of some 1,200 Indian portraits, Burbank studied at the Chicago Academy of Design (now the Art Institute of Chicago) then in Munich.  In 1897, his uncle sent him to Fort Sill, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) to paint a portrait of Geronimo and he began his life’s painting portraits of American Indians.  Burbank probably painted Boneta on this trip; the model posed for at least three portraits, all different.  This art was a Friends of Southwestern Art Purchase and is currently on exhibit in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Spirit Ascendant (1964) by Patrocino BarelaPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Spirit Ascendant

Born in Arizona, Barela worked all over the Southwest before settling near Taos, New Mexico.  In the 1930s he received national acclaim for his carvings.  Tragically, Barela died in a fire in his studio. Purchased in honor of Dr. Henry E. Martinez with funds provided by his friends.

Texas Synthesis (1938) by Kathleen BlackshearPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Texas Synthesis

A Navasota native, Blackshear studied at the Art Students League and the Art Institute of Chicago.  Later she taught at Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, Tarleton State College, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1926-61).  Blackshear exhibited in the Houston and Fort Worth annuals, and at the Texas Centennial Exposition.  She showed Texas Synthesis at the 1939 State Fair of Texas.Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Terrell.Now on display in the PPHM Texas Gallery.

On the Wild Horse Creek (1922) by Birger SandzenPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

On the Wild Horse Creek

Born at Blidsberg, Sweden, Sven Birger Sandzén studied with Swedish artist Anders Zorn and with Edmond-François Aman-Jean in Paris.  He emigrated to the United States and taught at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, from 1894 to 1946. Sandzén  painted in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, as well as western Kansas.  He often used Wild Horse Creek near Hill City, with its outcroppings of limestone as motif for his oils, watercolors, and prints. In the early twenties and thirties he exhibited extensively, including two exhibitions at the Babcock Galleries in New York.  In 1957 Bethany College opened the Birger Sandzen Memorial Art Gallery featuring his work. Purchase funded by Helene and Jack Hayward. This piece can be viewed in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Ellis County Landscape (1936) by Florenc Elliott White McClungPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Ellis County Landscape

Born at St. Louis, McClung moved to Texas at age three where she studied with Frank Reaugh, Alexandre Hogue, and at the Dallas Art Institute with Olin Travis, Thomas Stell, and Frank Klepper.  From 1929 to 1942 she headed the art department at Trinity University at Waxahachie, and exhibited at the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936.  She served as president of the Southern States Art League in 1946 and 1947 and was the Texas chairman for the National Association of Women Painters. Gift of the Artist. Now on display in the PPHM Texas Gallery.

Untitled [Couse Studio Gate] (1935) by Regina Tatum CookePanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Untitled [Couse Studio Gate]

Born in Corsicana, Cooke studied at Ward-Belmont Junior College in Nashville, Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, with Birger Sandzen, and Colorado College in Colorado Springs.  The artist lived at Dalhart, Texas, briefly then moved to Taos in 1933.   Cooke exhibited in the Midwest and at the Museum of New Mexico, the Denver Art Museum, and the Texas Centennial Exposition.   From 1949 to 1971 she was the art and society editor for the Taos News and continued her column in the Taos News until 1988. Friends of Southwestern Art Purchase. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Koon Creek (1967) by Reveau Mott BassettPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Koon Creek

Born in Dallas, Bassett studied with Frank Reaugh, W. R. Leigh, at the Art Students League, and at the National Academy of Design, New York.  He was a member of the Southern States Art League, the Dallas Art Association, and the Frank Reaugh Art Club.  Bassett may have been working with the Dallas Museum of Natural History at Koon Creek, a hunt club southeast of Dallas, when he painted this image.Gift of the Artist. Now on display in the PPHM Texas Gallery.

Summer Clouds, Arizona (1904/1920) by Albert Lorey GrollPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Summer Clouds, Arizona

A New York painter, Groll first went west around 1904 and painted the Arizona and New Mexico desert country annually.  He preferred the Laguna Pueblo and Taos area and was elected an associate member of the Taos Society of Artists in 1919.Johnie Griffin Collection. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

The Old Spanish Gate (1914) by Walter UferPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

The Old Spanish Gate

A Chicago artist, Ufer went to Taos in the summer of 1914 and was elected a member of the Taos Society of Artists in 1917.  After his arrival in Taos, Ufer abandoned the studio for painting outdoors and The Old Spanish Gate, painted during his first trip to Taos, is an excellent example of his new approach.  James D. Hamlin Collection. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

In the Granville Gorge, Tower of Isis—Colorado River by William Robinson LeighPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

In the Granville Gorge, Tower of Isis—Colorado River

Trained at the Royal Academy in Munich from 1883 to 1896, Leigh illustrated for Scribner's Magazine upon his return to the United States.  He traveled to the West beginning in 1906 and this painting may have resulted from sketches made on a Santa Fe Railroad sponsored trip to the Grand Canyon in 1908.Johnie Griffin Collection. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Tree Trunk (1935/1940) by Jozef BakosPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Tree Trunk

Bakos studied at Buffalo’s Albright School of Art, the Toronto School of Art, and with John Thompson.  He became the first art professor at the University of Colorado in 1919, but moved to Santa Fe in 1920.  Bakos helped form Los Cinco Pintores (The Five Painters) in 1921.  In 1923, the Taos Society of Artists rejected Bakos for membership because his work was considered too radical.  In response, Bakos helped found “The New Mexico Painters” in 1923, comprised of the more avant garde artists in Santa Fe and Taos.  He taught at the Santa Fe Art School, the Chappell School of Art (an affiliate of the University of Denver), and at Santa Fe High School. Anonymous purchase in honor of Joseph W. Foran.  Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

The Old Homestead (1964) by Harold Arthur RoneyPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

The Old Homestead

An Illinois native, Roney moved to Houston in 1925, then to San Antonio in 1928, and later to Boerne.  He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, and the Glenwood School of Landscape Painting.  Roney exhibited in most major Texas exhibitions as well as with the Southern States Art League.  He exhibited this painting at the American Artists Professional League Grand National in 1964. Gift of the Artist in memory of Nettie A. Roney. Now on display in the PPHM Texas Gallery.

The Green Gate (1923/1926) by Laura Van PappelendamPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

The Green Gate

A frequent visitor to Santa Fe from the early 1920s through the 1950s, Van Pappelendam also frequented the art colony at Provincetown, Massachusetts.  She painted not only in the Santa Fe area, but also used it as a base from which she traveled to Arizona and Utah.  Born in Iowa, Van Pappelendam studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago.  She taught at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1909 to 1956 and at the University of Chicago from 1924 to 1948.Gift of Anne Ryan. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Mission at Sunrise (1900) by Frank Paul SauerweinPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Mission at Sunrise

Sauerwein first visited the West in 1891 seeking relief from tuberculosis.  After an initial visit to Taos in 1899, Sauerwein bought a Taos adobe in 1906, today part of the historic Taos Inn.  He lived at Taos from November 1907 to November 1908 and had he not died in 1910, Sauerwein may have become the seventh founder of the Taos Society of Artists. James D. Hamlin Collection. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Fresh Opportunity (1910/1920) by Philip R. GoodwinPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Fresh Opportunity

Known for his illustrations of the outdoors, the Connecticut-born Goodwin studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Art Students League, and with Howard Pyle in Pennsylvania.  His illustrations appeared in Jack London's Call of the Wild, Harper's Monthly and Weekly, Outing, Scribner's, and Everybody's magazines, on calendars, and firearms advertisements. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Get Going! (1945/1950) by Frank B. HoffmanPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Get Going!

A successful illustrator when he first visited Taos in 1919, Hoffman established his Hobby Horse Rancho at Taos in 1928.  Between 1940 and 1953, he produced over 150 paintings for Brown & Bigelow, the largest calendar house in the United States, including Get Going! on its 1950 calendar.  The eagles may refer to the United States, while the bears may refer to the Soviet Union. Gift of Hazel Hoffman in honor of President and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Seated Nude by Willard Ayer Nash and 1920Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Seated Nude

Painted during Nash's first trip to Santa Fe in 1920, Seated Nude is one of few Santa Fe works by him.  Nash lived at Santa Fe from 1921 to 1936 and was a member of Los Cinco Pintores (The Five Painters) along with Jozef Bakos, Fremont Ellis, Walter Mruk,  and Will Shuster.James D. Hamlin Collection. Now on display in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery.

Untitled [Madonna of the Windmill] (1910/1915) by Remington SchuylerPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Untitled [Madonna of the Windmill]

Born in Buffalo, New York, Schuyler was a distant relative of Frederic Remington.  He studied art at Washington University in St. Louis, the American Academy in Rome, the Academie Julian in Paris, the Art Students League in New York, and with Howard Pyle at Wilmington, Delaware.  Pyle helped him secure illustration work for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post by 1906.  During World War I, Schuyler designed camouflage for ships.  Moving to Connecticut in the late 1920s and afterwards illustrated for “pulp” and “slick” magazines such as Wild West, Frontier Stories, St. Nicholas, and The Century.  During the Depression, Schuyler painted murals under the New Deal.  In 1948 he began teaching art at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri.This is part of the Bugbee-Reaugh Acquisition Fund. Currently on exhibit as part of the Madonnas of the Prairie Exhibition (2014-2016)

Out of the Singing Blue a Man Rode Towards Them (1924) by Herbert Morton StoopsPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Out of the Singing Blue a Man Rode Towards Them

Illustration for Katharine Newlin Burt’s “Triggerfinger: A Romance of a Desperado, Cosmopolitan Magazine (June 1924), with caption, “Out of the singing blue a man rode towards them, and as he rode, graceful and grave in all the trappings of a romantic West, he looked into Linda’s startled, vivid face.”Born at Logan City, Utah, Stoops studied at Utah State College before working as staff artist for San Francisco newspapers.   He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and worked for the Chicago Tribune before serving in World War I.  Stoops then became a New York illustrator for magazines such as Cosmopolitan, McCall’s, and Ladies Home Journal.  He built a summer home at Mason’s Island, Connecticut, and painted covers for American Legion and Blue Book magazines.Part of the PPHM Bugbee-Reaugh Acquisition Fund. Currently on exhibit in the PPHM Southwestern Gallery

Anita Gonzales (1930/1940) by Olin Herman TravisPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Anita Gonzales

Dallas's first native professional artist, Travis trained at the Art Institute of Chicago, co-founded the Art Institute of Dallas in 1926, and held a summer art school in the Arkansas Ozarks.  Travis exhibited nationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.  Gift of Joseph K. Oliver. Now on display in the PPHM Texas Gallery.

Portrait of a Young Girl

orn and reared in Fort Worth, Bewley studied at the Art Institute in Chicago, the National Academy of Design in New York, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He also studied with William Merritt Chase, Cecelia Beaux, and Robert Henri and in 1906 went to Florence, Italy, with Chase and then to Paris on Chase’s advice.  Bewley often returned to Fort Worth, but lived in Paris, New York, Beverly Hills, California, and died at Lyons, France.  He exhibited at the Paris Salons, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Salmagundi Club, the National Academy of Design, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, as well as the Texas annual at Fort Worth and the Cotton Carnival in 1912.   Some consider Bewley the leading Texas portrait painter of the 20th century, although he spent much time away from Texas.Purchase funded by Cynthia and Bill Gayden. Now on display in the PPHM Texas Gallery.

Growth (1934) by Ruth Pershing UhlerPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Growth

A Pennsylvanian, Uhler studied at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women and with Jean Charlot, Leopold Seyffert, and Henry B. Snell.  A member of the Southern States Art League and the Houston Artists' Gallery (the first art co-op in Houston), Uhler exhibited in the Fort Worth and Houston annuals, the 1940 Texas General, and the “Artists of Southeast Texas” exhibitions in the late 1930s.  Uhler had solo exhibitions in Dallas and Houston in 1937 and 1938, respectively.   She showed Growth at the 10th Houston Annual in 1934.Gift of Henry Gadbois.

The Approaching Herd

An early day herd of long-horn Texas cattle. These cattle on the ‘point’ were splendid specimens, five or six year olds. They were beautiful animals. They were very wild.  Many of them had never seen a man on foot before.  People walking were sometimes treed by them.  It would have happened oftener if there had been more trees.”  Frank Reaugh, Paintings of the Southwest, 1937.Probably Reaugh?s masterpiece, The Approaching Herd, was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1903, with the Society of Western Artists in 1903, and at the State Fair of Texas in 1905.From the Frank Reaugh Estate

The Violin (1934) by Pedro Lopez CervantezPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

The Violin

Mostly self taught, Cervantez helped Russell Vernon Hunter paint New Deal murals for the DeBaca (New Mexico) County Courthouse at Fort Sumner in the 1930s, while living at Texico.   The Museum of Modern Art at New York included his easel paintings in its exhibition, "Masters of Popular Painting," in 1938.  The Violin was featured in the exhibition, “Sin Nombre:  Hispana and Hispano Artists of the New Deal Era,” at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe.  James D. Hamlin Collection See:  www.moifa.org/wpasinnombren

The Rope Corral (1927) by H.D. BugbeePanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

The Rope Corral

During the late 1920s and 1930s, Bugbee exhibited three major paintings as a kind of “triptych” of cowboy life: THE ROPE CORRAL, BRANDING, and THE CHUCKWAGON.  This museum owns two of the three paintings, THE ROPE CORRAL and BRANDING. Bugbee constructed this painting using both studies of different parts and sketches of the overall composition.

General Custer and I were Very Nearly the Same Age and the Best of Friends (1910) by William Herbert DuntonPanhandle-Plains Historical Museum

General Custer and I were Very Nearly  the Same Age and the Best of Friends

After Frederic Remington's unexpected death in 1909, future Taos artist Dunton was asked to complete a series of paintings on the life of General Nelson A. Miles left unfinished by Remington.    Dunton completed the 19 paintings to be reproduced with Miles’s autobiography, “The Story of a Stirring Life: My Forty Years of Fighting,” in a series of articles in Cosmopolitan magazine from December 1910 through October 1911.   This painting depicts then-colonels Miles and George Armstrong Custer on a buffalo hunt when both were stationed at Fort Hays, Kansas, in 1869.  During the Red River War, Miles lead companies of the US 6th Cavalry and the 5th Infantry against the Southern Cheyennes in the Battle of Red River on 30 August 1874. Purchase funded by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Josserand.Conservation funded by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Foran and J. B. Lane.

Credits: Story

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
Panhandle-Plains Historical Society Permanent Collection
Curator of Art and Western Heritage, Michael R. Grauer
Marketing and Communications Manager, Stephanie Price

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