William Reaves Fine Art of Houston has collaborated with the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi for the upcoming exhibition Bayou City Chic: Progressive Streams of Modern Art in Houston, 1940-1980 in the Museum’s Kane and Chapman Galleries from January 30 – April 26, 2015.

“These artists moved Houston arts into the realm of complete abstraction, covering an expressionist gamut which ranged from highly-charged, landscape-inspired canvases, to more sensual renderings attentive to light and atmosphere, to frenetic figuratively-inspired expressions.”                                                                                                         --William Reaves, 2014, William Reaves Fine Art, LLC

Bayou City Chic was originally presented by William Reaves Fine Art LLC in Houston where it was seen in the early part of 2014.  The art in the exhibition is created by artists who called Houston home and whose creative output is evidenced by the works in the exhibition.  In 1950, the city of Houston population was 701,000 and by 2010 had reached over 2 million people. Houston’s development as a major American city provides the backdrop for the artist’s significant output.  It was a time of great optimism, energy and progress which met the needs of artists, cultural centers and the public, but also became a model of what social vitality could foster. The comradery and mutual appreciation for the art relationships that existed in this culturally progressive city continues to be tangible today. The support of the collecting base and the artwork that represents that dynamism is what constitutes this exhibition.

Bayou City Chic offers insight into the mood and creative output of the time between 1950 and 1980s.  Nine of the artists included are represented in the AMST’s permanent collection, and Bayou City Chic will offer a wider field to examine their contributions and the development of modernism in Texas. Artists who are in the exhibition and are also included in the AMST permanent collection include Dorothy Hood, John Biggers, Michael Frary, Lucas Johnson, Earl Staley and Dick Wray. As the museum anticipates their upcoming retrospective of Dorothy Hood, The Color of Being/El Color del Ser in the fall of 2016, taking a closer look into artists who worked during the same years in abstraction in the same city, reflects a palpable discourse that defines the energy and legacy of the time. Bayou City Chic will exhibit Hood alongside many other contemporaries and we see this dynamism of abstraction by multiple artists who worked during this “watershed” time period.

On Saturday January 31 at 10:00am join us for a brunch and panel talk on Art and Commerce:  Perspectives on All Sides, the artists, the gallery dealer and the collector. Artists on the panel are Richard Stout and Noe Perez and collector David Ellis as well as Bill Reaves owner of William Reaves Fine Art LLC who together with Deborah Fullerton, Curator for the art museum organized the exhibition. This art program is underwritten by CASETA, the Center for Study of Early Texas Art now based at the San Angelo Museum of Art whose mission parallels the museum’s role in understanding the legacy and development of the art of Texas over time.  The museum wishes to thank the collectors who loaned art, Bill Reaves, Sarah Foltz, and all the staff of William Reaves Fine Art for their dedication to these artists, and to the organization of this work for exhibition. The catalogue will be available in the museum store and William Reaves Fine Art. Underwriting for the catalogue was provided by Gayden Family Trust.

For more information please contact William Reaves Fine Art or the Art Museum of South Texas. 

Gallery Contact:

Sarah Foltz, Director

William Reaves Fine Art

2143 Westheimer Road

Houston, TX 77098

(713) 521-7500

www.reavesart.com

sarah@reavesart.com