This itemset features landscape artowrks from the University Museum at Texas Southern's collections.
Curated By
Ben Schachter
Contributing Institution
Texas Southern University
Identifier
HCAC.TSU.IS.009
Rights
All rights held by the University Museum at Texas Southern. For permission to publish, distribute, or use this image for any other purpose, please contact University Museum, Texas Southern University umuseum@gmail.com Attn: Museum Director. Materials not created by Texas Southern University may still be under copyright. Additional materials may be presented for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law.
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This work by Earl Jones is an abstract, desert landscape of barren trees, emerging from red and orange rings in the ground. Jones was a student at Texas Southern in the mid-1970s and was taught by artists and instructors like Dr. John T. Biggers and Professor Carroll Harris Simms. Biggers frequently urged his students to draw inspiration from nature and their immediate surroundings.
Leonard Henderson's cool-colored composition depicts a calm landscape of farmers working a field next to train tracks. The tracks running next to the field may hint at the contrast between urban and rural life, and show the development of rural areas during the turn of the 20th century.
This work, by Oliver Parson, is a calm and dreamlike scene of a child sitting in a prairie, as an angel and a person both race towards him. Both figures may represent salvation; the person aims to rescue him from death, while the angel tries to save him from Earth. A faint glow emanates from the child.
Washington’s landscape painting shows a suburban setting, with a paved road, low homes, and a mix of palm and deciduous trees. Washington grew up in Port Arthur, Texas, a small oil city along the Gulf Coast. This scene is perhaps reminiscent of Washington’s home and early life. Dr. John Biggers encouraged Texas Southern student artists to create art based on what they saw – perhaps this instruction inspired Washington’s painting.
Perkins’ landscape painting displays a rural scene featuring barns, farmhouses, and a sleeping cow. The landscape is divided with lush greenery and dry, brown land. The fence shows its age in its bent and leaning posts. Dr. John Biggers encouraged Texas Southern student artists to create art based on what they saw – perhaps this instruction inspired Perkins, who may have grown up in a rural environment similar to this one.
Hall’s painting is a surreal landscape of water flowing through a creek with various items along the path. There is also a faint inscription that reads “Jesus Saves” on a boulder to the far left. A mango, fossil, and butterfly are all pictured in the foreground. The loose and fluid paint strokes are reminiscent of impressionist paintings and characteristic of Hall’s style, particularly his more recent works.
The red and orange-hued apocalyptic scene shows the moments after an explosion. In the middle, a dying woman’s soul leaves her body. The mural appears to have been left unfinished, as the baby, one hand, and parts of the foreground and background are not painted in.
Cole blends weaving methods with surrealist elements in this piece. The work depicts three cyclopes, mythological figures with one eye in the center of their foreheads, standing on a shore. Two of them are holding spears, while a meteor hurtles through the sky. The frowning faces of the figures add to the sense of impending doom.
Curnell's painting shows a field of crops stretching into a cloudy horizon, with four people working the field. Two men are actively picking, while a man and woman stand to the side, resting next to a water pail. The figures’ dress and posture seem to suggest that this may be a family farm, rather than a plantation scene depicting slavery.
This painting by Jesse Sifuentes shows a landscape scene featuring cactuses. Several TSU art alumni have recalled that Dr. John Biggers taught them based on themes more than techniques. Many works from the 1970s use geometric styles, perhaps a reflection of lessons from the time. Sifuentes went on to become a ceramics professor at Texas Southern.
This is an architectural rendering for the Fine Arts Building on Texas Southern’s campus. The building was dedicated as the John T. Biggers Art Center in 1995 to honor the art department’s founder. The building largely retains its original character as depicted in this image.
This watercolor painting by Joseph A. Moran features a grazing cow in the foreground and an outhouse and farmhouse in the background. Dr. Biggers encouraged students to create based on what they saw, which may have been this rural scene for this artist.
