The HCAC public history focused digital archive cataloging is an ongoing process, and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. We welcome your comments and feedback if you have more information to share about an item featured on the site, please contact us at: HCAC-DigiTeam@si.edu
Mass depicts scenes of family life, including a gathering at the dinner table and church services. The laborer at the far right suggests the role of physical work in sustaining the Black family. As in other murals, architectural elements from Hannah Hall are incorporated in this mural.
This is a brochure for Dobbins’ senior art exhibition. The culmination of the Texas Southern art curriculum is a senior exhibition where students showcase artwork created over the course of their undergraduate studies. The brochure features a photo of Dobbins, a brief biography, a catalog of the artwork featured in the exhibition, and a photo of one of her drawings. It is inscribed with a note from Dobbins.
In this interview, former Texas Southern art student Brenda Mackey Lang discusses her time as an art student (1967-73) and as an artist later on. At TSU, Lang learned from Dr. John T. Biggers and Professor Carroll Harris Simms, met Maya Angelou, and protested with Mickey Leland.
This large ceramic plate created by Carroll Harris Simms features multiple textures, including a bubbling glaze covering most of the top of the piece. Simms worked alongside Dr. John T. Biggers to build Texas Southern's art department from the ground up. Simms' decorative artworks remain in high demand by collectors.
This large, brown ceramic plate created by Carroll Harris Simms features multiple textures, including a bubbling glaze covering most of the top of the piece. Simms worked alongside Dr. John T. Biggers to build Texas Southern's art department from the ground up. Simms' decorative artworks remain in high demand by collectors.
Oliver's painting shows a group of shirtless men looking towards an unseen figure or force. The painting makes heavy use of crosshatching and red and black hues. The composition bears significant resemblance to Oliver's mural Fire Fighters, which can be seen in the 1978 book, Black Art in Houston: The Texas Southern University Experience.
Hubbard’s senior notebook includes his written philosophy of art, photographs of the artist’s works and his process, and a copy of his senior exhibition brochure. As a part of the Texas Southern art curriculum under Dr. John T. Biggers and Professor Carroll Harris Simms, students would create these notebooks to explain their artistry and showcase the works they created as students.
Settles, a student of Carroll Harris Simms, created the sculpture “Camel” in 1978. The creation of a large terracotta sculpture was a part of each art student's curriculum. The design features include a huge hump and embellishments, including spirals, on the exterior. Sculptures lacking sufficient ornamentation were often not retained for the collection.
This photograph shows a young Carroll Harris Simms, with many of his sculptures, as an art student at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Simms received his BFA and MFA from Cranbrook, where he was the first African American graduate. Simms recalled the way student and faculty advocates helped him integrate the school. In 1950, Simms came to Texas Southern to help Dr. John T. Biggers run the art department; Simms taught pottery, sculpture, ceramics, and jewelry making classes.
Charoennimuang’s print shows three women wearing babies on their backs and carrying baskets atop their heads. Two of the women’s faces are turned away from the viewer, while the closest gazes back fiercely. All three women’s hair is braided. This print highlights some of the varied and essential types of labor that women carry out.
This maquette, created by an unknown Texas Southern University art student, shows a feline creature at attention. There are various swirl patterns and textures on the figure. The swirls are a required component for the maquette project, as Carroll Harris Simms pushed his students to richly embellish their works.
Criner’s senior notebook includes his written philosophy of art, photographs of the artist’s works and his process, and a copy of his senior exhibition brochure. As a part of the Texas Southern art curriculum under Dr. John T. Biggers and Professor Carroll Harris Simms, students would create these notebooks to explain their artistry and showcase the works they created as students.
Walker’s bust was created during his time as an art student at TSU. Under the instruction of Professor Carroll Harris Simms, artists would create self-portraits embellished with textures, like those seen in the hair of this sculpture. While most were made from terracotta clay, this one is made from plaster. These busts are inspired by Nok terracotta sculptures and Ife busts, which Simms saw during his travels to Western Africa.
Hals’ drawing shows two women chatting on the street. Their environment, filled with shotgun homes and tall grass, resembles Houston’s Third Ward, the historically Black neighborhood that Texas Southern University calls home. TSU art students, at Dr. Biggers’ instruction, often looked to their surroundings for inspiration.
Tinker’s drawing shows three children lounging around a fallen tree. The two girls are depicted with elongated limbs, and the rightmost girl also has oversized hands. Dr. Biggers influenced his students to draw the hands and feet of their subjects in great detail and disproportionately large. This style continues to be taught to and implemented in the works of TSU artists in the 21st century.
A full church choir sings passionately. Hatter chose this location to make use of the rectangular shape of the doorway, suggesting the arrangement of a choir standing on risers. The exit sign, which was previously embedded on the wall, cast rays of light across the choir members’ faces.
Portraying the brutality of war in the mid-twentieth century, McCowan, a veteran, integrates the wall’s architectural elements (a fire hose and extinguisher) to highlight the tension of the scene. The mushroom cloud above the fire hose highlights Cold War-era anxieties.
Settles' painting shows a Black man abused by a group of 5 police, while a group looks on in the background. This painting reflects frustration with police brutality and racism towards the Black community. Settles replicated this image (of the police surrounding the man) in another of his paintings with a different, more abstract background.
Oliver’s mural contains an homage to Frederic Leighton’s Flaming June. The central figure is surrounded by vast, flowing patterns of deep red, reddish-brown, pink, and aqua, in the midst of which two figures seem to struggle against the energized space, while the female figure remains in deep sleep.
This is a copper etching plate for one layer of Long’s Post Rome, an eye with a man’s face at its center. This is a frequently used motif in Long’s artwork, across many different mediums. In the print, vertical and diagonal rays and bars draw attention towards the eye. Long’s print was created during his 1990 Prix de Rome fellowship.
This is a copper etching plate for Long’s piece Roma, which was created during his 1990-91 Prix de Rome fellowship. Featuring one layer of the print, a blobby figure, the full composition is somewhat reminiscent of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Long rose to prominence as an “outsider artist” without formal training, later becoming one of the co-founders of Project Row Houses.
This is a zinc etching plate for one layer of Long’s Post Rome, lips with diagonal rays around them. In the full print, the center of the design is a large, oval-shaped eye. This is a frequently used motif in Long’s artwork, across many different mediums. Vertical and diagonal rays and bars draw attention towards the eye, which features a man’s face where the pupil would be. Long’s print was created during his 1990 Prix de Rome fellowship.
This is a copper etching plate for Long’s piece Roma, which was created during his 1990-91 Prix de Rome fellowship. Featuring one layer of the print, a series of swirls and a heart, the full composition is somewhat reminiscent of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Long rose to prominence as an “outsider artist” without formal training, later becoming one of the co-founders of Project Row Houses.
Gordon's painting reflects the work life of cotton harvesters. The three pictured laborers are older and formally dressed as they pick cotton bolls and carry baskets. Many of the cotton plants are shown with white flowers, an early stage in the plant’s development. This suggests Gordon may be familiar with the process of cotton farming and harvesting.
This drawing by Dr. John T. Biggers depicts a family caught up in a wild storm that is swirling around them. Biggers' artwork frequently highlights family dynamics and the centrality of mothers. Biggers appears to have later repurposed this sketch and added additional floral details to create his 1992 print Metamorphosis III.
This painting, created by an unknown TSU art student, depicts the base of a tree or wooden telephone pole, with various smaller plants and vines creeping up its structure. Dr. John T. Biggers encouraged students to study the natural world and seek inspiration from it. He instructed students to sit outside for an extended period of time and observe.
This is a brochure for Watson’s senior art exhibition. The culmination of the Texas Southern art curriculum is a senior exhibition where students showcase artwork created over the course of their undergraduate studies. The brochure features a catalog of the artwork featured in the exhibition, a photo of his terracotta sculpture, and a photo of one of his paintings.
Watson’s senior notebook includes his written philosophy of art, photographs of the artist’s works and his process, and a copy of his senior exhibition brochure. As a part of the Texas Southern art curriculum under Dr. John T. Biggers and Professor Carroll Harris Simms, students would create these notebooks to explain their artistry and showcase the works they created as students.
“Shrine,” by Curtis Watson Jr., features a duck-like creature surrounded by various embellishments, including spirals, a commonly used visual motif in the student terracottas. Unfortunately, the head of the figure is missing, leaving only the body in view. The full sculpture can be seen in archival photos shot by Dr. John T. Biggers of the artist at work.
Jones’ surrealistic mural depicts bald, cyclops-like men conducting a television broadcast. Jones incorporated architecture into the design by using a window, since painted over, as the camera’s lens. A man beneath the camera carries a torch with a strong, flowing flame.
