Memory Painters: The Art of Memories
The appreciation of art and its many forms is always enriched by historical background and context for the objects on view in an exhibition. The appreciation of what is often classified as folk art, primitive or naive art is informed by the fascinating stories of the artists whose skills, talents, and tenacity forged the visionary works of art selected for this exhibition. Memory painting, is an extended classification for folk art, outsider art, naive art, or the work of artists who are not classically trained in the fine arts. The uniting feature for these works is masterful storytelling – not with words, but through images. The paintings are constructed to relive, retell, and share personal experiences by meticulously rendering every detail, turning memory into a personal document.
The art of memories is a highly personalized form of artistic expression that celebrates family, tradition, worship, work, events, people and places. The paintings are an open and easily accessible narrative; complex, but never confusing storytelling.
Like many of the featured artists, Clara McDonald Williamson (1875-1976) also known as Aunt Clara, is considered Texas’ premier primitive artist of the mid-20th century. Born in 1875 in Iredell, Texas, she did not begin painting until 1943 when she was sixty-eight years old.
Clara McDonald Williamson (1875-1976), Paluxy Creek, 1956, oil on canvas, Collection of the Grace Museum, Gift of the 2023 Collectors Circle
Velox Benjamin Ward (1901-1994) In 1960, Ward began painting at age 59 at the request of his family to record his memories of growing up in rural East Texas during the early part of the twentieth century.
Velox Ward (1901-1994), The Unfinished House, 1968, oil on panel, Gift of the 2022 Collectors Circle with funds from Cathey and Rick Weatherl
George W. White Jr. (1903-1970) was born in Cedar Creek, Texas and began carving and painting stories in his 50s.
Dock Dilworth Parramore (1875-1946) briefly studied art as a child with an itinerant artist in in his hometown of Abilene, Texas. After his retirement from his ranching career, he returned to his early love of drawing. In the mid-1930s he began a series of pencil sketches to entertain and instruct his two young grandchildren. The drawings and accompanying text document the life of early settlers and cowboys representing a personal account of ranch life in Texas just before and after the turn of the century.
Clementine Hunter (c. 1877-1988) was a self-taught Black folk artist from the Cane River region of Louisiana, who lived and worked on Melrose Plantation. As a child she never learned to read or write. In her fifties, she began to make and sell her paintings, which soon gained local and national attention for their complexity in depicting Black Southern life in the early 20th century.
Teri Fitzpatrick (1948-2020?) was a watercolorist with no formal training who created expressive landscapes, cityscapes and decorative works, to as a story telling device.
Austin artist, Lu Ann Barrow (1934-2020) was an art student in the 1950s who rejected the then popular mantra of abstraction she was taught in favor of an intentional primitive, “innocent eye” style of painting. Barrow, a keen observer of local lifestyle and the human spirit, created colorful and joyful celebrations of everyday life that uniquely her own.
Cindi Holt is a contemporary artist who is also self-taught and relies on intuition and memory to create colorful and magical scenes that document personal experience.
This exhibition presents memory painters as important documentarians of visual art as storytelling and how surprisingly sophisticated art exists in the work of intuitive painters. The artists included are not obscure. Their artwork can be found in prestigious public spaces, private collections, and they continue to delight viewers with their celebratory joy of life.
The Parramore Sketches | The Grace Museum
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