A Collection is Born

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Marie A. Hull, The Farmer, 1937, oil on board, Collection of The Grace Museum, Gift of the Art Unit of the Woman’s Forum and Friends of Art

The Farmer is a vibrant oil-on-board painting capturing a hard-working farmer who likely posed in Mississippi during the Great Depression.1 The artist, Marie Atkinson Hull (1890-1980), instills a sense of hope in her depiction of the Depression’s local impact through her colorful, evocative style. This piece reflects years of Marie Hull’s developing skill as well as a bright beginning for our permanent art collection.

In 1939, The Farmer arrived in Abilene as part of the annual Southern States Art League exhibition.2 The newly formed Abilene Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA) endorsed the exhibition’s visit to Abilene in hopes of furthering its third pillar of purpose: to acquire a permanent collection of fine art.3 This exhibition had previously been featured at a number of national events and venues, including the 1938 Annual American Art Show at the Cincinnati Museum, the San Francisco Golden Gate Exposition of 1939, the New York World’s Fair (also in 1939), the Brooklyn Museum, and the Baltimore Museum of Art.4 Over the course of a few days, Abilenians and tourists came to see the exhibition at the West Texas Chamber of Commerce building where they submitted votes for the AMFA’s first acquisition.5 Of the 37 oil paintings on display, voters favored The Farmer, perhaps for its connection to rural life in West Texas.6 After collecting public donations with particular support from the Friends of Art, the Art Unit of the Woman’s Forum purchased The Farmer for $300, an amount worth nearly $7,000 by today’s standards.7

At a celebratory event with guest harpist Virginia Sheridan, American Art Week chairman, Mrs. Greenleaf Fisk, offered The Farmer to both Abilene Mayor W.W. Hair, as well as to the AMFA president, Reverend Mr. Willis P. Gerhart of the Episcopal Church of Heavenly Rest.8 It was a momentous occasion for the local art museum and for Abilene at large, as it brought art culture and initiated a period of permanent acquisitions. The Farmer has been proudly exhibited and housed in The Grace Museum’s historic facility since the AMFA merged with the Museums of Abilene in 1992.9 

Although we may never fully know why Abilenians chose The Farmer, a deeper look into our city’s history and Marie Hull’s personal and artistic background could offer some insights. At the end of the 1930s, Abilene was experiencing a period of economic and social recovery from the Great Depression, as well as the destructive dust storms called “Black Dusters.”10 In The Future Great, a rare publication stored in the Museum’s archives, Abilene historians describe a struggling agricultural sector during the 1930s. Quoting former Abilene Reporter-News writer Harry Holt: “Farmers in West Texas found themselves without homes as land owners began to work their farms in an effort to increase incomes to retire heavy debts.”11 Even if the painting’s voters prized no more than Marie Hull’s gentle brushstrokes or balanced compositions, The Farmer captures a personal and economic struggle shared between Abilene farmers and the painting’s subject from Mississippi. 

Marie Hull was widely known for her experimentation with different media and styles in painting and drawing, and those who knew her remark on her bright personality.12 Marie Hull’s obituary includes a quote from one of her commissioners, Mrs. Garst, who shares, “She always had a sense of humor. She was a brilliant person on so many subjects and shared her knowledge with others.”13 Hull’s lifestyle seems to seep a tone of positive conviction into her work, appealing to the early Abilene voters as well as to modern viewers of The Farmer.

Researched and written by Rachael Sorensen | July, 2025

  1. Marie Atkinson Hull, The Farmer, 1937, oil on board, 78.74 x 93.98 cm, The Grace Museum, Abilene, TX, object no. 1939.001.0001, https://thegracemuseum.org/art/#permanent-art-collection; “Marie A. Hull,” Greg Thompson Fine Art, 2024, https://gregthompsonfineart.com/project/marie-a-hull/. ↩︎
  2. Newspaper clipping titled “Art League Exhibit Open This Week,” ca. February 1939, in Art Forum Pressbook, 1938-1939, p. 12, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth596118/m1/12/. ↩︎
  3. Newspaper clipping titled “Civic Art and Museum Ass’n Organized Here,” The Abilene Reporter-News, November 5, 1937, in Scrapbook: Abilene Fine Arts Museum, 1: 11, University of North Texas Libraries, Denton, TX, Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth599494/m1/11/?q=%22~1~1~1~1%22~1, crediting The Grace Museum; “Art Unit Donor- – -First Canvas Presented Local Collection,” The Abilene Reporter News, TX, 59, no. 165 (November 12, 1939): sec. 2, p. 2, University of North Texas Libraries, Denton, TX, Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1754705/m1/18/?q=Abilene%20Reporter-News%20(Abilene,%20Tex.)%20November%2012,%201939, crediting Abilene Public Library; “History,” clipping from an unidentifiable source, in Scrapbook, Abilene Fine Arts Museum: 161, University of North Texas Libraries, Denton, TX, Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth599494/m1/161/?q=%22~1~1~1~1%22~1, crediting The Grace Museum. ↩︎
  4. “American Art Week: Reception Honoring The Local Exhibitors,” Southern States Art League exhibit, November 10, 1939, in Scrapbook: Abilene Fine Arts Museum: 51, University of North Texas Libraries, Denton, TX, Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth599494/m1/51/?q=%22~1~1~1~1%22~1. ↩︎
  5. “An Announcement! Two Art Exhibits Coming Soon,” in Art Forum Pressbook, 1938-1939: 12, University of North Texas Libraries, Denton, TX, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth596118/m1/12/, crediting Hardin-Simmons University Library. ↩︎
  6. “An announcement!” in Art Forum Pressbook, 1938-1939; “Art Unit Donor,” The Abilene Reporter News. ↩︎
  7. “Art Unit Donor,” The Abilene Reporter News; Judy Tedford Deaton, Chief Curator and Director of Exhibitions and Collections, The Grace Museum, email message to author, July 3, 2025; Ian Webster, “$300 in 1939 is worth $6,938.09 today,” CPI Inflation Calculator, accessed July 28, 2025. ↩︎
  8. “Art Unit Donor,” The Abilene Reporter News. ↩︎
  9. “Our Historic Restoration, 1992,” The Grace Museum, accessed July 10, 2025. https://thegracemuseum.org/historic-restoration/. ↩︎
  10. B. W. Aston, et al., The Future Great City of West Texas Abilene: 1881-1981, ed. Fane Downs (Rupert N. Richardson Press, 1981), 26-32; “The Black Sunday Dust Storm of April 14, 1935,” National Weather Service, accessed July 10, 2025, https://www.weather.gov/oun/events-19350414. ↩︎
  11. B. W. Aston, et al., The Future Great, 32. ↩︎
  12. Barnwell, Marion, “Marie Hull (1890-1980): An Adventurous Artist,” Mississippi History Now, December 2008, https://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/issue/marie-hull-1890-1980-an-adventurous-artist. ↩︎
  13. “Artist Marie Hull Dies at 90,” The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), November 22, 1980, accessed July 23, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-states/. ↩︎