The Dallas Art Institute (1926-1946) was the first art school to offer instruction in a variety of fields in the

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. It was founded in 1926 by artists Olin H. Travis and Kathryne Hail Travis and operated until it was closed by the Dallas Museum of Art trustees in 1946.

History

The Dallas Art Institute was founded in 1926 in downtown Dallas, Texas. The founders, artists Olin Travis and his wife Kathryne Hail Travis, had just returned to Olin's hometown of

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

after receiving arts educations at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Inspired by what they learned there, they were eager to encourage the local art scene by founding the first institution to offer a variety of arts courses in the south. Travis served as director of the Art Institute from its founding in 1926 until 1941. In 1930, the Dallas Art Institute secured

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

status in moving to the grounds of the Civic Federation of Dallas, and thus needed to organize a

board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

to govern the school. According to the terms of their charter the number of trustees must never exceed 20 or drop below 10, with the inaugural board consisting of 13 people, including noted illustrator Margaret Scruggs-Carruth. At this time, architect Thomas D. Broad was chosen to act as the school's first executive director to facilitate communications between the board and the Art Institute. Though it began on the second floor of a building on main street, the Dallas Art Institute would move several times before its closure in 1946. Their most influential location was at the Civic Federation of Dallas on Maple Avenue, a move the institute made in 1931. Their new building on the corner of Alice Street and Maple Avenue placed them between Southwest School of Fine Arts and the Klepper Sketch Club, right in the center of an arts colony downtown. The local Dallas Artists' League began meeting weekly on Alice Street during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, advertising "cheap meals for depression-stricken artists" when job opportunities for local artists became virtually nonexistent. In 1932, in coordination with other businesses, artists, and organizations nearby, the Art Institute participated in the first Alice Street Arts Carnival. Continuing until the start of World War II, the Alice Street Art Carnivals provided more than 70 local artists (and DAI students) with a venue to sell their work to the public for never more than $5. Following a surge in enrollment in 1935, the school needed larger facilities and moved again, this time to a residence remodeled for the purpose on McKinley Avenue. The school made its third move in 1938, this time to the school wing of a brand new building on the campus of the Dallas Museum of Art. They operated here for three years, until the museum's board of trustees voted to cancel the Art Institute's contract in 1941, in favor of founding their own art school. The Dallas Art Institute was thus forced to move a fourth and final time, to a building several blocks from their first location on Main Street. It was during this move that Olin Travis left the school he had founded to work elsewhere, with the Dallas Art Institute closing for the final time five years later in 1946. Paris tx mural rebuilding paris

Course offerings

At its inception in 1926, the Dallas Art Institute offered courses in painting (

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

, and

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...

), life drawing, sculpture,

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

, costume design,

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

, composition,

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

, and commercial art. The school was divided into several departments: commercial art led by Charles McCann, costume design led by

Howard Shoup Howard Shoup (August 29, 1903 – May 29, 1987) was an American costume designer who received 5 Academy Award nominations. He had over 170 film credits during his long career. Including films like ''Ocean's 11'' and ''Cool Hand Luke''. Shou ...

, general theory, history, and Saturday courses led by Leona McGill, etching and drawing led by Reveau Bassett, and painting led by Kathryne and Olin Travis. The school operated with 8 faculty members and a steady 200 students for several years until enrollment numbers dropped dramatically during the Great Depression. Attendance picked up again in 1931 when a fresh group of artists was hired to teach an additional selection of courses, including

Allie Tennant Allie Victoria Tennant (1892 or 1898—1971) was an American sculptor born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Thomas Richard and Allie Virginia Brown Tennant. She worked primarily out of Dallas, Texas, where her most famous work ''Tejas W ...

Alexandre Hogue Alexandre Hogue (February 22, 1898 – July 22, 1994) was an American artist active from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was a realist painter associated with the Dallas Nine; the majority of his works focus on Southwestern United States and Sou ...

, Thomas M. Stell Jr., and former student

Jerry Bywaters Williamson Gerald Bywaters (1906–1989), known as Jerry Bywaters, was an American artist, university professor, museum director, art critic and a historian of the Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a stat ...

. The expanded course selection included offerings like outdoor sketching, watercolor, stage design, and ceramics. They also began several art lecture series that were open to the greater Dallas community and increased the number of exhibition opportunities available to students in hopes of expanding the public's knowledge and appreciation of art. Their efforts were successful, as the school was able to expand in 1934 to offer both a three-year certification option and a four-year diploma program.

Travis Ozark Summer Art School

In 1927, the Travises opened the Travis Ozark Summer Art School as an affiliate of DAI in Franklin County near

Ozark, Arkansas Ozark is a city in Franklin County, Arkansas, United States and one of the county's two seats of government. The community is located along the Arkansas River in the Arkansas River Valley on the southern edge of the Ozark Mountains. As of the 2 ...

(Kathryne's hometown) to offer summer classes in the

mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher th ...

. For several summers, a handful of faculty and approximately 50 students spent the months of June and July living and working in the school's 15 crudely furnished cabins. Before it was rented by the Travises, the property had housed a long-abandoned

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

, so they were able to secure the land for a very inexpensive rate. Holding summer school in the Ozarks was a prime choice for landscape painters, as the property was surrounded on all sides by miles of government forest preserve. It was during a trip to the summer art school that Olin H. Travis was introduced to a young

Everett Spruce Everett Franklin Spruce (December 25, 1908 – October 18, 2002) was a painter, museum professional, and arts educator based in Texas. He was widely recognized as one of the earliest regional visual artists to have embraced modernism in his inter ...

. He was encouraged to share his

sketchbook A sketchbook is a book or pad with blank pages for sketching and is frequently used by artists for drawing or painting as a part of their creative process. Some also use sketchbooks as a sort of blueprint for future art pieces. The exhibition ...

with the director, who responded by immediately offering him a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

to the Dallas Art Institute. Spruce is now regarded as one of the most influential artists to emerge from the Dallas Art Institute, best known for his landscape paintings of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and the Ozarks. The Summer Art School was open to both DAI students and residents of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

and neighboring

southern states Southern States may refer to: *The independent states of the Southern hemisphere United States * Southern United States, or the American South * Southern States Cooperative, an American farmer-owned agricultural supply cooperative * Southern Stat ...

, operating officially for 3 summers until 1930 when Kathryne left the DAI. Some records suggest that members of the faculty returned to hold classes informally as late as 1935, when a fire destroyed many of Olin Travis' paintings as well as the Travis' summer home in the Ozarks.

Notable faculty

* Olin H. Travis (1888-1975) * Kathryne Hail Travis (1894-1972) *

(1892-1971) * Reveau Bassett (1897-1981) *

(1898-1994) * Thomas M. Stell Jr. (1898-1981) *

(1903-1987) *

(1906-1989) * Martha Simkins (1866-1969)

Notable students

Amelia Urbach The Letter 1939 Dallas Museum of Art

* Amelia Urbach (1889-1969) * Charles T. Bowling (1891-1985) * Florence McClung (1894-1992) *

Merritt Mauzey Merritt Mauzey (1897-1973) was an American lithographer and noted children’s book author and illustrator in the mid-20th century. Associated closely with the Dallas Nine group of artists, Mauzey was a self-taught artist known for his depictions of ...

(1898-1973) * Otis Dozier (1904-1987) *

(1906-1989) * James Brooks (1906-1992) *

(1908-2002) * Lloyd L. Goff (1908-1982) * William Lewis Lester (1910-1991) *

Bertha Landers Bertha Mae Landers (1911–1996) was an American painter and printmaker. A native of Winnsboro, Texas, where she was raised, Landers graduated from Sul Ross State Teachers College in 1931 with a bachelor's degree in art. She studied at the Color ...

(1911-1996) * James Britton Gantt (1911-1984) * Michael G. Owen (1915-1976) * Barney Delabano (1926–1997)

References

{{Coor, 32.7802, -96.8014, display=title Art schools in Texas