HENRI GADBOIS (1930 - 2018)

Born in Houston, Texas to a father working as a commercial artist for Madison Southwest, Henri Gadbois was exposed to art all his life. His father was vehemently opposed to abstract art and, although arguments regarding the subject matter were frequent, Gadbois was greatly influenced by his father. Gadbois was also strongly influenced by Norma Henderson, his high school art teacher. She introduced Gadbois to ceramics, leading to his first exhibition which featured a small bowl he created while still in high school. Gadbois graduated from Lamar High School and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts and master of letters from the University of Houston in 1952 and 1953, respectively. Gadbois studied under Texas greats Ruth Pershing Uhler, Robert Preusser and Lowell Daunt Collins, stating that his time at the University of Houston was one of great change. During his U.S. military service in Germany, he had studio space at the University of Georgia in Furth which allowed him to continue to paint. Throughout his career Gadbois taught at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Houston public schools (including Lee High School); Houston YMCA; Hill Country Arts Foundation, Ingram; and in numerous regional workshops. He was a member of the Texas Watercolor Society, Associated Artists of Houston, Texas fine Arts Association, and Contemporary Arts Association, Houston. Shortly before retiring from public school teaching, Gadbois began making faux food for the Yuletide Celebration at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens. In 1995, he started Faux Foods, a company that makes earthenware foods in the 18th and 19th Century manner for museums. Gadbois passed away in 2018 in Houston.

Selected Biographical and Career Highlights:

1930 Born in Houston, Texas

1952 BFA, University of Houston, Houston, Texas

1952 Instructor, Museum School, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1953 Master of Letters, University of Houston, Houston, Texas

1953 Registrar, Business Manager, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1954-55 Served in U.S. Army

1956 Married artist, Leila McConnell

1956-90 Teacher, Houston Independent School District, Houston, Texas

1995-2018 Owner, Faux Foods©

2018 Awarded The William and Linda Reaves Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art (CASETA)

2018 Died in Houston, Texas

Selected Prizes, Awards:

1953 Houston Annual: Cash Prize, Portrait, oil

1954 Houston Annual: Purchase Prize/Allied Art, Red Tights, oil

1955 Houston Annual: (December) Purchase Prize, Londschaft, Stuttgart, oil

1957 Houston Annual: Materials Prize, Illogical Organism, oil

1958 Houston Annual: Honorable Mention, Whiteout, oil

1960 Houston Annual: Cash Prize: Three, oil

1961 Texas General/Annual: Purchase Prize

1961 Purchase Prize/SA Art League, Katy Road, oil

Selected Exhibitions:

1948 10th Texas General Exhibition 1948–1949, circulated: Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

1949–51 24th–26th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1951 Houston Post Easter Art Contest, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1952 27th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1952–65 16 Texas Painters, Valley House Gallery, Dallas, Texas

1953 28th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (cash prize)

1953 15th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture 1953, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

1954 Texas Watercolor Society 5th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

1954 29th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (purchase prize)

1954 16th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture 1954, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas

1955 (March) 30th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1955 (December) 31st Annual Exhibition of Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (purchase prize)

1955 Solo, Herbert Institute, Augusta, Georgia

1956 D. D. Feldman Collection of Contemporary Texas Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1956 18th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1956–1957, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin; Museum, Texas Tech, Lubbock, Texas

1957 Survey of Painting in Texas, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, circulated by American Federation of Arts (catalogue)

1957 32nd Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (materials prize)

1958 Texas Oil ’58, A Salute to the Oil Industry of the State by Texas Painters, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, traveled to: Bank of the Southwest, Houston; Dallas Public Library, Dallas; Republic National Bank of Dallas, Texas (catalogue)

1958 33rd Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (honorable mention)

1958 20th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1958–1959, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; TFAA, Laguna Gloria Gallery, Austin; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; San Angelo Art Club, San Angelo; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1959 Made in Texas by Texans, Dallas Museum of Contemporary Art, Sheraton-Dallas Hotel, Dallas, Texas (catalogue)

1959 34th Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1960 22nd Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1960-1961, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1960 35th Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (cash prize)

1961 23rd Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1961–1962, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; Museum, Texas Tech, Lubbock, Texas (purchase prize)

1962 24th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1962–1963, circulated: Witte Museum, San Antonio; Centennial Art Museum, Corpus Christi; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

1962–63 Museum School Faculty Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1963 25th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1963–1964, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Centennial Art Museum, Corpus Christi; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso; Witte Museum, San Antonio; University of Texas at Austin, Texas

1965 Longview Invitational, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas

1965 Solo, Houston Baptist College, Houston, Texas

1965 Painters and Partners, Jewish Community Center, Houston, Texas

1966 Opening exhibition of DuBose Gallery, Houston, Texas

1971–72 Texas Painting and Sculpture: The 20th Century, Pollack Galleries, Owen Arts Center, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, traveled to: Witte Confluence Museum, HemisFair Plaza, San Antonio; University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; The Museum, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas (catalogue)

1984 Solo, Imagination Gallery, Kerrville, Texas

1998 Early American Life Magazine Top 200 American Craftsmen

1999 Early American Homes Magazine Top 200 American Craftsmen

2004 A Selection of Art Made in Houston 1950-1965, Brazos Projects, Brazos Bookstore, Houston, Texas

2004–05 Rice Institute and the Visual Arts in Houston: 1900–1960, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, Texas

2006 Houston Art in Houston Collections: Works from 1900 to 1965, Heritage Society Museum, Houston, Texas

2007 Texas Modern: The Rediscovery of Early Texas Abstraction (1935-1965), Martin Museum of Art, Baylor University, Waco, Texas (catalogue)

2007–08 Urban Texas: Changing Images of an Evolving State, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas

2008 Founders of Houston Art: Thirty Artists Who Led the Way, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2009 Back to the Future: Elements of “Modern” in Mid-Century Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2009 Leila McConnell and Henri Gadbois: Side by Side, O’Kane Gallery, University of Houston/Downtown, Houston, Texas

2010 The Presence of Light: Sky and Light in the Texas Landscape, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2010 Third Anniversary Show: A Tribute to Houston Artists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2011 Lone Star Modernism: A Celebration of Mid-Century Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2011 Southeast Texas Art: Cross-Currents and Influences, 1925–1965, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas

2011 Portrait of Houston: 1900–2011, Alliance Gallery, Houston Arts Alliance, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

2012 A Survey of Texas Modernists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2012 Interpretations of the Texas Hill Country by Henri Gadbois, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2013 Restless Heart: The Collectors’ Quest to Find Texas in Art, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas

2013 A Tribute to Texas Rivers, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2013 Rhythms of Modernism, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2013 Summer Encore Exhibition, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2013 Hill Country Love Affair: Interpretations of a Texas Heartland, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2014 Houston Founders at City Hall Art Exhibition, City Hall, Houston, Texas

2014 A New Visual Vocabulary: Developments in Texas Modernism 1935-1965, One Allen Center, Lobby Gallery, Houston, Texas

2014 Lone Star Masters of Modernism, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2015 Bayou City Chic: Progressive Streams of Modern Art in Houston, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas (catalogue)

2015 The Texas Aesthetic, Annual Exhibition, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2015 Midcentury Montage: Works by Three Houston Modernists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2015 Texas Modernists: The Abstract Impulse, Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas (catalogue)

2016 This WAS Contemporary Art: Fine and Decorative Arts in Houston 1945-1965, Heritage Society Museum, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

Selected Public Collections:

Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX

Heritage Society, Houston, TX

Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, TX

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

Old Jail Art Center, Albany, TX

San Antonio Fine Arts Association, San Antonio, TX

Stark Galleries at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

Texas Heart Institute, Houston, TX

University of Houston – Victoria, TX

Henri Gadbois

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