HERBERT RICHARD MEARS (1923–1999)

Born in New York City, Herb Mears was interested in art from a young age. He studied under Fernand Leger in Paris and went on to paint and study in various studios in France and Italy before his arrival in Houston in 1951. With colleague David Adickes, whom he had met in Paris, Mears decided to open an art school. Their Studio of Contemporary Arts finally settled in an old building on Main Street with Mears and Adickes hoping to give classes to potential students. However, money was tight and Mears found himself as a draftsman for Houston Lighting and Power Company, a job he excelled at and enjoyed.

Later, Mears was involved in the Contemporary Arts Association, frequently making trips to ensure security in addition to enjoying the art scene the Association provided. From the CAA to the Art League of Houston and the Museum of Fine Arts, Mears began to gain recognition. An abstract, or non-objective piece as he called it, won a prize at a competition held by the Museum of Fine Arts, earning him a teaching position at the Museum School. Mears also taught at the Contemporary Arts Museum, University of Houston, and Rice University.

Selected Biographical and Career Highlights

1923 Born in New York, New York

1948–1950 Atelier Leger, Paris, France

1950 Studio Hinna, Rome, Italy

1951 Moved to Houston, Texas

Employed, Houston Lighting and Power Co., Houston, Texas

1959 Purchase Prize, Annual Exhibition of Work by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Instructor, Museum School, Contemporary Arts Museum, University of Houston, Rice University, Houston, Texas

Selected Prizes, Awards

Houston Annual: Purchase Prize 1955 (December), 1960; Cash Prize 1953; Honorable Mention 1953, 1958

1952 Honorable Mention, The Magician and the Artist, oil

1953 Purchase Honorable Mention and Cash Prize, Italian Caprice, gouache

1955 (December) Purchase Prize, Still Life, oil

1958 Honorable Mention, Elements of Flight, oil

1960 Purchase Prize, Construction, acrylic polymer

Texas Watercolor Society: Materials Prize 1952

1952 Materials Prize, Don Quixote Mounted, watercolor

Selected Exhibitions

1951 Houston Art League Fair, rented booth with David Adickes, Shamrock Hilton, Houston, Texas

1951 13th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture 1951-1952, circulated: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

1952 27th Annual Exhibition of Work by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (honorable mention)

1952 Texas Watercolor Society 3rd Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas; Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas (materials prize)

1953 28th Annual Exhibition of Work by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (honorable mention for purchase prize)

19554 29th Annual Exhibition of Work by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1955 17th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture 1955-1956, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, Texas

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

1955–56 D. D. Feldman Collection of Contemporary Texas Art: An Exhibit of 100 Paintings, traveled; 1956 Feb at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (Conversation) catalogue

1958 D. D. Feldman Competitive Award Exhibit: The Contemporary Work of 88 Texas Artists, traveled; 1958 Jul–Aug at McNay Museum, San Antonio, Texas (Interior) checklist

1956 Gulf-Caribbean Art Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, traveled to: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg; Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado (catalogue)

1956 6th Southwestern Exhibition of Prints and Drawings, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, traveled to: Centenary College, Shreveport, Louisiana; Elisabet Ney Museum, Austin, Texas; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque; Texas Tech College Museum, Lubbock; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; University of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Oklahoma A&M College, Stillwater

1957 7th Annual Houston Post Easter Art Exhibit, Houston Art League Building, Houston, Texas

1957 32nd Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

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

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)

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

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

1960 35th Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (purchase 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

1962 The Southwest: Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 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

1968 10th Annual Invitational Exhibit, Nicholson Memorial Library, Junior Service League of Longview, 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)

Delgado Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana

James Bute Gallery, Houston, Texas

DuBose Gallery, Houston, Texas

Nolan-Rankin Gallery, Houston, Texas

Wilhelm Gallery, New York, New York

2003 Herbert Mears—A Creative Journey, Beeville Art Museum, Beeville, Texas

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

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

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 A Texas Sampler: Vintage Paintings by Thirty Texas Artists, 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

2009-10 Texas Art Seen, Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas

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

2010 Three Artists Remembered: Bill Condon, Paul Maxwell, Herb Mears, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

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

2012 A Survey of Texas Modernists, 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 Rhythms of Modernism, 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

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

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)

2017 Celebrating Houston’s Founding Modernists, William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2019 Modernist Visions of the Southwest, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

Selected Public Collections

Hines Interests, Houston, Texas

Humble Oil, Houston, Texas

Mitchell Energy, Dallas, Texas

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Shell Oil, Houston, Texas

Texas Instruments, Dallas, Texas

Selected Sources

Edwards, Katie Robinson. Midcentury Modern Art in Texas. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014.

Reynolds, Sarah C. Houston Reflections: Art in the City, 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Houston: Rice University Press, 2008. http://cnx.org/content/col10526/latest.

Dallas Museum of Art. Portal to Texas History: http://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/partners/DMA/browse.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Exhibition history online: http://prv.mfah.org/archives/search.asp?par1=1&par2=1&par3=1&par4=1&par5=1&par6=1&par7.

Herb Mears

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