DAVID PRYOR ADICKES (b. 1927)

Born in Huntsville, Texas, David Adickes earned his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics from Sam Houston State College (now University). The summer after graduation, he attended the Kansas City Art Institute and realized that art was what he really wanted to do. Adickes used his G.I. Bill to study painting in Paris with modern master, Fernand Leger. He returned to Houston and began painting full-time.

In 1983, he was commissioned to make his first monumental sculpture, Virtuoso, which now resides at the Lyric Center in downtown Houston. Adickes also created the 76-foot tall figure of Sam Houston that stands on Interstate 45 just south of Huntsville. The Winds of Change, an 8 foot bronze of President George Bush for the Bush Presidential Library at TAMU.

Selected Biographical and Career Highlights

1927 Born in Huntsville, Texas
1945–46 U. S. Air Force
1948 BS Physics/Mathematics, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas
1948 Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Kansas
1948–50 Atelier Fernand Léger, Paris, France
1954–55 Instructor, University of Texas at Austin at Austin
1957–58 Around-the-world-tour, one year in Japan with solo shows in Tokyo and Osaka
Resides in Houston, Texas

Selected Prizes, Awards

Houston Annual: Purchase Prize 1953, 1955 (March), 1955 (December); Cash Prize 1954; Honorable Mention 1953

1953 Purchase Prize, Beach Scene, casein and Honorable Mention, Fishermen on Beach, pastel
1954 Cash Prize, Three Figures Before a Black Boat, casein
1955 (March) Purchase Prize, Spanish Interior, oil
1955 (December) Purchase Prize, In Attendance, casein

Texas General/Annual: Recommended for Purchase Prize 1951; Cash Prize 1951, 1954

1951 Cash Prize and Recommended for Purchase Prize, Harlequins, gouache (2 figures)
1954 Cash Prize, Risque-Tout, oil

Texas Watercolor Society: Purchase Prize 1952, 1953; Cash Prize 1952; Materials Prize 1953

1952 Purchase Prize, Composition, watercolor and Cash Prize, Still Life with Coffee Urn, watercolor
1953 Purchase Prize, 7 of the Species, watercolor and Materials Prize, View of the Village, watercolor

Texas Fine Arts Association: Purchase Prize 1953 (spring), 1953 (fall); First Prize 1956

1953 (Spr Festival) Purchase Prize, Harlequins (3 figures)
1953 (Fall Annual) Purchase Prize, Three by the Sea, casein
1956 First Prize, Harlequin With Banjo, oil

Southwestern Prints and Drawings: Purchase Prize 1956

1956-57 Purchase Prize, Two Men on a Beach, lithograph

D. D. Feldman: Merit Award 1956

1956 Merit Award, The Poets

Selected Exhibitions

1951 Houston Art League Fair, (rented booth with Herb Mears), Shamrock Hilton, Houston, Texas

1951 26th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1951 Paintings and Drawings by David Adickes, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1951 13th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture, circulated: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (same entry: cash prize and recommended for purchase prize)

1952 Texas Watercolor Society 3rd Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas; Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas (2 entries: purchase prize and cash prize)

1952 5th Southwestern Exhibition of Prints and Drawings, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

1953 Texas Watercolor Society 4th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas, selection circulated: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas A&M University, College Station; Texas A&M University, Kingsville; Centennial Museum, Corpus Christi, Texas (2 entries: purchase prize and materials prize)

1953 Texas Fine Arts Festival, Coliseum, Austin, Texas (purchase prize)

1953 Texas Fine Arts Association Annual Exhibition, Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin, Texas (purchase prize)

1953 28th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (2 entries: purchase prize and honorable mention)

1953–62 Solos and Group, James Bute Gallery, Houston, Texas

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

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

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

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

1956 D. D. Feldman Collection of Contemporary Texas Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (merit award)

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

1956 Annual Spring Show, Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, Texas (first prize)

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, Oklahoma (purchase prize)

1957 7th Southwestern Exhibition of Prints and Drawings, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

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

1957 Solo, Witte Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas

1957 Recent Contemporary Acquisitions—Houston, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

1957 David Pryor Adickes, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

1957 Solo, Laguna Gloria Gallery, Austin, Texas

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

1958 Solo, Formes Gallery, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan

1959 60 Prints by 60 Artists from Local Collections: Post-War Prints 1946–1959, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

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)

1959 Solo, Janet Nessler Gallery, New York, New York

1959 21st Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1959-1960, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; Museum, Texas Tech, Lubbock; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

1961 Solo, Galerie de la Vieille Échoppe, St. Paul-de-Vence

1961–62 Solo, Haydon Calhoun Gallery, Dallas, Texas

1962 Solo, Fifth Ave. Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas

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 Solo, Stewart-Ricard Gallery, San Antonio, Texas

1963 34th Annual Dallas County Exhibition: Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 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

1963 University of Texas Art Faculty—Past and Present, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1963– Solos and Group, DuBose Gallery, Houston, Texas

1970–Solos and Group, Wally Findlay Galleries, Palm Beach, Florida

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)

1973 The Michener Collection: American Paintings from the Twentieth Century, inaugural exhibition, Michener Galleries, University of Texas at Austin, Texas

1975 Evolution in Figurative Art, Selections from the Michener Collection, University of Texas at Austin, 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

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 Adickes…Early: Fifty Paintings from the Formative Period, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

2009 A Texas Sampler: Vintage Paintings by Thirty Texas Artists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2009 Texas Paper: Watercolors, Pastels and Drawings from the Lone Star State, 1938-2008, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

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

2011 His World of Color: David Adickes, Nave Museum, Victoria Texas

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

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

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

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

2014 An 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)

Selected Public Commissions

1983 Virtuoso, Lyric Center, Houston, Texas
1994 Sam Houston, Huntsville, Texas

Selected Public Collections

Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
James A. Michener Art Foundation, Doleystown, Pennsylvania
Longview Art Association, Longview, Texas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Witte Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas

David Adickes

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