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Recent Acquisitions Releases Press Release Archive |
Tyler Museum of Art Tours and Lectures Focus on Worthman Exhibition Tyler, TX—A First Friday Art Tour and a special lecture highlight December’s activities for the Tyler Museum of Art exhibition, Harry Worthman: A Life in Art. The tour, entitled “Harry Worthman: Portraits and Still Lifes” is set for December 2, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and will be led by Ken Tomio, TMA curator and director of education. Worthman (1909–1989) was a much sought-after portrait artist during the 1940s through the 1980s, painting such notables as Presidents John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan, retail magnate JC Penney, astronaut Alan Shepard, columnist Ann Landers, Texas governors John Connally and Price Daniel, and even the famous American artist Norman Rockwell. Tomio said the tour in the Museum’s Bell Gallery will focus primarily on the artist’s portraits of his family members and his still lifes. Tomio said lecture attendees will also experience how Worthman prepared for his final works, by producing numerous photographs, sketches, and pastel studies before completing his subjects in oil. “Looking over the shoulder of Harry Worthman, we’ll begin to understand his talent as we see how he painstakingly completed commissioned portraits with numerous studies, from beginning sketches to finished oils,” Tomio added. On December 8 from 5:30–7 p.m., Dana Sperry, TMA curatorial assistant, will lecture on “An Artist’s Work: Harry Worthman.” Before joining the TMA staff in September, Sperry was the curator at the Rockford Art Museum in Rockford, IL. He received his MFA in sculpture and digital media from Indiana University, where he was also the associate director of the Fine Arts Gallery. In his lecture, Sperry will discuss Worthman as “a contemporary court painter, who like many others before him reflected the particular values of the society in which he operated.” Sperry explained that like court painters from earlier monarchial societies, Worthman who made his living as a commissioned portrait artist, often found his patrons exerted significant artistic control over his work. “Essentially to earn a living as a portrait artist you must satisfy your patrons, reproducing likenesses that please the purchaser, even if not always the artist,” Sperry said. “That partially explains why Worthman found greater freedom, if not as much financial reward, in his still lifes and landscapes.” The First Friday Art Tour, which is open to the public, is free to TMA members, plus one guest, and is $3 for non-members. The Lecture is free and open to the public. Reservations are required for both events and may be made by calling 903-595-1001. Another Worthman First Friday Art Tour is set for January 6, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.; this one will focus on the artist’s landscapes, plus works produced in his earlier years as an Arts Students League student in New York City and World War II soldier. Similarly, another TMA Lecture is set for January 12 at 5:30 p.m. Sam Ratcliff, head of the Bywaters Special Collections at the SMU Hamon Art Library will be the guest speaker. The 160-piece Worthman exhibition, the first major museum exhibition of this late Texas artist’s works, was organized by the TMA and will be open through February 5 in the Museum’s Bell and North Galleries. Exhibition hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. There is no admission charge but donations are accepted. The Tyler Museum of Art is located at 1300 S. Mahon, adjacent to the Tyler Junior College campus. |