“Tone Poems” at Tyler Museum of Art First Fall Lecture to Feature Rebecca Lawton

(TYLER, TX) September 14, 2010 – The Tyler Museum of Art will begin its Fall Lecture Series on the opening day of the exhibition L.O. Griffith: Painting the Texas Landscape, this Sunday, September 19. The lecture will feature guest speaker Rebecca Lawton, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture for the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, and begins at 2 p.m. in the TMA Classroom. The lecture is titled “Tone Poems: L.O. Griffith’s Texas Landscapes,” and admission will include entrance to the exhibition. Admission to the lecture is $10 for adults, $7 for students and seniors, and is free for TMA Members and children ages 12 and under.

           

During her talk, Ms. Lawton will discuss L. O. Griffith's development as a plein air painter, as well as the artist’s attitude toward painting the Texas landscape. Ms. Lawton is one of the few contemporary scholars of Griffith’s work, as the artist’s significant Texas oeuvre was only recently discovered.  L.O. Griffith: Painting the Texas Landscape includes over 70 paintings, works that have not been shown in a major exhibition in over 70 years.

“This exhibition will be the first exposure that scholars and collectors of early Texas art as well as the general public will have to view this powerful and beautiful body of work,” said Kimberley Tomio, TMA Director. “The works on view at the Tyler Museum of Art form a story of art on the range, of an artist who traveled by primitive means to reach the focus of his artistic fixation–the vast Texas plains.” 

Works created by Griffith during his tenure in Texas remained unknown to the museum world until recently, as he spent most of his working life in Indiana from 1922 until his death in 1956. However, Griffith grew up in Dallas, and took his first art lessons from Frank Reaugh (1860-1945), an artist and teacher who came to be regarded in later years as the “Dean of Texas Artists.” Griffith accompanied Reaugh and his other students on “sketching expeditions,” traveling for years by covered wagon into West Texas.

Admission to the exhibition is $7 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, and free for TMA Members and children ages 12 and under. L.O. Griffith: Painting the Texas Landscape is organized by Tyler Museum of Art. The exhibition is guest curated by Rebecca Lawton. Signature Sponsors are Mr. and Mrs. Harold Cameron. Underwriters are Dr. Thomas and Debra Bochow. Patrons are Ken and Debra Hamlett. Contributors are Mary Jon and J. P. Bryan Foundation, Kathryn and Morris Matson, and Target. Collectors’ Circle Sponsors are Mr. and Mrs. John Glass, Jr.; A.W. Riter, Jr. Family Foundation; Robert M. Rogers Foundation; and Dr. and Mrs. Frank Ward. Corporate Sponsor is Genecov Group. (Sponsors as of print date.)

 The Tyler Museum of Art, accredited by the American Association of Museums, is located at 1300 S. Mahon Ave., adjacent to the Tyler Junior College campus off East Fifth Street. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. (The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays.) Lunch is available in the Museum Café from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and the TMA Gift Shop is open during Museum hours. For more information, call (903) 595-1001 or visit www.tylermuseum.org. www.tylermuseum.org.