187.     FISK, Frances Battaile. A History of Texas Artists and Sculptors. Abilene: Privately printed, 1928. [2], [1-3] 4-228, [4] pp., 20 plates (photographic). 8vo (23.7 x 15.6 cm), original blue moiré cloth, upper cover and spine lettered in navy blue. Spine lightly wrinkled and rubbed at extremities, otherwise very good, with author’s signed presentation to Mrs. George Wythe Baylor (December 29, 1944), Mrs. Baylor’s signature on front free endpaper. Original prosectus and order form laid in. Very scarce.

     First edition of the one of the earliest biographical listings of Texas artists. This pioneer work remains very useful and is sought after by those who collect Texas art. Fisk covers the well-known artists, such as Arpa, Bonner, Bugbee, Bywaters, McArdle, Ney, Onderdonk, Reaugh, et al., along with a host of now obscure artists. The later reprint (Morrison, 1986) omits the illustrations. San Antonio Museum of Art, A National Image (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003, p. 9):

In 1928, Frances Battaile Fisk authored a remarkable and ambitious volume: A History of Texas Artists and Sculptors. Her primary focus was upon individual artists “who called Texas home,” but Fisk also outlined a cultural and institutional history of the region that bears upon the formation of San Antonio’s collection. She chronicled the state’s art history as a recapitulation of the nation’s, articulating the importance of the visual arts in building cultural identity…. Fisk also understood the importance of Texas’ participation in the larger art life of the nation, documenting the growth of a regional environment that supported not only the state’s artists but also encouraged the building of public collections. While her book went on to document individual careers, her introductory chapter constructed a historical progression for the arts in Texas.

($200-400)

Auction 22 Abstracts