GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Hard edges, strong contour lines, and an unsettling directness mark this portrait of Everett Spruce’s twin daughters Alice and Georgia, which won the prestigious Dealey Prize in 1940. Spruce was closely affiliated with the Dallas Nine, a group of Texas arists known for depicting regionally identifiable subjects with expressive simplification. The outdoor setting and globular clouds surrounding the sitters are typical of Spruce's reductive, barren landscapes.
Raised in Arkansas, Spruce was brought to Dallas in 1925 by the artist couple Olin and Kathryn Travis. A one-time gallery assistant at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Spruce exhibited at the First National Exhibition of American Art at Rockefeller Center and at the Texas Centennial in 1936. He later taught for years at The University of Texas at Austin.
Adapted from
- Wiliam Keyse Rudolph, DMA label text, 2005.
- Emily Schiller, DMA label text, 2017.
NOTES
Created 1939-1940
Object File reviewed
Exhibition: Lone Star Regionalism :The Dallas Nine and their Circle 1928-1945, February 3, 1985-July 10, 1988
Moved from Dallas to Austin at some point in 1940, so I put Texas as Geography instead of a city.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: Texas (state/United States): TGN: 7007826
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Before 1940: Everett Spruce [1]
From 1940: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dealey Prize, Eleventh Annual Dallas Allied Arts Exhibition, purchased from the artist. [2]
[1] The main source for this provenance was existing information in TMS (in Dallas Museum of Art Digital Collections Records Object Files). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- In the year this painting was completed, 1940, there were approximately 25,000 sets of twins born in the continental United States.
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1940.21
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Hard edges, strong contour lines, and an unsettling directness mark this portrait of Everett Spruce’s twin daughters Alice and Georgia, which won the prestigious Dealey Prize in 1940. Spruce was closely affiliated with the Dallas Nine, a group of Texas arists known for depicting regionally identifiable subjects with expressive simplification. The outdoor setting and globular clouds surrounding the sitters are typical of Spruce's reductive, barren landscapes.
Raised in Arkansas, Spruce was brought to Dallas in 1925 by the artist couple Olin and Kathryn Travis. A one-time gallery assistant at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Spruce exhibited at the First National Exhibition of American Art at Rockefeller Center and at the Texas Centennial in 1936. He later taught for years at The University of Texas at Austin.
Adapted from
- Wiliam Keyse Rudolph, DMA label text, 2005.
- Emily Schiller, DMA label text, 2017.
Fun Facts
- In the year this painting was completed, 1940, there were approximately 25,000 sets of twins born in the continental United States.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Created 1939-1940
Object File reviewed
Exhibition: Lone Star Regionalism :The Dallas Nine and their Circle 1928-1945, February 3, 1985-July 10, 1988
Moved from Dallas to Austin at some point in 1940, so I put Texas as Geography instead of a city.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: Texas (state/United States): TGN: 7007826
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Before 1940: Everett Spruce [1]
From 1940: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dealey Prize, Eleventh Annual Dallas Allied Arts Exhibition, purchased from the artist. [2]
[1] The main source for this provenance was existing information in TMS (in Dallas Museum of Art Digital Collections Records Object Files). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1940.21
source file
object_notes_3_c-0028.xml.nores