Looking Back and to the Now: Early Modern to Contemporary Selections from the Collection

From the earliest days when the Art Museum of South Texas was located uptown in South Bluff Park, artists brought energy and innovation to the art scene in Corpus Christi. From the year 1947 until 1972 when the Philip Johnson building was opened in the Fall, the art programs sought the highest quality of art to show and collect. This selection of art from the Permanent Collection is exhibiting the characteristics of a changing art scene. Over the years noteworthy artists began to be included in the growing collection. Such significant artists included Antonio E. Garcia, Joseph Cain, and Bess Greathouse amongst many others. Over time all play a role in the development of this ongoing story of art and artists in the history of this museum.

These works track the course of where we were as a vibrant cultural center started by mostly volunteers and organizations who committed their time, dreams and placed value on providing the experience of seeing art of its time and history and educating the visitor in the changing scene of art and culture. The contributions of so many, have led us to the qualities seen within the art collection. These works of art reflect the stages of growth and development through the art collected, the earliest days in the late 1940’s to the 21st century.

From the figures, forms, and surfaces we are the beneficiary of the rich cultural contributions made in two and three-dimensional form. The stories the Permanent Collection tells is the story of this institution and the people and art involved in that developing history. It is an exciting evolution to mark time with objects of art. As we can see here, art evolves over time and changing impulses, to reveal who we are through a visual language of what it means to be human. We see within this selection of work, characteristics, points of view, preferences, and tendencies and that examination is the developing story.

Stay tuned.