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Art group pays a special visit to Terrell
By Britney Tabor: britney_tabor@terrelltribune.com
A Dallas art group visited Terrell on Thursday to pay homage to artist Frank Reaugh with a remembrance picnic just feet away from his final resting place at Oakland Memorial Park Cemetery.
For about an hour, the Frank Reaugh Art Club, which is based in Oak Cliff, sat in a circle of lawn chairs to partake upon sandwiches, chips, cookies and tea before traveling to the Terrell Heritage Museum to view some of Reaugh's paintings and artifacts. Bonnie Rea, the group's president, said she planned the picnic after one of Reaugh's students, who is now 92, told her of how she and her family in her younger years did the same. Rea said picnics in the cemetery are also an old Victorian tradition.
This is the first time as a group that the Oak Cliff club has visited Reaugh's grave site. Before leaving the cemetery, the group placed a decorated cross at his grave site, which is was also adorned with two candles in glass votives and a Texas Historical Marker.
“I think the novelty is what actually brought a lot of people out,” Rea said .
The Frank Reaugh Art Club formed in 1922. The group meets about seven times a year and occasionally ventures out to cities and towns around the state for art shows dedicated to Reaugh or to see things connected to his history. Currently, the group has 66 members made up of former Reaugh students and art lovers.
Rea said visiting Terrell has been one of the group's highlights among their travels. She described Reaugh as someone who traveled and she said the art club likes to travel as he traveled, be adventureous and enjoy nature. With each trip the club takes related to Reaugh, Rea said it's like connecting the dots and putting together a puzzle.
“It was very touching,” she said. “This is a memorial to the person that has done so much for the world of art and for the character of his students. It was just a blessing.”
Reaugh was born in Illinois in 1860. Broadsides from the Texas Colony Association, based in Chicago, which advertised cheap land in Texas near Terrell is said to have prompted Reaugh's father, George, to purchase 160 acres northeast of the city. In 1876 at 15, Frank Reaugh moved with his family by covered wagon to their new home. It was during his time near Terrell that Reaugh saw longhorns being brought to town to be fattened up before being shipped to market in the Midwest that inspired his art work and gained him the name “Painter to the Longhorns.”
In 1883, the family moved into town where Reaugh became neighbors with Frank Houston, known as the “Cattle King of North Texas.” As a young man, Reaugh was invited to Houston's land in West Texas where he raised cattle. Those trips inspired Reaugh's paintings in later years titled “Twenty-Four Hours on the Herd,” which are on display at the University of Texas at Austin. From 1883 to 1890, Reaugh lived in Terrell with his family and taught art to high school students, said Horace Flatt, the head of the Oakland Memorial Park Association. Throughout that time, he traveled to St. Louis and Paris to study. The family left Terrell for Oak Cliff in 1890. Reaugh died in 1945.
Reaugh is well-known for being an artist who recorded the Southwest through pastel paint.
Flatt said Reaugh is one of the treasures in Terrell's history, and to have an art club dedicated to him come to visit the city was a good feeling. Flatt, along with his wife, Jean Ann Ables-Flatt, chairman of the Kaufman County Historic Commission and director of the Terrell Heritage Society, were the group's escorts Thursday.
Carole Ann Williams, publicity chairwoman for the club, said the experience of being in Terrell was both fabulous and moving for her. Since age 3, she said she has known of Reaugh's works and being at his grave site gave her “goose pimples.”
“To see it come to fruition and to see everybody there, it was just a beautiful day,” Williams said. “They [Terrell historical representatives] have rolled out the red carpet for us. I'm touched.”
For about an hour, the Frank Reaugh Art Club, which is based in Oak Cliff, sat in a circle of lawn chairs to partake upon sandwiches, chips, cookies and tea before traveling to the Terrell Heritage Museum to view some of Reaugh's paintings and artifacts. Bonnie Rea, the group's president, said she planned the picnic after one of Reaugh's students, who is now 92, told her of how she and her family in her younger years did the same. Rea said picnics in the cemetery are also an old Victorian tradition.
This is the first time as a group that the Oak Cliff club has visited Reaugh's grave site. Before leaving the cemetery, the group placed a decorated cross at his grave site, which is was also adorned with two candles in glass votives and a Texas Historical Marker.
“I think the novelty is what actually brought a lot of people out,” Rea said .
The Frank Reaugh Art Club formed in 1922. The group meets about seven times a year and occasionally ventures out to cities and towns around the state for art shows dedicated to Reaugh or to see things connected to his history. Currently, the group has 66 members made up of former Reaugh students and art lovers.
Rea said visiting Terrell has been one of the group's highlights among their travels. She described Reaugh as someone who traveled and she said the art club likes to travel as he traveled, be adventureous and enjoy nature. With each trip the club takes related to Reaugh, Rea said it's like connecting the dots and putting together a puzzle.
“It was very touching,” she said. “This is a memorial to the person that has done so much for the world of art and for the character of his students. It was just a blessing.”
Reaugh was born in Illinois in 1860. Broadsides from the Texas Colony Association, based in Chicago, which advertised cheap land in Texas near Terrell is said to have prompted Reaugh's father, George, to purchase 160 acres northeast of the city. In 1876 at 15, Frank Reaugh moved with his family by covered wagon to their new home. It was during his time near Terrell that Reaugh saw longhorns being brought to town to be fattened up before being shipped to market in the Midwest that inspired his art work and gained him the name “Painter to the Longhorns.”
In 1883, the family moved into town where Reaugh became neighbors with Frank Houston, known as the “Cattle King of North Texas.” As a young man, Reaugh was invited to Houston's land in West Texas where he raised cattle. Those trips inspired Reaugh's paintings in later years titled “Twenty-Four Hours on the Herd,” which are on display at the University of Texas at Austin. From 1883 to 1890, Reaugh lived in Terrell with his family and taught art to high school students, said Horace Flatt, the head of the Oakland Memorial Park Association. Throughout that time, he traveled to St. Louis and Paris to study. The family left Terrell for Oak Cliff in 1890. Reaugh died in 1945.
Reaugh is well-known for being an artist who recorded the Southwest through pastel paint.
Flatt said Reaugh is one of the treasures in Terrell's history, and to have an art club dedicated to him come to visit the city was a good feeling. Flatt, along with his wife, Jean Ann Ables-Flatt, chairman of the Kaufman County Historic Commission and director of the Terrell Heritage Society, were the group's escorts Thursday.
Carole Ann Williams, publicity chairwoman for the club, said the experience of being in Terrell was both fabulous and moving for her. Since age 3, she said she has known of Reaugh's works and being at his grave site gave her “goose pimples.”
“To see it come to fruition and to see everybody there, it was just a beautiful day,” Williams said. “They [Terrell historical representatives] have rolled out the red carpet for us. I'm touched.”
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Jima wrote on Nov 9, 2007 10:23 PM: