Chapman Kelley's Memoirs - Chapter 10

The Tragic Life of Frank A. Jones—a great artist

           After I was imported from San Antonio, Texas to Dallas in 1957, I made paintings, exhibited work, traveled, taught art and opened Atelier Chapman Kelley (ACK).  In 1959 I expanded my atelier by adding an art gallery and frame shop.  The expansion included having the sculptor Heri Bert Bartsch teach a class in what he knew best.  Then in 1960 I won first prize at the Twenty-Second Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition.  The Texas Annual was the kingmaker of artists and was sponsored by major Texas art museums, including the Dallas Museum of Art.  ACK’s future needed a business manager.  My first choice was a fine sculptor, H.J. "Harvey" Bott.  Harvey lived with his wife Margaret on The Strand in Galveston, TX.  It is now a National Historic Landmark District, an area of mainly Victorian era buildings.  Harvey graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio, TX, a year after I did and played in the school band with my sister Pat. The Botts went to New York City with us, the site of my first exhibit.  The role of business manager didn't suit Harvey and obviously I didn’t need a gallery director.          For a while Perry Nichols’ son Christopher worked as ACK's business manager.  Before my 1964 New York exhibit Murray Smither asked me if he might have the job.  At the time of his request he worked at Texas Instruments putting to use the journalism education background he studied at Sam Houston State Teachers College, (now known as Sam Houston State University) located in Huntsville, TX, his hometown.  I suppose a prerequisite high security clearance for his job at Texas Instruments had something to do with his wanting to leave TI.  Even though he had attended some of my art classes, he didn't seriously pursue making art.

     As business manager Smither accompanied some of his art teachers from Sam Houston State Teachers College to where the teachers juried the first prisoner art exhibit at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, TX.  He returned with several prisoners' work from the show and he told me that he thought they were "cute."  When I saw them I said that one small blue and red pencil drawing by Frank A Jones was far more than cute.  I instructed Smither to return to the prison to ask Jones, of course with prison officials' acknowledgement, if I, as Atelier Chapman Kelley, could be the exclusive representative of all of his work.  And to inform Jones that ACK would supply him with better and larger paper and color pencils of a wider color variety.  Smither did as I asked.  As a result, I had Smither take several of Frank's works to New York where he showed them to his friend Paul Rogers Harris.  Harris for a short while had a job at the Museum of Modern Art.  However, the museum didn't buy any of Frank's pieces.  Even though Frank had talked of his earlier drawings, those prior to 1964, none have surfaced.  We introduced Frank's work to the rest of the U.S. by submitting it to juried museum exhibits. Thus Frank began to be accepted as a fine contemporary artist.  For example, Jones and Nathan Oliveira split the top prize at the Weatherspoon Gallery's (Museum) Art on Paper exhibit.  Frank was invited to make a personal appearance at the University of North Carolina to receive his prize.  Regrettably for all involved, we reported to Weatherspoon staff that the prison warden would not make an exception and allow Frank to venture outside.

     Frank was born sometime around 1900.  He was biracial; his parents were Native American and African.  He was a functional illiterate.  Given the Southwest's historical climate, coupled with Frank's mixed blood lineage and lack of formal education, he was misperceived--by the larger predominantly white Texas society--as a misfit and therefore suspect.  At the facility where Frank was held, prison officials like Tony Schindler (his supervisor) made it known that he thought Frank was innocent and had become the town scapegoat--Schindler and others thought Jones had been, pardon the cliché, "sent up the river" for others' crimes.

Frank A. Jones ca. 1968

      Texas state senator John Field and his wife Beverly, the local top interior decorator (and a great beauty) were friends of mine.  They took a great liking to Frank's work and Beverly even began to collect it.  John started a campaign to have Frank pardoned by Governor John Connally.  Unfortunately, Field died of a heart attack and with it the hope and prospect of gaining a pardon for Frank were dashed.


     Frank's last and final will provided for the proceeds of his estate to establish a fund for scholarships for high school art students of his hometown, Clarksville, TX.  This was what he wished despite the perception that Clarksville officials were suspected of using Frank as a town scapegoat and had victimized him.  Had Franks' desire reached fruition, it would have been a wonderful end for his legacy.  However, it was not to happen.  For example, a very promising Clarksville art student scholarship candidate surfaced.  I and others submitted a recommendation to The Honorable Judge Amos A. Gates (county probate court) for the candidate to receive a scholarship.  We received no reply.  My then-attorney, David A. Newsom of the law firm Green, Gilmore, Crutcher, Rothpletz & Burke sent a check to Judge Gates for the purchase of the Frank Jones estate in the amount that Frank would have directly received for each drawing.  The judge informed us that Smither had been named executor of Frank's estate and that we had to deal directly with him.  Instead, Smither got back to us demanding a larger price relating to full retail value of Jones' work plus other monies amounting to what I considered to be an extortionate amount of cash.  Undeterred by the high money request, in 1973 I purchased the Estate of Frank A. Jones.


    In prison Frank had gone for many years without a penny for a piece of candy or a stick of chewing gum.  No visitors came to see him during the same period. Even though ACK sold his work for only $10 to $50 each, from those earnings Frank was able to purchase expensive Benson & Hedges cigarettes.  He became the proud owner of the largest gold watch in the entire prison.  His bank account grew to have over $1,000.  Interviews with outside media followed, commensurate with his growing artistic fame.


     Huntsville prison inmates were periodically given parole hearings.  By 1968 Smither was aware that Frank was to be released from prison.  An arrangement had been made to release Frank with some jobs lined up for him on the outside to insure that he had a steady income.  When I asked Smither what could be done to help Frank obtain a parole, he reported to me that the prison psychiatrist didn't feel that Frank could survive in the outside world.  He further stated that with all the new attention showered on Frank that he was content with the only home he had known for many years--Huntsville State Prison.  However, in 1968 I was listening to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. funeral on the radio while driving to Dallas from Houston and I stopped in Huntsville for a visit with Frank.  As I prepared to leave I asked him if there was anything I could do or get for him.  His reply was, "Yes, get me out of here."  I was startled because this wasn't at all what Smither had conveyed to me.  Smither was well aware that he was being paid to keep Frank happy with art supplies and to find a way to get him out of prison.  When I returned to Dallas I reemphasized to him that he was to do everything possible to seek Frank's release.


    After 1970, in the wake of Smither no longer being an employee of ACK, my new employees went through all of the atelier correspondence files.  Despite representing himself as such, Smither was a business manager and never a director at Atelier Chapman Kelley.  The staff found a number of complaints from the Huntsville prison staff, even from Frank Jones himself, about his neglecting to tend to Frank's artistic and well-being needs.  We found a copy of a letter Smither wrote on December 27, 1966 to Huntsville prison officials.  To our astonishment the letter intimates that Smither meant to keep Frank in prison, essentially betraying him.  After Smither's severance from Atelier Chapman Kelley, we found a stack of Jones' work, completely and inexplicably out of place, squirreled away in the storage building behind my gallery.   In addition, several times the gallery and studio had previously been unlawfully broken into; the three perpetrators were professional thieves.  They were willing to go to prison rather than confess the identity of who had sent them and refused to name the targeted objects of the burglary.  In the 1980s Smither took Bud Drake and his wife into the storage building to retrieve several of Bud’s sculptures. 


     In the winter of 1969 we received a telephone call from the prison on the day before Smither was to physically meet with Frank immediately upon checking out.  As Frank feared, he never made it out; he died while incarcerated.  I held his work off the market for about a decade until an important travelling exhibit of Frank's work was held at the Mulvane Art Center, Topeka, Kansas, which was organized by Jim Hunt.  Jones work is referenced in a book on folk art authored by art collector and curator Herbert Hemphill. Hemphill was one of the founders of the American Folk Art Museum in New York City. He and the museum have purchased Jones' work.


     The renaissance of American art during the 1950s and 1960s had lost its steam and some smart dealers gave folk artists the new name of "outsiders."  A very important new movement was born.  Because Frank fit this image (not unlike French Post-Impressionist painter Rousseau) his work soon was in demand; we accepted exhibits for him which were held in Philadelphia, Chicago and New York.  Frank quickly became a star in this new category.

      Later I was approached by William "Bill" Steen who wanted to curate an exhibition and publication of Frank's work.  It would take place in Houston, TX at The Menil Collection.  The Menil Collection has Jones' work.

     More recently in my return to Dallas in 2006, having been in Chicago since 1983, I learned that Smither has been very busy dealing in the resale of Jones’ work, much to the sorrow of some original owners.  Much to my surprise, he co-curated a Southern Methodist University exhibit of Jones' work.  Since I'm the owner of the Estate of Frank A. Jones, it seems bizarre for him to be intimately involved in a solo exhibit of Frank's work without SMU ever reaching out and using me as a professional resource. There have been stories floating around since the 1960s that some of Frank's fellow inmates, as art students, quite expectantly imitated his work, "fakes," each with the hope of gaining sales and becoming famous.  "New" items alleged to be Jones' work have shown up without the iron clad provenance that begins with Atelier Chapman Kelley.  I am the only one in the position to authenticate his work and have always been the exclusive dealer of Franks' work.  Many dark possibilities loom on the horizon waiting to be solved. 

     Decades ago University of Texas at Austin art history student Lynne Adele approached me about her research, a master's degree thesis on Frank.  In it she mentioned that her husband was incarcerated at Huntsville during the same time as Frank Jones.  I allowed Adele to study all of my records pertaining to Jones and when I was furnished a copy of her thesis, I asked her why she had not included Smither's betrayal of Frank in it.  She had no answer.

     Confusing the situation even more is that reference to Adele's work about Jones continues to be regurgitated on the Internet while omitting not only the true history but also leaving out any reference to Frank's sole estate representative, yours truly.   For an art historian to continue to ignore the Smither correspondence as disgraceful factual history brings into doubt both her integrity and that of the university museum she represents.  An art historian has a responsibility to tell the truth, and the whole truth so that bogus or stolen work will not confuse and ill serve future generations.

    Very recently we learned that it appears Murray Smither has still not paid out the proceeds, generated by the 1973 sale of Jones' remaining drawings, to the Clarksville Independent School District.  It was cash that was to solely benefit Clarksville high school district art students. 

     Much of this and more can be gleaned from the Houston Post newspaper (now defunct) art critic Susan Chadwick's lengthy articles about the matter.  In her April 23, 1990 article titled 20 years later, Jones’ scholarship find still not established, she wrote, “But the drawings were to be sold, according to his (Jones) will.  And the proceeds were to be used (by Smither) to establish a Frank Albert Jones scholarship fund.” …And the $5,000.00 received in 1973 for the drawings in the estate is not accounted for.”  Former Dallas resident James Surls, was quoted. “Frank Jones had an enormous impact on me,” said renowned Texas sculptor James Surls,” Chadwick wrote.  She penned another article about Jones just two months later in June of 1990.  Chadwick was contacted earlier this year at her home in France and she was thrilled to learn that the unfinished business of the funding issue was being discussed anew.  She mentioned that she still has the notes used to write the newspaper articles.  Actually, Ms. Pam Bryant, Superintendent of the Clarksville Independent School District was also recently contacted and remarked that as far as she knew, for an "indeterminate" number of years a check for $200.00 had been received.  Susan Chadwick in her article wrote that the checks have been “financed by an anonymous donor.” I get the strong impression that the lion's share of the proceeds has not been forwarded to school Superintendant Pam Bryant by Smither.  Had the $5,000.00 been deposited into a bank account by the Clarksville school district beginning in 1973, the time the estate was liquidated, the interest and principal would have by now easily grown to over $100,000.00!  And that's using a very conservative commercial loan interest rate pegged to the annually adjusted Federal Reserve prime interest rate.  So does Smither owe the Clarksville Independent School District somewhere well over $100 grand?  I am no legal scholar, but it seems to me that a Frank A. Jones fully executed last and final will is black letter law, is not subject to a statute of limitations and is binding and enforceable even to this very day. 

     Wouldn't it have been a much happier legacy for Frank to have been released in 1967 and to have lived to a ripe old age visiting with serious art students?  I had envisioned that scenario while teaching at Northwood.  His is an example of a great artist making marvelous works despite being illiterate and having had a late start creating work at age 64.  And then crowning the legacy by leaving a much larger estate of his work selling at today's value and becoming available to high school art students via scholarships tied to Frank's hometown--Clarksville!

    I would argue that Frank Albert Jones’ artist, moral and legal rights have been violated in this morbid case.  But for a lack of others' professionalism, honesty and human decency, Frank's life's end should have been as happy as his "haints" as he called them, once captured and tamed in his wonderful works. As a well trained, successful, experienced professional, as a painter, art dealer, art teacher and art collector, including being the dealer and collector of Frank's work, I am most familiar with his work; I have quite a different history and work interpretation of the real significance within his work.  I would not question the historic facts of his life but it has always seemed to me that the restraining of the vast majority of his "haints" indicate that he had overcome or exorcised them and they were as he, helplessly confined and thus comfortable to live with.

     

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Due to an original bad copy, the text of the above correspondence is mostly illegible, for your convenience a trascription is included: "I'm writing you in regard to my parole. which was to come up this month. I discussed a two (2) year put-off August 17, 1968. If it is possible I would like to talk with you to see if something might be done.  Mr. Smither, concerning my pictures. Would it be possible for you to send a little money.  I am in need of a few things from the commissary.  I also need a box of red pencils.  If you still want me to draw for you, let me know when you come.  Thank you very much for your time and assistance. Sincerely, Frank Jones." (Uncertain letter date.)

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          These memoirs are a work in progress. Please submit information you may have to refresh my memory. 

Note:  With the exception of the newspaper images,all of the above is copyrighted material, all rights reserved.  Permission for use will be considered upon written request.  Blog comments are encouraged, the use of actual full names is strongly recommended, as are affiliations with organizations.

Chapman Kelley's Memoirs - Chapter 9

          Olga and Joseph Hirshhorn are considered to be the most dedicated collectors of American art.  On their way home to Connecticut in 1972, they first stopped in Texas to visit with President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird at the LBJ Ranch.  In the wake of their ranch visit I gave the Hirshhorns a tour of my Fairmont St. building.  In the upstairs gallery they happened upon a horizontal diamond shaped canvas with an enclosed ellipse containing a field of wildflowers.  Joe immediately said, “I’ll take that. Who painted it?” When I told him I was the painter he apologized to me; until that moment he had only known of me as being a gallerist.  Joe couldn’t buy the work anyway because Mary Wells, the wife of Braniff International Airways executive Lawrence Harding, had just purchased it for her New York advertising firm Wells, Rich & Greene.  That ad firm introduced Braniff airplanes to a bold color scheme and is responsible for fitting its stewardess’s with attractive uniforms.

          I then brought Olga and Joe to my studio on Hall St.  If I may say so, the studio was one of the best appointed and beautiful, anywhere.  At the time I just so happened to have hanging a Kenneth Noland “target” painting and a Frank Stella “squares within squares” work. Joe said that he already had examples of the same periods of both artists’ work.  I took that to mean that he was not inclined to buy; I was correct.  However, he was interested in the works’ pricing.  When I told him they were $25,000 each he let out a hearty laugh because when he had purchased their work from their studios he had to forward them the money to buy stretchers for the paintings.  Obviously Noland and Stella had come a long way but back then they were financially strapped for cash.

          Among more of my work that Olga and Joe saw in my studio, they viewed the scale model of the Standard Oil Building that was scheduled to be erected in Chicago in the 1970s.  They also viewed some of my small paintings representing the very large paintings that Bonnie Swearingen (wife of Amoco chairman John E.) wanted furnished for the Amoco Building (formerly Standard Oil Building) lobby walls.

          Another place I took the Hirshorns was for a tour of the newly built Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth.  That’s where I had the pleasure of introducing them to my friend Kimbell director Rick Brown.  They had much to discuss about the latest security techniques and more that were planned for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C., which was then under construction.  Joe in turn introduced me to David Rockefeller.  He was the first of the renowned Rockefeller family member I met.  David happened to be touring North Texas with a group of bankers.  The Hirshhorns and I toured the Algur “Al” Meadows art collection with Al and his wife at the Meadow's residence.

         

My first sighting of LBJ

          The morning of November 22, 1963, Atelier Chapman Kelley staff was busy framing the paintings I had made in Provincetown, MA; that work was soon to be exhibited at my second one-man show in New York.  As midday rolled around I allowed the staff to take an extended outdoor break to watch President John F. Kennedy’s historic motorcade cruise by.  The announced route was near my atelier and within easy walking distance.  I felt self conscious because my long beard had not been cut since the fourth of July.  My friend the barber Luis Santos had yet to decide what he wanted to sculpt from the bushy mess.  I carried a portable radio in hand and wore sunglasses as I stood on an uncrowded sidewalk waiting for the procession of limousines to arrive.  There was much joking among us about any number of Secret Service binoculars and guns trained on me—agents were waiting for any threatening move I might make. As the Presidential motorcade came into view I spotted U.S. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson in it.  It was the first time I had ever seen him in person.  Some minutes later, sadly, Dallas and the nation would never be the same as JFK and his entourage intersected with downtown Dealey Plaza.  Almost a decade later I would meet President Johnson for the first time in my life at his LBJ Ranch.

          

I was President Johnson's last visitor at the LBJ Ranch

          Olga and Joe were so impressed with the figurative/nonfigurative concept as expressed in my diptychs, they asked me to paint a pair for them

Kelley diptych in the collection of Olga and Joseph Hirshhorn

and a smaller pair as their gift to President Johnson and Lady Bird.  The work was to hang in the guest room at the LBJ Ranch. Olga obtained some small paintings I had done like those she had seen in the model for her famous collection of miniatures.  Months later Joe Hirshhorn approved his gift paintings, the ones he had asked me to create for the Johnsons. It was finally ready to be hung.  Joe arranged for me to take the diptych to the LBJ Ranch.

at the LBJ Ranch January 20, 1973 - copyright Chapman Kelley, all rights reserved





          On January 20, 1973 I arrived at the LBJ Ranch about 9:00 a.m. Before I actually set foot “inside” the Ranch, I had to negotiate a Secret Service checkpoint.  No problem.  At the house Lady Bird Johnson greeted me.  Shortly afterward LBJ walked in with a rolling gait, not unlike movie actor John Wayne’s deliberate walking style—LBJ was physically almost a giant.  Lady Bird seated us.  After a few moments she kindly excused herself from our presence.  LBJ turned on an array of television sets, three to be exact.  He watched them only long enough to learn that Richard Nixon would indeed be reinaugurated that day, the 37^th President of the United States. In the course of the day lunch was sent to us in place and Lady Bird would return to help in hanging my diptych painting.  Several times Johnson resorted to taking a medicine pill.  I had the idea that I was to simply hang the work, exchange a few pleasantries and be gone in short order.  What in fact unfolded was a spontaneous day-long conversation with the President!  Looking back at the circumstances of that memorable day, Johnson just wanted to talk.

          Initially Johnson and I discussed the Lascaux Caves of southwestern France where early mankind expressed themselves so well with pictures galore on the walls but with no words.  Archeologists have studied that artistic work in order to understand early humans.

          Johnson particularly responded to the Medici family name as being one of the most famous in history not only because of their involvement in the arts but because of their discernment and connoisseurship in picking the best artists to sponsor.  Most of the prominent Florentine gentry supported the artists but the Medici’s picked so well that now because of it tourism is the major industry in bella Firenze or Florence, Italy.

          I was impressed that LBJ seemed to have not only a good grasp of history as humans became more industrialized, urban and self governing but was able to understand (or at least agree with me) that the people and nations that were most open and supporting of new and challenging modes of artistic expression and vision were often not only more livable but also able to envision in many other ways that humankind must always move forward. It is not incidental that both Leonardo da Vinci and Robert Henri, the great art teacher, spoke of art as intervention and both of them lived by that dictum.

          It was interesting to follow the agility of Johnson’s mind as we led through the great influence that painter Mondrian and sculptor Brancusi have had on all of the best aspects of design in the 20^th century.  Practical-minded people are often amazed when asked to consider the applied aspects of the arts.

          In the course of the day-long visit LBJ and I discussed some of our mutual friends; first of course were Olga and Joe Hirshhorn.  It is not an inconsequential thing to have the Hirshhorn name attached as the giver of a gift of art to so public a couple as the Johnsons.  I consider it to have been a great honor.  We spoke of Tom and Etta Frost who happened to be the Johnson’s guests the previous weekend.  Tom’s Frost Bank of San Antonio was at the time believed to be the largest privately-owned bank and Etta Frost’s niece, Joan, was my sister-in-law.  Also discussed was Gladys Greenlee Bowman, a co-developer of adjoining lands with LBJ.  Bowman was the grande dame of Austin, Texas who started Austin’s Jr. League.  She was my aunt Liz’s (Dr. Cole Chapman Kelley’s wife) sister.  Gladys’ son Jack was one of the richest men in San Antonio.  LBJ and I discussed other mutual friends such as Bonnie and John Swearingen of Chicago as well as a number of Dallas, Houston and San Antonio gentry.

          Even though Johnson was obviously very strong minded and strong willed he possessed none of the belligerence of today’s ideologue politicians; he seemed sincerely interested in exploring ideas of mutual interest but on which we had entirely different opinions.  His civility was a winning trait though I think he avoided discussing the Vietnam War with me because my raccoon beard and clothes signaled that I was opposed to the war.

          There are some individuals who say that LBJ carried to his grave the firm belief in his escalation of the war in Vietnam.  I think otherwise, like what U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara later believed, that LBJ’s intelligence told him that he had been wrong; he had to carry the ignominy of that part to his grave.  It would also seem to explain Johnson’s decision not to seek reelection as president in 1968.

          My belief about Johnson’s thinking is based upon his interest in the Free University at Lee Park, which I created, as I had described to him during our visit.  I shared with him my experience in bringing together the civic and political leaders of Dallas to meet, with mutual respect, the youth who were part of the 1960s movement.  And we did it on the youth’s turf.  Everyone agreed that democratic consensus must begin with civil and open dialogue.  Isn’t that what LBJ was famous for?  I couldn’t help but think that had conciliatory movements like the Free University at Lee Park between the “establishment” and the idealistic youth movement (and shouldn’t all youth be that way?) taken place a decade earlier the Vietnam War could have been avoided. 

          LBJ’s faith in academics is indicated by his trust in education—it must be remembered that a portion of his career includes being a teacher.  LBJ must have felt that he had let the country down, just as he had been let down by his advisers, those “best and the brightest” individuals of his administration.  It is however LBJ’s choice of subjects of our conversation during that day that causes me to feel confident of my conclusions. Even though at the time I was anti-war, I felt that LBJ’s domestic legislation was the best in history and if the Vietnam War had not given his detractors a reason to take it apart piecemeal LBJ would be considered to be one of the greatest two-term presidents.  It was clear that Johnson’s view of the best of human endeavors was for mankind to always move forward—a progressive agenda.  His domestic legislation strived to make what he valued a practicality; he sponsored policy changes to education, civil rights for minorities, medical security for the elderly.  On balance, reforms in those areas improved his legacy because they have that most treasured ingredient—a lasting effect infused with meaning. 

         

          When it was brought to LBJ’s attention that Queen Elizabeth, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, the Israeli and Canadian governments had each vigorously entertained Olga and Joe seeking to obtain the vast Hirshhorn collection of American art for permanent export, LBJ was the prime mover and shaker in securing the collection for the people of the United States.  He arranged for the art collection to be housed on the Washington Mall.  Bravo LBJ!  What more evidence is necessary to cement his legacy as a true champion of the visual arts, certainly a long lasting endeavor?

          I later learned from Lady Bird that LBJ did know before he died that peace negotiations would soon end the war and the information was to be made public in the near future.

          I often wonder what Bill Moyers, surely the most trusted journalist since Walter Cronkite, would think of my observations about Johnson given that Moyers served in a number of positions in the John F. Kennedy and LBJ administrations. 




Limited edition leather bound book of photos of  "LBJ Country"

        

          I had the opportunity to provide LBJ some solace; I shared with him the many reasons for the arts’ importance.  Those have been at the core of many of my lectures in the past and still are.  Interestingly, nine years after LBJ’S death, speaking in the same room at the LBJ Ranch, I found myself giving the same emphasis to Lady Bird and members of the famed Rockefeller family, Lawrence and Mary, on the utmost importance of design and the language of the arts in all human endeavors.

          That complete freedom of expression is of absolute necessity for all creative persons is evident.  We must expect that all liberal democratic societies that desire this freedom will fight for it and then we may expect a meaningful society with the flourishing of the arts.

          As Robert M. “Mac” Doty said of Dallas having an authentic renaissance in the 1950s and 1960s, we more recently have taken a path of intolerance and have lost our international preeminence in the arts.  It hurts to know that even the Dallas Symphony and the Dallas Opera have drastically reduced their performance schedule in the same season.  Leadership in the arts has become or at least has the appearance of being a game of musical chairs.  The transformation of the arts into commodities has taken its toll and gotten the art world in trouble.  We certainly have the precedence of great civilizations of the past to build upon.  And recognize that indigenous populations were cut short by invaders’ worship of gold, truly a mistake in the pursuit of materialistic goods over honoring preexisting cultural values. 

          The Dallas – Ft. Worth area is now a large metropolis with far more people and money to erect not just buildings covered with donors’ names but not only have we not even retained or enlarged the necessary appetite and audience who would support the arts and inevitably the artists here as they did decades ago. Intolerance of any kind does not pay in the long run. Certainly it doesn’t belong in the arts where the artist is the central and most essential person. Can’t people realize that if we again support artists with the fairness, freedom and support they deserve it will produce a finer and more real civilization that warfare never will? 

          I hope the powers that be are listening to the current Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Museums movement.  Their basic beliefs seem to me to represent the feelings of most fair-minded Americans who strongly believe in democracy.

          I have in my possession a note from Lady Bird Johnson expressing her gratitude to me for being LBJs very last visitor at their home, the LBJ Ranch, before he died of a heart attack less than 36 hours later. A New York Times reporter expressed an interest in my having been the last visitor, but he never followed up.

Below is a personal note from the Hirshhorns to yours truly.



January 5, 1973 note from the Hirshhorns to Chapman Kelley

Above note transcribed:

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hirshhorn

Dear Chapman -
The tiny paintings arrived and they are most beautiful.  I have not yet hung them as I have to find a special spot---perhaps our home in Florida.  Thank you for doing them for me to add to my collection of miniatures.  Incidentally, the Greewwich Library is going to show it next November.  We sent your large paintings to our home in Florida--rather than store them.  They are just stunning.  Have the Johnsons called you yet?  
As ever,
Olga     Jan. 5, 1973

Below is a 1973 letter from Lady Bird Johnson to the Hirshhorns regarding yours truly.



letter from Lady Bird Johnson to Olga and Joseph Hirshhorn regarding Chapman Kelley



 Above letter transcribed:

February 9, 1973              Stonewall, Texas

Dear Olga and Joe:

     Thank you for giving us the comfort and courage of your heartfelt sympathy.  Your message came so soon and meant so much to us all.

     And now I must tell you something very special. On what turned out to be Lyndon's last Saturday, your beautiful paintings were brought to the Ranch by Chapman Kelley.  He propped them up in the living room and Lyndon and I were absolutely enchanted.  I love them -- and more importantly they pleased Lyndon very much.  They are so light and airy and express the way I feel about this countryside in April.

     Mr. Kelley and I walked around the house holding them up -- we even considered putting them in the guest house which Lyndon showed you -- but they finally came to rest in the perfect place -- the master guest room upstairs which is full of soft greens and yellows

     They pleased Lyndon very much and I am grateful that you made him happy then, and so often in the past.

With gratitude

Lady Bird Johnson 

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          These memoirs are a work in progress. Please submit information you may have to refresh my memory. 

Note:  All of the above is copyrighted material, all rights reserved.  Permission for use will be considered upon written request.  Blog comments are encouraged, the use of actual full names is strongly recommended, as are affiliations with organizations.

Chapman Kelley's Memoirs - Chapter 8

          I expect that most people reading this are familiar with the life histories of artists like Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Monet and Jackson Pollock.  As in other professions an artist’s stature outside of the professional community, in addition to how the artist is perceived by the art community, can tell us more about them as individuals and artists as well as the cultural sophistication of the community in which they flourished. At a 2010 art and law colloquium led by Megan Carpenter (Associate Professor of Law and Director for the Center for Law and Intellectual Property at Texas Wesleyan School of Law, Texas Wesleyan College), I was introduced to one of the lawyer/panelists by Patricia Meadows of the family of Algur H. Meadows.  Algur was a major supporter of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (since renamed Dallas Museum of Art), Southern Methodist University’s art department and the Meadows Museum.  Patricia Meadows explained that, “When I was a young art student and later young matron, Chapman was THE artist whose work everyone collected, THE art teacher, and owner of THE art gallery.” 

          At the time some Dallas artists of the highest caliber were gaining recognition in New York and elsewhere in spite of individuals who, through ignorance or malice, sought to gain control of the Dallas art world.  Two artists who stood out were James Surls and Bob “Daddy-O” Wade, both of whom, to our great loss, left Dallas many years ago. 

          Unfortunately, the die was cast.  Other Dallas artists of similar stature, such as Arthur and Jeannie Koch, achieved recognition and early acclaim in Dallas, and their work was included in significant collections here and elsewhere.  However, our local museum, DMFA, and media had become so compromised that the big breaks did not follow for them.  The quality and originality of Jeanne’s work was brought to the forefront during her first solo exhibition at my gallery, Atelier Chapman Kelley, where her work sold out prior to the opening.  The great collector of American art, Joseph Hirshhorn, saw the exhibit but had to wait in line to buy her work!  Arthur Koch’s daringly original exhibits at the Atelier also sold very well.  Furthermore, I felt he was the best and most popular art teacher around. Artists seldom gain broad national recognition without the support of local museums and art media.  The DMFA’s support for local artists ended with the 1964 cancellation of the juried Texas Annual and its statewide system of recognition.

          In the early 1970s, Janet Kutner, art critic for The Dallas Morning News, confided that there were only two local galleries worthy of regular coverage in her column.  One was my gallery.  Other galleries were receiving only sporadic coverage, mainly none.  I cautioned Kutner against such a narrow focus, which was, in my opinion, biased and not supportive of the Dallas art community as a whole.   I disagreed with her refusal to be more inclusive and gave her fair warning that I planned to complain to the newspaper unless she changed her attitude.  After several weeks, I wrote to Jim Moroney of The Dallas Morning News, stating my objections and asking that Janet Kutner not be allowed to cover Atelier Chapman Kelley in her columns.  Her lack of coverage after that cost us neither acclaim nor sales.  Although Lorraine Haacke, art critic with the Dallas Times Herald, was always fair, The Dallas Morning News was the predominant Dallas newspaper.

          Art historian Meyer Shapiro wrote that the artist’s world had descended from one of high professionalism to one of careerism and then to amateurism.  I add to that, “ambitious” amateurism.  Critic Harold Rosenberg wrote that the artist had been demoted.  Unfortunately, both statements are true.

          The level of professionalism among Dallas artists, dealers and collectors, although diminished, somehow managed to survive into the 1970s in spite of the machinations of people like Merrill C. Rueppel, Douglas MacAgy, Janet Kutner and Betty Marcus.  Sadly, an asp was sown into the fabric of the 1963 merger of DMFA with the Dallas Museum of Contemporary Art (DMCA). 

          One evening around 1974, while having dinner at Patry’s Restaurant, Larry Kelly, General Manager of the Dallas Opera, came over to my table and told me about his inoperable cancer and that he would be leaving Dallas to spend his last days.  He added that since Gene McDermott had died (1973), we likely could no longer count on his wife Margaret to defend the artists as she had in the past.  He predicted that detractors, who did not want local artists to achieve widespread recognition or have the attention and ear of the general public, would win Margaret over by offering to memorialize Gene by attaching the McDermott name to his philanthropic legacy.  Larry Kelly believed Margaret would eventually desert the cause of professional fairness.  Not only did his insightful predictions about her ring true, but we now have McDermott Road, McDermott Halls at both the symphony and opera house, various DMA internships, and the McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art; Richard Brettell currently serves as the Margaret McDermott Distinguished Professor of Art and Aesthetics at the University of Texas at Dallas.  In addition, Dallas will shortly have the McDermott Bridge spanning Trinity River, which was initially to have been a faux twin suspension bridge.

          After Merrill Rueppel’s departure, Harry Parker, who was then in the education department of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, interviewed for the directorship of the DMFA.  I was asked by Margaret McDermott if the professional community would welcome him without Parker having curatorial credentials or related experience.  After consulting   with the professional community, I reported to Margaret that Parker would be acceptable only if he agreed NOT to undertake roles involved with making curatorial, aesthetic decisions.  At that time, there were discussions in the art world about having dual museum directors:  One that would be responsible for administration and fund raising, and the other with curatorial education and experience for aesthetic decisions.  It was understood that Parker’s role would be business/administrative oriented since he was not qualified to make aesthetic determinations. 

          By the mid-1970s Artists Equity had grown to include almost all the serious artists in the Dallas area.  Friends of DMFA had also been established and included interested citizens.  Charles Miles (a sales executive with IBM) and Dr. Vernon Porter (scientific researcher with Texas Instruments) were the co-chairs of the Friends group.

          I was asked to attend a museum party as a show of solidarity for the new DMFA Museum director.  I responded that I must first meet privately with Harry Parker, and I invited him and his wife for dinner at Patry’s.  I explained to him that my support was contingent upon his pledge to not compete with the artists and dealers in private sales.  His reply was that he had just lived through the Metropolitan’s scandal about de-accessioning and wasn’t about to deal in any way with private collections. 

         

          Some six months later, I learned that Harry Parker had a Frank Stella “Protractor,” like one I had at my gallery, shipped to DMFA for collector/Museum Board member James Clark’s consideration for purchase.  It was then re-crated and returned by DMFA.  I called and reminded Parker of his promise.  He pleaded extenuating circumstances.  I replied that exceptions to our agreement had not been discussed, and that his actions were deliberate and unacceptable to me.  I also learned that Parker was accepting offers to jury exhibitions of Texas artists.  If his role at DMFA was restricted to administrative and fundraising responsibilities, then why was he permitted to make aesthetic decisions elsewhere when he was not qualified to do so? 

          Two groundbreaking art world events took place in Washington, D.C. in 1974.  The first was the grand opening of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in the spring, followed by the opening in the fall of the new I.M. Pei designed East Wing of the National Gallery, whose assistant director had come to Dallas and asked me for advice about which local Dallas collectors should be invited to be on the East Wing Committee.  I was invited to the two most significant openings at the Hirshhorn Museum, including the first night opening gala event reserved for the President of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and the diplomatic corp.  I had a discussion that evening with former Vice President Hubert Humphrey about my having been President Lyndon B. Johnson’s last social visitor.  I commented that the new Hirshhorn Museum would have made Johnson proud and that it was a big plus for his administration. 

          The second night opening celebration was reserved by Joe Hirshhorn for the art professionals.  This was the “real opening” and the most important art world event since the 1959 opening of the Frank Lloyd Wright Guggenheim Museum in New York.  Tickets for the Hirshhorn opening were being scalped for $1000 and more!  Printmakers had even screened some fake tickets for sale.  Upon being asked what should be done, Joe Hirshhorn responded that if they would donate two autographed copies of the fake tickets for the archives, they would be welcome to attend.

George Goodenow, artist and president of Artists Equity, also went to Washington D.C.  I introduced him to the Hirshhorns who gave us a private tour of the new museum on the afternoon of the first opening.  They also “found” a precious ticket for George to attend the second night opening for art professionals. 

          While in Washington, George and I visited with our congressman and U.S. Senator John Tower, whose niece, Mimi Webb Miller, had worked for a while at Atelier Chapman Kelley.  We discussed our concerns over widespread abuses and conflicts of interest that threatened the integrity of American art museums and cited specific examples that included:  (1) museum staff giving professional advice, art market information, shopping and other services to select individuals, including the museum’s own board members--at public expense--a patent violation of 501C3 rules; and (2) museums showcasing art owned by board members in museum exhibits, thus using museum prestige to add to the provenance of the board member’s art and inflate its market value.  The art could then potentially be sold for much more than its original cost or donated to a museum, giving the board member the advantage of a generous tax deduction. 

          We also told our elected representatives that it is totally unacceptable for public museums - entrusted as both educators and arbiters of aesthetic quality and consequently, the value of works of art - to be in market competition with private sector artists and dealers.  Public endowments and tax-exempt status give museums an unfair advantage over the private sector, and we shouldn’t have to compete with our own publicly funded, tax-exempt institutions.  If museums are to continue to enjoy their exempt status in addition to being allowed to advise, market and sell works of art, then artists and dealers should be granted the same tax-exempt and funding privileges.

          The only Dallasite I recognized at the art professionals opening was Courtney Sale, who had studied with artist John Cunningham (Olga Hirshhorn’s son) at Skidmore College.  Cunningham’s beautiful and unique hand-carved plexiglass sculptures sold well at Atelier Chapman Kelley.  I had purchased six pieces of his work for my own collection.  Courtney eventually opened her own gallery in Dallas before relocating to New York.

          Having been appointed a National Gallery East Wing Committee member, Margaret McDermott was invited to Washington for the opening of the East Wing. She offered to take along my wife Joan and me, as well as art student and collector, Jan Smyser, to view museums.  At my request, we stayed at the beautiful Hay-Adams Hotel across from the White House.  The assistant director of the National Gallery later chastised me when he learned that my spouse Joan, Jan and I had cooled our heels at the Hay-Adams during the opening.  He assured us we would have been welcomed to attend the opening with Margaret.  As we drove away from the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on our return trip from Washington, Margaret suddenly asked me who, among travelers on a DMFA-sponsored trip to Peru, had complained about art antiquities (purchased on the trip) not having been delivered.  I had no choice but to respond, since I had consulted with a few of the tour members about their complaints.  I suspected that this was the real reason Margaret asked us to accompany her to Washington–in order to grill me about the Peruvian tour members’ complaints. 

          At this point, it’s necessary to interject a rundown of sequential events leading up to Margaret’s query.  In the late 1960s, Howard John Lunsford was named Curator of Pre-Columbian Art at DMFA after receiving a Masters Degree in Pre-Columbian Art from Columbia University made possible by a grant from a DMFA women’s organization.  He had also attended some of my classes at the DMFA museum school. 

          In the early 1970s, Lunsford guided a DMFA sponsored tour group to Peru for the apparent purpose of visiting historical sites.  Tourists on the trip were informed by the authorities that they could no longer purchase antiquities from South American countries because of recently passed international treaties designed to curb the tide of international trafficking in ancient artifacts.  (Museum exhibitions were an exception to this new law, but loaned works on display were to be returned to their countries of origin.)  In spite of this warning, Lunsford took them to museums by day and local dealers by night. One couple on the tour, who were clients of mine, reported that Lunsford had assured them that whatever they purchased would be shipped to DMFA in order to avoid the ban.  He promised to authenticate the purchased artwork and if they wanted, they could sell it in New York for twice what they paid for it.  Such assurances on the part of a DMFA curatorial staff member, acting in his official professional capacity, encouraged tour members to purchase art antiquities from South American antiquities dealers.  It is my understanding that some people spent over $10,000 each on purchase.  Bear in mind these are 1970s dollars. A year later, the purchased art antiquities still had not been delivered to the buyers on the tour.  In addition, neither their phone calls nor their money had been returned by John Lunsford and the DMFA.  Did Lunsford also knowingly and unlawfully purchase South American art antiquities for the DMFA and for himself?  In any event, his assurances to the tour group members placed DMFA in the untenable position of willfully participating and encouraging the smuggling of ancient art antiquities in violation of international treaties and law.

          Artists Equity and Friends of DMFA made a number of artist and citizen complaints to the Dallas Park Board and subsequently, Dallas City Council, which formed an arts committee to hold hearings and investigate these accusations.  We were forced to shed light on these improper activities at a time when the Dallas Art Association’s contract with the City to operate the Museum was about to be renewed.  As a consequence, their contract was put on hold.  Since we all liked John Lunsford personally, it fell to my unhappy lot to explain these serious allegations to the arts committee.  Library director Lillian Bradshaw was asked to investigate the charges for the committee and reported that no people had complained. 

          By contrast, we just learned that our new DMA director, Dr. Maxwell Anderson, although only here since January 9th, has voluntarily contacted Italian authorities about antiquities purchased over the last several years by DMA from New York antiquities dealer, Edoardo Almagla, who is under  investigation for trafficking in looted antiquities as reported by Chasing Aphrodite.com.  In addition, both the Metropolitan and Princeton University Museums have already returned over 200 works purchased from Almagla.

          The question is, why didn’t the DMFA step forward early in the U.S. Customs Department’s investigation as did other museums, especially in light of the hushed and hidden DMFA Peruvian scandal of the 1970s?  For some time, it has been de rigueur in the international art community for museums and collectors to NOT purchase antiquities without a verified and well-documented provenance.  Bravo! Bravissimo! to Maxwell Anderson for taking decisive, responsible action on this issue where the DMA is concerned!

          On another subject, I was very familiar with a certain Monet “Poplar Series” painting that became available for sale at Wildenstein Gallery in New York.  I immediately attempted to interest W.R. “Fritz” Hawn in purchasing it as a memorial to his wife Mildred, who was well known in Dallas for her dedication to the arts.  He traveled to New York to view it and liked it but did not want to donate it to DMFA.  Instead, he acquired and donated the large three-piece Henry Moore sculpture that still sits in front of the I.M. Pei designed City Hall. 

          I then strongly recommended the Monet “Poplar Series” to Margaret McDermott who wanted to see the painting.  I called to ask gallery director Louis Goldenberg when the painting would be shipped.  To my disappointment, he responded that Margaret had requested the painting be shipped to her via the DMFA.  Her actions harkened back to Larry Kelly’s prediction that Margaret would intentionally shun the local arts community (artists and dealers).             

          Nevertheless, there were some very sincere, sensitive, knowledgeable and supportive Dallas leaders, such as the dynamic Mildred Hawn and Evelyn Lambert, who understood what the arts were truly about and who encouraged and inspired many other Dallasites to support the local professional community and new art on the basis of originality and quality, regardless of fashion. 

          After the death of Virginia Lazenby-O’Hara, it was announced that she had left $4.5 million worth of Dr. Pepper stock shares in her will to the “Foundation for the Arts-Dallas Museum of Fine Arts”, which are two totally separate entities.  The consensus of Artists Equity and Friends of DMFA was that the Museum Board, commensurate with its public fiduciary responsibilities, should oppose the Foundation and defend the Museum’s rights to the gift.  The Friends’ lawyer, Tim Kelly (no relation), and others argued that in such a dispute between a public and private institution, the public entity should prevail over the private one.  In defiance of common sense, the DMFA abdicated its right to accept this largest single gift to any Dallas arts institution, insisting instead that the stock should go to the private Foundation for the Arts! 

          Back in 1963, when DMFA and the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts merged, the DMCA formed the Foundation for the Arts purportedly for the purpose of holding its small collection under separate ownership until it could be determined whether the marriage would last.  There was concern among the Artists Equity and Friends groups that art later donated to the private Foundation could eventually end up in another arts institution (and even in another city) rather than the publicly owned DMFA.  Conflicts of interest were rife from the beginning since all of the private Foundation Board members were also on the Board of the DMFA.  To this day, the Foundation, as a private entity, operates in secret and remains unaccountable to the public as to what it owns in art and funds and who insures, houses, guards, conserves, etc. its holdings.  Are we taxpayers paying to support this private Foundation?  I’m aware that the Foundation has even used DMFA publications to appeal to and solicit gifts of art and/or money in competition with the DMFA, our publicly owned institution - with no Foundation transparency or accountability! 

          In 1975, Margaret McDermott and DMFA Director Harry Parker appeared before the Dallas City Council arts committee.  Both of them testified that Mrs. O’Hara would not have given this gift to DMFA because it was a public institution and must answer to the people, and that we were fortunate to have this private Foundation to receive the gift. 

          The Friends’ attorney, and Arthur Koch representing Artists Equity, clearly outlined the glaring conflict of interest to the arts committee, which nevertheless found that since the DMFA had actually declined the gift, it would go by default to the Foundation.

          Since the public’s ownership interest was not being represented by its own Museum Board members, the Friends’ attorney filed a class action suit asking that he be allowed to defend the public’s interest in court by acting on behalf of a representative group of us professional artists, dealers and other citizens.  There could have been hundreds of plaintiffs but because of the time and monetary expense involved in keeping larger numbers informed of legal actions, Kelly chose a representative group of twenty-six individuals.  In spite of this lawsuit, the Texas attorney general, the only other authority who could represent the public’s interest, ruled that the matter was undisputed so he could not step in.

          So the First National Bank was holding the Dr. Pepper stock shares pending a court decision.  The judge ruled that since all parties – the DMFA, the Foundation for the Arts and the City - were represented, no other individuals or groups could be represented in court proceedings. 

          From the depositions of O’Hara’s attorney who drafted her will, we learned from his testimony that in a previous will O’Hara had indeed left a substantial gift to the publicly owned DMFA without any mention of the Foundation; and that she later changed her mind.  Fred Mayer, a longtime member and at times officer of both DMFA and the Foundation for the Arts, testified that O’Hara, who lived in the same building and rode to Museum meetings with him, had been advised by him to change her will because the Foundation was run by sound businessmen and the Museum, on the other hand, was run by political appointees of the Dallas City Council.  Of course, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. The Dallas City Council made no appointments to the DMFA Board, and several of the DMFA Board members were also on the Board of the private Foundation.  It soon became clear that the true intent of the Foundation was to privatize control of the city-owned institution by usurping nontransparent, unaccountable, unrestrained and unquestionable control.  However, depositions revealed that O’Hara clearly did not understand this connection between the two, nor did she even know that they were distinctly separate legal entities.

          In spite of Tim Kelly and Arthur Koch’s reports to the City Council’s art committee, it chose to ignore our protests.  Consequently, the small group of Foundation Board members, who also served on the DMFA Board, was able to unduly influence or actually control the public Museum through Foundation ownership and solicitation of significant works of art and moneys that the Museum would otherwise have received.  Through such a fait accompli, the Foundation would hold the Museum hostage so-to-speak. The asp had struck. 

          You, dear friends, can verify all that we have said by actually listening to the taped (free of charge) appearances of Margaret McDermott, Harry Parker and Tim Kelly before the official art committee of the Dallas City Council.  You can also hear Friends of DMFA representative Charles Miles reading from the court transcript of the testimony of Fred Mayer and O’Hara’s attorney that disproved McDermott’s and Parker’s testimony. 

          The insidious results of our efforts to speak out on behalf of the public’s interest have taken a disastrous toll on the Dallas art community.  Professionals who stood up have been blacklisted and remain blacklisted to this day.  Private financial interests served by the public sale of valuable art works irrevocably promised to the renamed DMA, along with recurring dealings in looted antiquities, demonstrate that a major house cleaning is long overdue at DMA.

          We are most fortunate to now have Dr. Maxwell Anderson at the helm as the new Director of DMA, where he is continuing his international campaign for transparency in art museum operations. All citizens, and particularly art professionals, should support this Council for Artists’ Rights-designated Museum Director of the Decade in his Herculean tasks.

Coming up in Chapter 9:

I was the President's very last visitor at the LBJ Ranch.

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