Gene Autry was born in Tioga, Texas and grew up helping out with his family’s cattle ranch. He sang in the church choir and his mother gave him his first lessons on guitar when he was twelve. While working as a telegraph operator in the 1920s, Autry would sing and play during his shift. His manager overheard and suggested he move to New York and try to make a career in radio. It would take a few years, but Autry eventually signed a record deal. His first hit, “This Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine,” sold more than 500,000 copies. He transitioned into the movies in the 1930s, earning the nickname “The Singing Cowboy,” then into television in the late 1940s. Perhaps his most famous song was recorded in 1949: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” which sold 1.75 million copies that first Christmas and more than 12.5 million copies since then. Later in life, Autry began to help preserve some of the old cowboy culture, creating what is today the Autry Museum of the American West.
By Friedrich Kaulbach – Thanks to Mrs. Fisch, Public Domain, [source]
Education and a Celebrated Career Franzisca Bernadina Wilhelmina Elisabeth Ney was born in Münster, Westphalia,
in what is today Germany, in 1833. Her father was a stonecutter and she
grew up on tales of her sculptor ancestors. At 19, she announced her
intent to move to Berlin and study sculpture.
Her family was outraged. It was not considered proper for a girl to
live by herself in a strange town or to study sculpture. Besides, art
academies did not admit women. In retaliation, she went on a hunger
strike. With a little help from the Bishop of Munster, she reached a
compromise with her parents and headed to Munich. In 1854, Ney
became the first woman to graduate from the Munich Art Academy and then
headed to Berlin, to study with the celebrated Christian
Daniel Rauch. In 1857, Ney set up her own studio and began a career as a
celebrated portrait sculptor, sculpting busts of Otto von Bismark,
Jacob Grimm, and King Ludwig II.
Liendo Plantation, 1934. Historic American Buildings Survey, James I. Campbell, Photographer March 10, 1934 VIEW OF FRONT FROM EAST. – Liendo, Farm Road 1488 and Wyatt Chapel Road Vicinity, Hempstead, HABS TEX,239-HEMP.V,1-3.tif [source]
Pause for Family In 1863, Ney married Edmund Montgomery, a celebrated Scottish scientist. In 1871, when the Franco-Prussian was broke out, the couple immigrated to the United States, first to Georgia, then to Minnesota. In 1873, Ney traveled by herself to Texas, where she found Liendo Plantation and declared it home. Her family followed shortly after. Ney spent the next 20 years managing the plantation. By the late 1880s, Ney was calling Liendo Plantation a “lovely cursed retreat.” She had little artistic stimulation and little society, since her husband was quite happy to be a reclusive scientist. In 1891 Ney separated from her husband and went to Austin.
A Sculptor Again In Austin, Ney built a studio she called Formosa and began taking commissions. However, she didn’t really see success until the Texas Legislature commissioned statues of Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston and a grave memorial for Albert Sydney Johnson. Ney continued to sculpt and was active in the art scene of Austin until her death in 1907. In 1911, a group of Ney’s friends got together to preserve her studio and all the works therein, creating the Elisabet Ney Museum, which is still open to visitors today. Visitors to Washington, D.C. can also see a few of her works. Copies of her Austin and Houston statues represent Texas in the Statuary Hall at the National Capitol and her Lady Macbeth is on display in the National Museum of American Art.
Elisabet Ney in her Austin Studio, c. 1900. By Unknown – Stadtmuseum Münster, Public Domain, [source]
Photograph of the International Bridge crossing the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas to Matamoros, Mexico. [Robert Runyon Photograph Collection; RUN03751] [source]
Early Life Robert Runyon was born in Kentucky in 1881, but headed west after his wife’s death in 1908. He wound up in Houston, where he worked for the railroad, selling concessions. In 1909, the railroad offered him a position in Brownsville, Texas, managing the depot cafe, which Runyon accepted. But Runyon quickly discovered another passion: photography.
A photograph of a Curtiss JN-4B from Fort Brown that crashed near Brownsville, Texas. 1900-1920 [source]
Photographing Life and War In 1910, Runyon opened a commercial photography studio, where he did studio portraits. Runyon also photographed the people and events around him. As the border wars raged, he photographed the aftermath of battles and traveled with the Mexican revolutionary army. When the war spilled into the US, he photographed the build up of troops in Fort Brown and the preparations for WWI. His photographs show some of the least documented parts of the war. After the war, Runyon returned to photographing and selling scenes of everyday life and studio portraits. Runyon also discovered a passion for botany and would take many pictures documenting the native flora.
Changing Focus In
1926, Runyon closed his photography studio and opened a curio shop,
before focusing on a career as a botanist and a politician. His
photography would continue to illustrate his botanical books, but he
would become much better known as a botanist than a photographer. Runyon
became involved in city politics in the 1930s. He was appointed city
manager in 1937 and elected mayor in 1941. In 1952, he attempted to run
for the Texas House of Representatives, but lost. He would stay active
in local politics until his death in 1968.
Josephine Lucchese as Gilda in Rigoletto in 1922, by Lumiere [source]
Josephine Lucchese was born in 1893, the daughter of famed boot maker Sam Lucchese. She studied music from a young age, including piano, mandolin, and voice from Italian Soprano, Virginia Colombati. At 18, Lucchese accompanied Colombati to New York to continue her training. In 1920, Lucchese appeared as Olympia in Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann. She quickly gained fame for her coloratura roles, which require great vocal dexterity and skill, particularly as Rosina in The Barber of Seville. Lucchese toured throughout America and Europe, where she was called the “American Nightingale,” despite being one of the few opera stars without classical European opera training. She returned to Texas and taught voice at the University of Texas from 1956 to 1968. She retired to her hometown of San Antonio, where she continued to take private pupils. Josephine Lucchese passed away in 1974.
Robert Rauschenberg By Jac. de Nijs / Anefo – Nationaal Archief, CC BY-SA 3.0 [source]
Riding Bikes by Robert Rauschenberg, Berlin, 1988. Photograph by Hans Bug at the German language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 [source]
Found Art Robert Rauschenberg
was born in Port Arthur, Texas in 1925. He would become a leader in the
pop art movement of the 1950s and 60s. He is most famous for his
collage work, which began with found objects and later incorporated
photographs using a silk screen process and other traditional art
methods. In 1969, NASA invited Rauschenberg
to view the Apollo 11 launch and provided him with materials, such as
photographs, charts, and maps, to make his art. This began a fascination
with science and technology that would permeate his work.
Sky Garden by Robert Rauschenberg, 1969, created for NASA [source]
Personal Life Rauschenberg
married Susan Wiel in 1950, but the couple divorced in 1953. Over the
years, Rauschenberg would have relationships with several of his fellow
artists, including Cy Twombly and Jasper Johns. He died in 2008 and was
survived by his son Christopher Rauschenberg, a noted photographer, and
his longtime partner, artist Darryl Pottorf.
Alan Bean in the National Air and Space Museum, By MBisanz – Own work, Public Domain, [source]
Astronaut
Alan Bean on the Moon, November 19th, 1969, NASA, [source]
Alan Bean was born in Wheeler, Texas and studied Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. After school, he went into the Navy and became a test pilot. In 1963, he was selected to be part of the 3rd group of Astronauts. Bean was the lunar module pilot for Apollo 12 and became the 4th man to walk on the moon on November 19th, 1969. Bean went on to be a commander during the Skylab era. Though he retired from the Navy in 1975, Bean continued on with NASA as the head of the Astronaut Candidate Operations and Training Group. He retired from NASA in 1981 and turned to art. Bean painted many scenes from his time on the Moon, exhibiting his work at the National Air and Space Museum in 2009, as well as writing several memoirs of his time in the Apollo program and his experiences on the Moon. Bean passed away in May of 2018 and is now buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
By Peter Hurd – National Portrait Gallery, public domain, Public Domain
Peter Hurd painted this portrait of Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1967. It was intended as Johnson’s presidential portrait, but LBJ rejected it, reportedly calling it “the ugliest thing I ever saw.” The incident would inspire the pun “artists should be seen around the White House–but not Hurd.” The portrait was briefly exhibited at the Diamond M Museum in Snyder, Texas where it drew a record crowd. It now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.
Interpreting Texas 
