The Dallas Nine, Artists Who Brought American Southwest Regional Art To The Forefront by guest bloggist, Nancy Chamberlain-Strupp

The Dallas Nine, a group of artists from Dallas, Texas, was active from 1928 to 1945. The group  consisted of a team of nine local artists who specialized in different artistic methods. They participated in the Dallas regionalist art movement, formally known as “Texas Regionalism”. 

The Dallas Nine’s name originated from the nine, male artists who lobbied to decorate the walls of the Hall of the State for the Texas Centennial. Original members included Jerry Bywaters, Thomas M. Stell, Jr., Harry P. Carnohan, Otis M, Dozier, Alexandre Hogue, William Lester, Everett Spruce, John Douglass, and Perry Nichols. Original member Jerry Bywaters eventually became an art critic for the Dallas Morning News and editor-in-chief of the Southwestern Arts, and he became the leading spokesman of Regionalism in Dallas. He also became a university professor, museum director, and historian of the Texas Region. Almost all other core members of the Dallas Nine permanently contributed to, and shaped, the Texas art world.

Otis Dozier art signature

The group’s members expanded and contracted over time and included painters, printmakers, and sculptors, adding Frank Klepper, an important McKinney painter, to the group. They flourished, as did the Texas Regionalist movement, during a time when there was an active art movement away from European Abstraction and American artists were being promoted over European artists.

The Dallas Nine gained artistic inspiration from the local, Texas environment, with an intent to celebrate the distinct character of the American Southwest. Collectively, their work depicted both the beauty and harshness of the Texas landscape, with a realistic portrayal of the rugged  people and wildlife living on it.  The works of these artists could include images showing the gritty, stark realities of their times, stemming from the Great Depression and the Southwest Dust Bowl environmental and economic devastation.

Otis Dozier Art

Over time, the Dallas Nine ceased to exist as a defined group.  This was caused by its members choosing to pursue their own personal, artistic, paths and goals. Regardless, these artists left their indelible mark in the art world.  Their work helped build a lasting picture of Texas and assisted in a better, generalized, understanding of our great state.

The continuing legacy of this talented group is a testament to both their important, lasting, artistic achievements and their cultural impact. Their work impacted many fellow and subsequent artists by demonstrating how regional surroundings can be sources of great artistic motivation. They taught others that American artists can find inspiration in their natural environments by looking to the majestic lands, its fiercely strong and independent people, and the surrounding local flora and fauna.  The accomplishments of this group culminated in the 1985 exhibition called, “Lone Star Regionalism: The Dallas Nine and Their Circle, 1928-1945". 

Frank Klepper Art

  Today, visitors can see many works of these famous, home-grown, Texas artists, at Southern Methodist University, Bywaters Special Collections (https://smu.edu/Libraries/Hamon/bywaters) or at the Heard-Craig Center for the Arts (Thomas Stell, Frank Klepper, Ali Tenant) in downtown McKinney (www.heardcraig.org) Heard-Craig Center tours are conducted on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:00 PM or by appointment. Call 972-569-6909 for more information.