Sometimes it is easy to forget art exists outside of paintings and sketches hung on gallery walls. With their latest exhibits featuring works of commercial typography, illustrations and glass etching, Texas A&M’s Forsyth Galleries asks patrons to reevaluate their definition of fine art.
The Art for All People: American Illustrators at Texas A&M University exhibit will be on display through Oct. 13 and features artists such as Robert Henri and Frederic Remington. The George Woodall and Art of English Cameo Glass display will be exhibited through Dec. 15.
The Art for All People exhibit pulls from the Bill and Irma Runyon Art Collection as well as from Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, and displays the renowned ‘fine works’ of famous artists alongside their commercial illustrations from newspaper, books and advertisements.
Some of these journalistic and literary illustrations have been enlarged and hung on the walls next to the artists’ framed canvases, providing for a convenient comparison.
“The pieces in Art for All People were chosen to showcase the range of talent of the artists included in the Runyon Art Collection,” said Amanda Dyer, Forsyth Galleries curator. “The Runyon Art Collection constitutes a large percentage of the gallery’s permanent collection, which stands at around 2,000 pieces.”
Art historians and appreciators of today will know about the paintings and fine art works displayed, Dyer said, but those unfamiliar with the works might not have known these paintings existed.
“Ironically, most of these now famous artists’ contemporaries would have been very familiar with their magazine illustration, but would have never seen any of their paintings in person,” Dyer said.
The George Woodall and the Art of English Cameo exhibit is also currently on display in the Forsyth Gallery, filling the gallery with delicate works of art etched into glass vases, plates and perfume bottles. The engravings are made by layering different colors of heated glass, then blowing them into shape together. Later, the artist etches designs, pictures or full scenes into the glass by hand.
“It’s all pretty spectacular,” said Lynn McDaniel, communications specialist for the gallery. “The details are incredible. I really enjoy seeing the expression on our visitors’ faces as they view the pieces. You can tell they are stunned by the beauty and intricacy of the cameo glass.”
The gallery offers a unique opportunity to view these works of art at a convenient on-campus location.
“There are very few places in the Bryan-College Station area to view important works of art,” Heather Ann Bennett, collections manager for the gallery said. “When I tell people that I manage an art collection for Texas A&M, many of them are surprised to hear that Texas A&M has an art collection.”
The Forsyth Gallery gives the opportunity for students and community members to gain a greater appreciation for the art and culture around them, said Bennett.
“The importance of the Forsyth is to give the students and the surrounding community exposure to the richer aspects of our culture. No one has been able to accurately say why humans are compelled to create art,” Bennett said. “It seems to be something innately in our deeper subconscious. Some people are intimidated by art, because they feel they don’t understand it. The Forsyth is an opportunity for people to encounter beautiful objects, in a welcoming space, and walk away with a greater sense of what it means to be human.”