Interview with Henri Gadbois, conducted by Sarah C. Reynolds
Native son
I’m a native Houstonian…a St. Joseph’s baby. I grew up here in Houston; went to Lamar High School and then the University of Houston. I got my BFA there in 1952, and my Masters in 1953. My father was an artist, too, so I had been “exposed.” He was a commercial artist who worked for Madison Southwest. He painted the big outdoor billboards—he could paint these huge, ten-foot heads from a small sketch and from a distance it looked great. I used to say he was one of the first pop artists, and he didn’t even know it. He very violently objected to abstract art and we always had good arguments back and forth.
My father was in a group of men here that were commercial artists, and they had a studio down in the old M&M Building.
The Merchants and Manufacturers Building opened in early 1930. With 600,000 square feet, 40,000 window panes and 14 miles of floor space, it was the largest building in the city. It later became a part of the University of Houston-Downtown.
This was in the late 1930s, during the Depression, and the [owner] couldn’t rent anything, so he gave them this space. These men would go down in the evening and paint. They did still lifes or they would hire models sometimes, or they would go out on field trips down on the bayou. I would watch him paint and I picked up a lot from my father.
Red tights
By Henri Gadbois. 1954. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Gift of the Allied Arts Foundation.
Early exposure
Probably one of my greatest influences was my high school art teacher, Norma Henderson, who also taught Jack Boynton and Dick Wray. Norma remained dear, dear friends with both [my wife] Leila
Henri Gadbois married Leila McConnell on August 18, 1956.
and me for the rest of her life. She introduced me to ceramics and the first thing I ever exhibited was a small bowl I did while I was still in high school…it was in the Texas General, in ’47 I think. So I started exhibiting nearly 60 years ago.
[Norma] introduced me to Lowell Alden, a ceramist who had a studio here, and Alvin Romansky.
Alvin Sylvan Romansky was a native Houstonian and attorney. He was one of six charter members of the Contemporary Arts Association (CAA) in 1948.
As a teenager, I’d be taking class. I took classes from Ruth Uhler
Ruth Pershing Uhler, an artist, also worked as an instructor and curator of education at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, from 1937 to 1967.
at the Museum…more for the fun of just going to the Museum rather than being serious about doing painting. But then I went to the University of Houston during a time of great change. Frederic Browne
Frederic Browne taught architectural drawing and painting at Rice University
was retiring in ’48 and Bernie Lemmell was the new head of the department. I think when I was there I took from both Robert Preusser
Robert Preusser, 1919-1992. Houston-born abstract expressionist painter and art educator, actively involved in the Contemporary Arts Association. He was an instructor and associate curator of education at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston during the 1940s and 1950s.
and Lowell Collins.
Lowell Daunt Collins, 1924-2003. President of Lowell Collins Gallery and director and instructor for Lowell Collins School of Art. Collins taught fine arts at several universities including University of Houston and Houston Baptist University, and was instrumental at the museum school at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Lowell was teaching a class at the Museum of Fine Arts School in the evening, and he got me a scholarship to go every Tuesday and Thursday evening to his life class, and it was a great group. Gertrude Barnstone was in the class. [So was] Andy Todd, who is an architect, and Bob Lynn, who is an architect. Eric Taylor, an Englishman who worked for Channel 13, was in the class, too. After class we would all go down to 2K’s on Main Street and have coffee or raisin toast. George Fuermann who was a columnist at the Houston Post would come in also, finishing up his day. One time Lowell did caricatures of the people—quick pencil drawings maybe just two inches high in his sketchbook—and Fuermann saw and was so intrigued that he asked to “borrow” them. They appeared in the Houston Post one day, these caricatures of people. It was a very stimulating, exciting time.
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Source:
OpenStax, Houston reflections: art in the city, 1950s, 60s and 70s. OpenStax CNX. May 06, 2008 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10526/1.2
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