You Can Go Home Again - Part II

(September 23 - 26, 2016) Fort Worth – Dallas, Texas  

Running behind schedule, Harry and I stopped for a quick lunch at Fort Worth’s Barbecue Temple, Angelo’s on White Settlement Road. Surprisingly there was not much of a crowd. Perhaps it was a football Saturday. We ate lite, one brisket sandwich each and a shared half pound of ribs. The brisket was spot on for Angelo’s and as for the ribs, while tasty were unusually fatty. We also divided an apple fried pie. Harry had never experienced one. The pie was standard fare but tasted better in my memories.  

Museum Dos was my inaugural viewing of the Sid Richardson Museum adjacent to Sundance Square in Downtown Fort Worth. The Museum space is just north of the Knights of Pythias building that housed Bob Wallace’s Stamp and Coin Shop when I was growing up. The Pythias building is now the home of long time Fort Worth Jeweler, Haltom’s, now owned by Susan’s mishpacha.

The Richardson Museum is more Gallery than Museum. It consists of three public rooms, the Museum Store, and two Galleries, dubbed the Blue Gallery and the Brown Gallery. Displayed were about 50 works of art primarily Russells and Remingtons. The clear majority were oil paintings, pen and pencil drawings, or watercolors, in addition to a few sculptures. Several of the works displayed were on loan from private collections. All the pieces are first class and exemplify the best in Western Art. Besides Remington and Russell, there were pieces by William Robinson Leigh, Charles Schreyvogel, Frank Tenney Johnson, and others. Missing though were the Big Spectacular World Class works like those residing at the Carter.

The Sid Richardson was built as a home for Richardson’s collection. Its location complements the Bass Brother’s Sundance Square development in gentrified downtown Fort Worth.  The Bass Brothers as they are known, are Richardson’s three nephews, who inherited much or Richardson’s Texas size Estate. Richardson left his art to the Sid Richardson Foundation. Richardson had planned to leave most of his estate to his Foundation, but his lawyer, before he was Texas Governor, John Connally (BTW Richardson was his sole client) convinced Richardson to alter his plan and leave much of his estate to the nephews. The Nephews invested wisely. They turned the reported $50 million they received into over $5 billion.

Entering museum, we were greeted warmly by the Museum staff and given a guidebook. Admission is free.  We arrived just prior to 2:00pm for the docent lead tour of the galleries. Harry and I were joined by one other person and essentially had a private one-hour tour.  Our docent, Ginger Carlson, was informative and very welcoming. She easily answered all my lame questions with a smile; She was never bothered.  The exhibited Russells and Remingtons were early Russells and late Remingtons. I am unsure why that was.  

Ms. Carlson said Remington often traveled with the Military for protection. She added in contrast Russell lived in the West (Montana) and was more empathetic to the Cowboy. Unbelievably Remington created nearly 3000 paintings in 25 years.

As noted in Part I, Richardson made his art purchases in bulk. Much of his sizeable collection was amassed from 1942 to 1947. Richardson wrote the checks, but was aided in selection by Bertram Newhouse of the famed Newhouse Galleries in New York. Newhouse was also the sole purveyor of art to Kay Kimball, a very noted Fort Worth collector. Mr. Newhouse’s New York Times obituary discloses “Newhouse was instrumental in the development of Kimball’s collection now housed in The Kimball Museum in Fort Worth.”

Perhaps I was Art Exhausted after being drowned in culture at the Carter, and don’t get me wrong the Richardson masterworks are wonderful but it was the staff that made the visit memorable. Richardson’s acquisition protocol was consistent with his Wildcatter business philosophy. When Sid Richardson made a decision, he was all in. Typical of his Texas roots Sid Richardson is quoted as saying, “I’d rather be lucky than smart, ‘cause a lot of smart people ain’t eatin’ regular.”

There is a portrait in the Museum’s gift shop of Mr. Richardson. The portrait done by Southwestern artist, Peter Hurd showed Richardson on his private island, San Jose Island, in the Gulf of Mexico.

Two of the paintings I particularly liked were Remington’s “Self Portrait on a Horse” and Russell’s “Captain William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Meeting with the Indians of the Northwest.”

As we were leaving the Richardson Gallery, I went to purchase a post card as a souvenir and the clerk told me I did not have to pay (50 cents) if I would sign the guest register including my email address.

Richardson’s museum contrasted Carter’s in ways reflective of each of the benefactor’s personalities. Carter businesslike, professional, meeting the highest curatorial standards with high well defined objectives. Richardson’s was more Fort Worth like, friendlier. Just come in, be welcome, and enjoy the pictures.

For an interesting read on Richardson’s influence check out this story on Oil and Politics in LaJolla.

Our last museum stop for the day was at the Fort Worth Aviation Museum. This thematic museum is on a fenced acreage on the South end of the landing strip at Fort Worth’s Meacham Field, west of North Main Avenue.

The museum is a locally initiated and operated effort non-profit by what appeared to be Air Force veterans in Fort Worth. The museum is consisted of what might have been a fixed based operator’s business office of 1940s or 1950s vintage, a large hangar on the property for aircraft restoration, and a petting zoo of aircraft on display. Admission is $5.00.

Displayed in the converted office are many informative exhibits on aviation in Fort Worth and objects relative to the U S Armed Forces. The displays were obviously assembled by volunteers and not of professional museum standards. Yet they were interesting and include important memorabilia. This unique museum and the subject are worthy of their efforts. Their lack of resources is the difference between a B- and a B+.

Of interest to me were Fort Worth and its historic ties to the national defense, the importance of defense contracting to the local economy, and specifically Amon Carter’s influence in making Fort Worth an aviation center.

Twenty-five aircraft were on display in the zoo including Bell and Sikorsky helicopters, a F-14 Tomcat, a F-18 Hornet, F-111 Aardvark, and a McDonald Douglas F-18A Blue Angel Aircraft.

More Amon – There was a small plaque detailing Amon Carter’s early interest in the prospects of the aviation industry. The plaque stated: “Amon Carter was the driving force behind all of Fort Worth’s aviation endeavors including the first flight demonstration in 1911, the three World War I airfields, bringing American Airlines operation here in 1933, the Fort Worth seaplane base on Lake Worth in 1940, the Consolidated Aircraft assembly plant in 1941, and Bell Helicopter in 1951.”

I particularly like the story that in 1940 Carter was in Washington, D.C.  visiting his friend Franklin D. Roosevelt and learned the War Department was planning to soon make the final selection of the site for the large bomber assembly plant. Twelve cities had been selected as semi-finalists including Tulsa and Dallas in the Southwest. Fort Worth had not even lobbied for consideration. On hearing this Carter went to work and the following week it was announced the plant would be in Fort Worth. Nice story.

If you are interested in Fort Worth history or military aviation this is a worthwhile stop.

We then met cousin Debby for drinks and dinner. We had drinks at The Woodshed near where the Forrest Park Stables used to be and nearby the Colonial Country Club’s golf course. The. Woodshed is a failed combination of Margaritaville meets Texas Roadhouse. It was very loud, crowded, touristy, and overpriced. Dinner was at Uncle Julio’s, a family favorite. On this Saturday night after an otherwise great day, our Uncle let us down big time. In Fort Worth, he is living on his laurels, it was a restaurant choice mistake and doesn’t rate even one star. Mental note: You can’t bring back the good old days but Pabst brought back the beer!

On Sunday after breakfast with an old friend, Harry and I headed back to downtown Dallas, to an encore tour at the Texas School Book Depository for the 6^th Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Admission is $16.00, $14.00 for seniors.

As we entered the museum, there was a quote on the wall that touched me:

                 “History after all is the memory of a nation.”

                                           John F. Kennedy

Harry ever the conspiracy theorist on the JFK assassination and Warren Commission cover up, no single bullet theory for my boy, so while there wasn’t much new to see, it spurred a lot of questions. Beyond arguing ballistics, timing, and line of sight, Harry was very patient though helping me with my senior citizen issues with the self-guided tour tech. The museum where allegedly Oswald was perched when he shot the President was very crowded and very loud. Like us there were many out-of-towners who were in the Metroplex for the Dallas Cowboy vs. Chicago Bear Sunday night football game who decided to check out the museum.

The museum caused a vivid remembrance of that bright Texas fall day that became so dark. Since my last 6^th Floor visit, I have read several Kennedy Books (“The Patriarch” bio of Joseph P Kennedy and (a reread) “The Making of the President 1960”) that nuanced by my view of JFK. After viewing and the exhibit again, I now see Kennedy more as a “Change” President. More than the media glamorization of the young President saying the “torch was being passed to a new generation” of calling for “The New Frontier” but a President wanting to structure new post war alliances and implementing post segregation civil rights policies.

Sunday evening, we were off to Cowboy (officially AT&T Stadium) Stadium with cousins, Andrew and Grant to see the Cowboys and the Bears. Terrible game. The Cowboys won easily (31-17) and Cowboys were mediocre at best. The Bears were Terrible with a capital T.  

Jerry’s World (as referred to by the locals) is spectacular, the best football stadium in the land. I don’t like Jerry Jones (he fired Tom Landry on Jones’ first day on the job as owner) but his World is beautiful, extremely well planned in all aspects. Jones is a marketing genius. He sells you $15 burgers (7oz patty, blue cheese, lettuce tomato, onion rings on top on an artisan bun), $8 beers, $12 margaritas, and makes you feel good about it. Concession lines are fast, no longer than a five-minute wait. There are plenty of restrooms for the 88,000 fans in attendance. Even with a mediocre team, no wonder all home Cowboy games are sold out.

On Monday before our late afternoon flights, we headed back to Fort Worth for one more museum, lunch, and a quick stop for more genealogical research.

We began the morning at the Fort Worth Stockyards Museum located in the historic and beautiful Fort Worth Livestock Exchange Building. Admission is $2.00. The museum is operated by the North Fort Worth Historical Society. Quaint is perhaps the best way to describe the museum. The museum appeared to be operated by volunteers. If they were paid it was apparent they still loved the Yards and were committed to their work.  I asked one of the persons on duty, given parts of the historic stockyards were being redeveloped, what was going to happen to the Exchange Building? He told me there were no plans to demolish it, but if they tried to he would chain himself to the building. I took this as no idle threat from a very feisty seventy-five-year-old cowboy.

The museum occupied what had previously been two offices on the first floor of the building. One side was all displays and the other divided into gift shop and very makeshift “theatre.”

The museum that resembled many County Historical museums that can be found in rural South Dakota was a series of displays of photographs, newspaper articles, and collections from businesses or individuals that had been associated with the Stockyards over the years. There were extensive photographs of many aspects of the Swift & Armour packing plants. Ditto for memorabilia from many commission companies that operated at the yards.

There was nothing extraordinary to see. The displays only reinforced my understanding and experience of the Stockyards. My family had a strong connection to the Fort Worth Stockyards. My Great Grandfather had been a livestock buyer there for a few years prior to 1910. My Grandfather was a drover there for his father from 1908 until 1910 and then bought cattle and sheep at the Yards from 1910 until 1961. My Father drove a rendering truck and picked up dead animals at the Stockyards in the mid-1930s. The Stockyards at their zenith, had 10 million bricks for paving and covered more than 100 acres.

In the theatre area that included six folding chairs, the film the Historical Society produced , “Wall Street of the West”, is played throughout the day. The film is an excellent history of the Stockyards and its importance. The primary thing the Stockyards Museum had going for it is its location.  The Fort Worth Stockyards is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Consequently, it is a major tourist attraction, attracting 500,000 visitors each year.

Lunch was at Railhead Smokehouse. Repeating our Angelo’s order from Saturday, two sliced brisket sandwiches and ribs. A Plus. The brisket certainly equals Angelo’s and the ribs are better. For some time, I have preferred Railhead to the aging Angelo’s. This trip the difference was well defined.

After lunch, we headed to Hebrew Rest cemetery on South Main for me to check out a grave site while Harry double parked at John Peter Smith Hospital. Then it was off to DFW for the trip home. It was another great trip with my boy. 

You Can Go Home Again - Part I

(September 23 - 26, 2016) Fort Worth – Dallas, Texas  

My son Harry and I escaped our everyday life for a football and Cowtown Culture long weekend in my Holy Land. 

After a late Friday morning arrival at DFW we scampered off for a lunch at Lockhart Smokehouse in Oak Cliff next to the Bishop Arts District. The Cue was really good and welcome after a long barbecue drought but it does not measure up to Smitty’s or Kruez Market in the real Lockhart. Before leaving Oak Cliff we stopped at the historical marker for Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit who was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald about forty-five minutes after Oswald’s assassination of President Kennedy. It was interesting to learn that Tippit had received the Bronze Star for his airborne crossing of the Rhine River in March 1945. We next ventured into nearby downtown Big D to do some genealogical research (unsuccessfully). On our way we stopped for a moment to check out John Neely Bryan’s Cabin and an across the street look at Dallas’ Memorial to President John F Kennedy. Bryan was an Indian trader, farmer and lawyer who founded Dallas.  

After checking into our hotel, we picked up our cousins, Zach and Steve, and went to the very nice stadium on the SMU campus for the Frog and Pony Show (TCU v. SMU football game). The Frogs after a slow offensive start ran over the Mustangs 33 – 3. Note: The on campus stadium has horrible parking.  

Saturday morning, we were off to Fort Worth for a day of culture. We arrived at my Museum Mother Ship, The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth (formerly the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art.)  The Carter Museum is located in the Fort Worth Cultural District, formerly named Amon Carter Square. Carter was our City Father. A little more on him later, but Carter was America’s foremost collector of western artists Frederic Remington and Charles Russell and the national epitome of the Rich Texan. His good friend, actor and humorist Will Rogers introduced Carter to Western Art. The museum opened in 1961. 

Carter bequeathed an endowment for the beautifully designed Phillip Johnson museum to store and display his extensive art collection. Admission is free. If you ever find yourself in Cowtown with even a free hour The Carter is a MUST See! 

Harry and I planned to arrive for the eleven o’clock docent led tour of and overview of the permanent collection. Because it was a Saturday and there was light traffic we arrived about forty-five minutes early. At the Museum’s information desk we were told there was a tour in progress of the Charles Russell collection. We joined the tour being conducted by a costumed docent acting as Charles Marion Russell, the cowboy artist. His portrayal added another dimension to my understanding Russell. Russell was noted as a great storyteller. Our guide, a middle aged gentleman named Joe Strain knew Russell and when telling Russell stories, he was both informative and entertaining. In character Russell told us about two of his sculpted bronzes of the Indian warrior Medicine Whip. Out of character he backgrounded us on Russell’s life.  

Both Russell and Remington painted the disappearing American West primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Russell was from near St. Louis and worked in watercolor, oils, and sculpture. At age sixteen he moved to Montana where he worked as a ranch hand and occasional trapper. When he was thirty-two years old he married Nancy Bates Cooper and they resided in Cascade, Montana. Nancy was certain that Charlie had marketable talent and persuaded him to pursue art as an occupation. Wife and husband soon moved to Great Falls where Russell would open his art studio.  

Strain emphasized besides appreciating great art, Amon Carter also appreciated the joy of acquisition. At Carter’s repeated suggestion, his friend Fort Worth oilman Sid Richardson began acquiring Western Art as well. Strain explained unlike Carter, Richardson purchased in mass. Richardson would call art dealers, primarily in New York City and ask what that had in Western art and he would buy their entire inventory. Carter purchased onesies and twosies, Richardson purchased in large lots. However in contrast Carter amassed a Texas size collection of 330 Russell’s while Richardson assembled only 50.  

The absolute bonus of the Russell tour was the last ten minutes we were taken to the Museum’s library for a brief look at the inner sanctum. The library has an extensive collection of research materials including a complete collection of all the original editions of Harper’s Weekly magazine. The library is only open to the public part time on Saturdays. Archivist and Reference Services Manager, Jonathan Frembling conducted a short presentation. I love libraries and the Carter’s blew me away.  

What Frembling had on the table for us to look at was the complete Karl Bodmer original first edition folio of his trip with German Prinz Maximillian zu Wied-Neuvied. This expedition took place from 1832 to 1834 and trans versed the Indian Country of Lewis and Clark’s Missouri River expedition. Bodmer’s work is very detailed and shows the Native Americans on their lands before the mass arrival of the White man. Bodmer was the first artist to capture these images. I have seen several times the extensive collection of Bodmer’s at the Joslyn Museum in Omaha but never the Folio. Unbelievable! 

In contrast to Russell and Remington, Bodmer’s work focused on the period before the White man. Remington and Russell focused on the period twenty years after the Civil War when the West was being won and the frontier being tamed. Interestingly Frembling noted (and I had never known this) the U S government planned the decimation of the buffalo herds as a tactic to tame and conquer the Plains Indians.  

Our tour of the highlights of the permanent collection began promptly. Our docent spent the first five minutes on a tribute to Amon Carter the Museum’s benefactor. The next fifteen minutes were devoted to Remington and Russell. She noted both were focused on cowboys and horses. Russell’s paintings and drawings most often include very blue skies and Montana in the background; Remington’s includes men, horses, action, and occasionally some depiction or reference to the U. S. Calvary.  

Remington’s family were early settlers in America arriving in 1637, Remington’s father was a Union Colonel in the Cavalry in the Civil War. He had a notable family bloodline. He was related to famed Indian portrait artist George Catlin, cowboy sculptor Earl Bascom, mountain men Jedediah Smith, “Doc” Newell, and Jonathan Warner. His cousin was Eliphalet Remington founder of the Remington Arms Company. Most notable in his bloodline was President George Washington.  

Frederick Remington was an Easterner from New York. He was born in 1861 at Canton, New York near the St. Lawrence River. After the Civil War the family moved to Bloomington, Illinois for four years. They returned east to Ogdensburg, New York. Remington was a poor student with modest ambition but a great artistic talent. He briefly studied art at Yale University but dropped out to pursue his wanderlust of camping out in the Old West. 

After his sojourn in the West, Remington returned to New York and established his studio in New Rochelle, New York on Long Island Sound. What put Remington on the map was his work as an illustrator. He created drawings of the old west for magazines like Harper’s Weekly. He quickly moved to bigger pieces painting in oil and then he began sculpting. Many of his paintings were very large like “Dash For the Timber” a prize piece at the Carter. Remington did some of his best work showing men and horses in “Big Art. “ 

Surprising to me was that his first attempt at sculpture was his famous “Bronco Buster”. Of the first twenty-one original castings, the Carter has one, one resides in the Oval Office at the White House, and there is another original at Theodore Roosevelt’s home at Sagamore Hill. The Roosevelt casting was a gift to TR from his Rough Riders. From a second sand casting mold there were 54 of the bronze Bronco Buster produced. From these one resides in the Joslyn Museum in Omaha a bequest of N. P. Dodge.  

Later in his life, several of his works took on what I call an impressionist flavor. Frederic Remington’s epitaph (at his request) says “I Knew the Horse.”  

The Carter did not officially make the name change to include American Art until 2010 though the collection had been trending in that direction for three to four decades. Besides collecting Russell’s and Remington’s, Mr. Carter also had an extensive collection of Texas Folk Art, Lithography, 19th Century Photographs and Sculptures. Included are paintings by Georgia O’Keefe, Charles Schreyvogel, William Robinson Leigh, William Harnett, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and the list goes on and on of beautiful stills, portraits, and landscapes. Other than the Remington’s my favorite in the permanent collection is “Parson Weem’s Fable” by Grant Wood. The collection of 19th Century photographs is one of the top six in Country. 

My Fort Worth Civic Pride is showing – Our docent stopped in front of Thomas Eakins’s very famous painting, “The Swimming Hole” and told this fabulous story. The realist painting shows Eakins students skinny dipping in the river (Eakins has a selfie of him swimming in the water below his students). The painting is a prime example of Eakins depictions of the human anatomy. Eakins is recognized as one of America’s greatest artists and this painting is considered to be one of his most famous, certainly one of his top five. Thomas Eakins liked the painting and never sold it. He placed it in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. For several years he had been a salaried Professor at the Pennsylvania Academy.  

In about 1890 a group of Women in Fort Worth established the Fort Worth Art Association. Their purpose was promotion of fine art and culture in Cowtown. The Art Association years later built the Fort Worth Art Museum. About fifteen years ago it was torn town and the Art Association replaced it with the beautiful Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. “The Modern” is also located in the Cultural District.  As the story goes, after Eakins death, his wife Susan took possession from the Pennsylvania Museum and subsequently put “The Swimming Hole” up for sale. The ladies in Fort Worth purchased it in 1925 for $750. Since they had no display place of their own, they displayed it in the Fort Worth Public Library for many years until they had their own museum. 

In about 1990 the Art Association received an offer from a New York City buyer for $10 million. Fort Worth did not want this significant American painting to get away. Consequently, the Carter Museum put $5 million into a consortium and raised the other $5 million from local art patrons and purchased “The Swimming Hole.” 

On another Carter Museum related local historical note - Our docent told us when it became known that President Kennedy would be overnighting in Fort Worth during his trip to Texas in 1963, Amon Carter’s daughter, Ruth Carter Stevenson, arranged for seventeen of the Museum’s paintings to be placed into The President’s suite at the Hotel Texas. Mrs. Stevenson who was the driving force at the Carter Museum and one of the nation’s leading supporters of the arts also served on the prestigious Board of Directors at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D C. The morning after the President and Mrs. Kennedy’s stay, the President called Mrs. Stevenson to thank her for arranging for the great art in their rooms. That was the last telephone call President Kennedy ever made.  

After the tour, Harry and I rushed back to the inner sanctum to see more.  The gracious Archivist, Mr. Frembling ushered us back to the stacks where I swear the Shroud of Turin might have been stored. It was unbelievable. They had boxes upon boxes, shelves upon shelves of personal letters, artwork, books and original documents of the Old West. Many of these unique items were gifted to the Museum when a family no longer had anyone to leave them to or wanted to be assured they would be cared for and archived for historical research. It was unbelievable. Of particular interest to me was the J P Morgan sponsored complete 20 volume folio on the North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis. With free reign, I could spend a year in those storage rooms.  

Half the day was gone and we still had to make yet another barbecue stop and two more museums to get to.