American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection

Widely known for his philanthropy and commitment to education, Charles Butt also has a discerning eye and passion for American modernism. His collection charts the rise of some of the country’s most revolutionary artists.

Highlighting the collection of philanthropist and Texas native Charles Butt, American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection features more than 80 works of art by icons such as Thomas Hart Benton, Stuart Davis, Jacob Lawrence, Joan Mitchell, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Andrew Wyeth, and Texas artists Mary Bonner and Everett Gee Jackson. The exhibition recontextualizes the multifold histories of art in the United States by sharing Butt’s perspective on American creativity and presenting selections from his collection to the public for the first time.

Organized into five thematic sections, the works on view reflect Butt's lifelong passions and their impact on his collecting:

Intimate Perspectives | Works by Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, and Georgia O'Keeffe highlight the vitality of human connections.​ The Language of the Sea | A fundamental motif in the history of American art, images of the sea also reference Butt's childhood near the Gulf of Mexico in Corpus Christi.   Land Progressions | Artists like Charles Burchfield and Arthur Dove subverted landscape conventions to chart journeys that were more personal.  Geometric Utopias/Dystopias | The urban and rural post-industrial scenes of Jacob Lawrence, Jackson Pollock, and Charles Sheeler pair with trailblazing geometric abstractions by Blanche Lazzell and Alice Trumbull Mason.  New Directions | Reconsidering what it means to be an American artist, the exhibition closes with work from Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Mark Rothko, and Alma Thomas, among others.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Image credit:  George Bellows, Evening Blue (Tending the Lobster Traps, Early Morning), 1916, oil on panel, Charles Butt Collection.​​