| Thurston, Eugene |
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(1896 - 1993)
Place of Birth: Memphis, Tennessee History: Eugene Thurston was born in Memphis, Tennessee. With his parents, Tom and Fern, and his brother Charlie, he moved to El Paso in 1906. Tom began an accounting business which eventually encompassed most of west Texas, southern New Mexico and parts of northern Mexico. Fern became involved in the Woman’s Club, Garden Club and teaching art classes. Eugene’s interest in art was nurtured by the fact that both his paternal grandmother and his mother were painters. However he was in high school before he began to draw seriously. After watching a friend draw with Higgins ink, he bought a bottle, enrolled in a correspondence course in cartooning and became a cartoonist for the Tatler, El Paso High School’s publication. After graduation he joined the army and served until the end of World War I. He soon met and married Anna Lind of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Although working for his father, his interest in art remained strong. He enrolled in a correspondence course with the Federal Schools in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He also studied privately with Dey de Ribcowsky. During the 1920s Thurston began a greeting card and commercial art business. At the same time his paintings were sold at the Fine Arts Shop, a gallery owned by Harry Wagoner. Wagoner showed paintings by Audley Dean Nicols, de Ribcowsky and artists from Santa Fe and Taos. Wagoner was also an artist. He took Thurston on his first painting trip to the Guadalupe Mountains. For the rest of Eugene’s life El Capitan, also known as Signal Peak, was his favorite subject. Thurston eventually painted most of the great mountains of the western United States. The Franklins, Organs, Sandias, Sangre de Cristos, and Superstition mountains were all special to him. Because the family made frequent trips to New Mexico, Thurston became known for his paintings of an adobe house surrounded by Cottonwood trees. The forests of New Mexico and Colorado were also frequent subjects. Thurston sketched and painted wherever he was, including the islands of Hawaii and the Carribean. During the 1920s, which were a time of prosperity for artists, Thurston exhibited widely throughout the United States. By the end of the decade, he had exhibited his work in New York City, Jackson, Mississippi, Phoenix, Arizona and all the major communities of New Mexico. In Texas Thurston had shown his paintings in Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston and El Paso. The 1930s brought a collapse of the art market, however Thurston added Oklahoma to his exhibition list and continued the greeting card business. Thurston turned his interest to expanding opportunities for all El Paso artists. He was a charter member and Director of the El Paso Art Guild in1927, the Del Norte Arts and Crafts Guild in 1934, the Far Southwest Artists in 1935, the El Paso chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters in1946 and the El Paso Artists Association in1950. He was also part of the committee to create the first Sun Carnival Exhibit in 1949. Thurstøn taught commercial art at the El Paso Technical High School from the late 1940s until his retirement in 1966 at the age of seventy. From then until his death in 1993, he traveled extensively, painting wherever he went. His work has become continuously more sought after as the popularity of early Texas art has increased. Selected Exhibitions: 1924 International Exposition, El Paso, TX---1st prize young artist category 1927 Texas Artists Exhibition----Ft, Worth, TX 1927 San Antonio Competitive Exhibit 1928 Federated Woman’s Clubs of New Mexico---1 person touring exhibit 1929 Jackson Mississippi---Municipal Gallery---1 person exhibit 1933 Ransom Gallery, Oklahoma City, OK 1937 Centennial Museum---Texas College of Mines Campus---opening exhibit 1938 Texas Federated Woman’s Clubs Exhibition 1941 First Annual El Paso Woman’s Club Outdoor Exhibit---And Annually thereafter 1948 National Society of Arts and Letters Convention, Chicago, IL 1949 First Annual Sun Carnival Exhibit, El Paso, TX 1950 Texas Fine Arts Association Traveling Exhibit 1950 International Museum Fiesta---El Paso, TX 1951 Texas Arts and Crafts Fair 1952 Texas Fine Arts Spring Membership Exhibit 1954 El Paso Public Library ---Opening Exhibit 1957 El Paso Public Library---2 person exhibit (Holly) 1961 El Paso Art Association ---El Paso Museum of Art, First Annual 1964 Sarasota,, FL Exhibition of Sun Carnival Winners 1967 International Airport ---1 person 1968 Southwest Intercultural Center---1 person 1971 Pikes Peak Art Association National Exhibition 1975 Tigua Arts and Crafts Center, El Paso, TX 1976 Paintings from the McKee Collection---Phoenix Art Museum 1977 A Tribute to Eugene Thurston-Dos Pajaros Gallery---El Paso, TX 1981 Early El Paso Artists---Centennial Museum 1984 Eugene Thurston Retrospective---Centennial Museum 1986 19th Annual El Paso Art Association Exhibit---El Paso Museum of Art ---Russell Daniels Award 1986 Sesquicentennial Exhibit---2 Awards 2000 “Majesty of the Southwestern Landscape” Retrospective—El Paso Museum of Art 2001 ”Round Up”---El Paso Museum of Art 2002 “Early El Paso Painters”---Hal Marcus Gallery 2002 “Eyes of Texas”--- Bill and Mary Cheek Collection Traveling Exhibit 2003 “Eugene B. Thurston Retrospective”---University of Texas at El Paso 2003 “Neighbors-Texas Artists in New Mexico”---Panhandle Plains Historical Museum 2006 “Eugene Thurston-Painter of the Desert”---San Angelo Museum of Art 2007 “Urban Texas”---Panhandle Plaines Historical Museum Collections: El Paso Independent School District, El Paso, Texas El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas Hughey School, El Paso, Texas International Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas Methodist Hospital, Henderson, Kentucky Panhandle Plaines Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas Providence Memorial Hospital Foundation, El Paso, Texas The University of Texas at El Paso Library Special Collections Texas Capitol Historical Artifact Collection of the State Preservation Board Texas Retired Teachers Association Collection, Austin, Texas Publications: A History of Texas Artists and Sculptors--Frances Battaile Fisk Art and Artists in Texas--Esse Forrester O’Brien The Historical Encyclopedia of Texas--Texas Historical Society The McKee Collection of Paintings--Robert E. and Evelyn McKee Foundation Early El Paso Artists--Carol Price Artists of the American West, Vol. 3--Doris Ostrander Dawdy Texas Art and a Wildcatters Dream--Wm. Reaves Dictionary of Texas Artists 1800-1945--Paula and Michael Grauer Who was Who in American Art--Peter Falk Guide to Early EL Paso Artists--Carol Price Miller & Holly Thurston Cox Texas Painters, Sculptors and Graphic Artists--John and Deborah Powers Texas 100--El Paso Museum of Art |