Florence McClung
Encyclopedia
Florence McClung painter, printmaker, and art teacher, daughter of Charles W. and Minerva (McCoy) White, was born at St. Louis, Missouri
, on July 12, 1894. She moved to Dallas in 1899 and lived there until her death. She was related to the Dallas Nine, an influential group of Dallas-based artists.
After having studied for a career as a concert pianist, Florence McClung studied pastel with Frank Reaugh
in the early 1920's and then learnt from Olin Travis and Alexandre Hogue
.
She painted for periods of time in Taos
between 1928 and 1932, thus joining a circle that included Hogue, Mabel Dodge Luhan
and Tony Luhan and the Taos Society of Artists
. .
Florence McClung became an active member of the Printmakers Guild (renamed Texas Printmakers in 1952) in the 1940’s and 50’s. This guild was a small group of Texas Women artists founded as a consequence of the exclusion of women from the Lone Star Printmakers of Dallas, headed by Hogue and Bywaters. In 1945, she was elected the Director of Texas Fine Arts Association, now known as the Texas Visual Arts Association. In 1946, she was elected to the board of directors of the Southern States Art League.
Florence McClung’s later works were mostly serigraphs. As she approached her early sixties in the mid 1950’s she began to lose her sight and decreased her productivity. She eventually became blind in her right eye following an operation in 1986. Another possible explanation of her decrease in activity was that it became difficult for her to “reconcile her love for rural countryside with the growing urban character of Dallas”.
Her art always remained deeply linked to the Texas identity: “Underlying the work and reflected in all its manifestations is a clearly defined purpose: to make a vivid, permanent record of those phases of southwestern life which even now are disappearing”. Consistently, before she died, Florence McClung gave several of her paintings to the Dallas Museum of Art
.
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, on July 12, 1894. She moved to Dallas in 1899 and lived there until her death. She was related to the Dallas Nine, an influential group of Dallas-based artists.
After having studied for a career as a concert pianist, Florence McClung studied pastel with Frank Reaugh
Frank Reaugh
Charles Franklin Reaugh , known as Frank Reagh, was an artist, photographer, inventor, patron of the arts, and teacher, who was called the "Dean of Texas Painters". He devoted his career to the visual documentation in pastel and paint, portraying the vast, still unsettled regions of the Great...
in the early 1920's and then learnt from Olin Travis and Alexandre Hogue
Alexandre Hogue
Alexandre Hogue was an American artist active during the 1930s through the 1960s. He is a realist painter associated with the Dallas Nine; the majority of his works focus on Southwestern and Midwestern landscapes during the Dust Bowl.-Biography:Hogue was born on February 22, 1898 in Memphis,...
.
She painted for periods of time in Taos
Taos
Taos can meanPlaces*Taos Pueblo, a Native American pueblo, Tua-tah*Taos dialect, a dialect of the Tiwa language*Taos County, New Mexico, United States*Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico...
between 1928 and 1932, thus joining a circle that included Hogue, Mabel Dodge Luhan
Mabel Dodge Luhan
Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan , née Ganson was a wealthy American patron of the arts. She is particularly associated with the Taos art colony.-Early life:...
and Tony Luhan and the Taos Society of Artists
Taos Society of Artists
The Taos Society of Artists was an organization of visual arts founded in Taos, New Mexico in 1915; it disbanded in 1927. The Society was essentially a commercial cooperative, as opposed to a stylistic collective, and its foundation contributed to the development of the tiny Taos art colony into...
. .
Florence McClung became an active member of the Printmakers Guild (renamed Texas Printmakers in 1952) in the 1940’s and 50’s. This guild was a small group of Texas Women artists founded as a consequence of the exclusion of women from the Lone Star Printmakers of Dallas, headed by Hogue and Bywaters. In 1945, she was elected the Director of Texas Fine Arts Association, now known as the Texas Visual Arts Association. In 1946, she was elected to the board of directors of the Southern States Art League.
Florence McClung’s later works were mostly serigraphs. As she approached her early sixties in the mid 1950’s she began to lose her sight and decreased her productivity. She eventually became blind in her right eye following an operation in 1986. Another possible explanation of her decrease in activity was that it became difficult for her to “reconcile her love for rural countryside with the growing urban character of Dallas”.
Her art always remained deeply linked to the Texas identity: “Underlying the work and reflected in all its manifestations is a clearly defined purpose: to make a vivid, permanent record of those phases of southwestern life which even now are disappearing”. Consistently, before she died, Florence McClung gave several of her paintings to the Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Museum of Art is a major art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, USA, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In 1984, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District, Dallas, Texas...
.