Souvenir Chronicles: SOUTHERN TEXAS, BEAUMONT: THE ART MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN TEXAS

November 22, 2021

In my last post, I mentioned what a surprise it was to discover a church as beautiful as St. Anthony's Cathedral Basilica in an industrial town like Beaumont, Texas. Some of the primary businesses associated with the town are Bethlehem Steel, Gulf Oil, and Exxon Oil. Driving around, we definitely got the feel that it was a blue-collar town, stereotypically not a place known for things like art museums.

So as we pulled up to the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, I must confess that my expectations were not very high, in spite of the fact that we'd just been blown away by St. Anthony's. The exterior is nice but not exceptional. A statue of a rakish George O'Brien Millard, a prominent Beaumont citizen in the early 1900s who helped develop the city's public school system, stands on the corner.

We stopped at the front desk to pay our $8 admission fees and I was almost immediately hooked. This was going to be Beaumont Shocker #2. Right next to the desk was an elaborate Tree of Life sculpture that rivals just about any similarly-themed sculpture I've seen.

Tree of Life, Creation (1960-1980) by Alfonso Soteno

A close-up view of the top shows God the Creator overseeing his creations, including Adam and Eve in the Garden with the serpent between them.

At the bottom of the tree are Adam and Eve again as they are being expelled from the Garden.

In the first gallery, another Tree of Life has a Dia de los Muertos theme:

Tree of Life, Day of the Dead Wedding (n.d.), artist unknown

As I look at information about this museum now, I think most of the pieces we saw and that I will post here were part of a traveling exhibit. Most appear to originate in Mexico or were created by Mexican artists, and I assumed that Beaumont was a heavily Hispanic town. Surprisingly, I've learned that Hispanics/Latinx make up only 13% of the population while African-Americans make up 47.3%.

This work is made from folded foil. Incredible! Note the national symbol of Mexico at the top--an eagle standing on a nopal cactus and holding a snake in its beak.

Foil Virgin (n.d.) by Marcelino Eduardo Sánchez Rodríguez

In the center is another symbol of Mexico, the Virgin of Guadalupe:

Here are two more versions of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Virgin on the left was created by Richard Salas Poulat (n.d.) of silver, turquoise, coral, and ivory. The Virgin on the right was created by Matilde Eugenia Poulat (his mother? wife? daughter?) (n.d.) of metal and precious stones.

This sculpture of St. Martin is one of my favorites. I love the untraditional halo of stars and all the little animals. There are five or six historical St. Martins, and my guess is this is Martin de Porres, a Peruvian of the Dominican Order, noted for being vegetarian and promoting racial harmony. Wikipedia notes that he is often depicted as a young friar in a Dominican habit and is often shown with animals living peacefully together.

Saint Martin (n.d.) by Luis Valencia Mendoza

This piece is by an African-American artist from Dallas.

Crucifixion of Jesus Christ (1994) by Deacon Eddie Moore

Two things strike me in this sculpture: the wings and the creepy devil with horns and a tail:

San Miguel [Michael] Fighting the Devil (n.d.) by Tiburcio Soteno Fernández

Another one of my favorites is this wedding scene with all the birds. One of the iconic symbols of Dia de los Muertos is the tall female skeleton wearing a fancy, feathered hat and known as "La Catrina."

Catrina Couple Under Stars and Birds (n.d.) by unknownn artist

I think this one should be entitled "Mother-in-law" (but not after MY mother-in-law, who is awesome).

Black Catrina Figure with Parasol (n.d.) by Magdalena Pedro Martínez

I love the Mexican obsession with death, especially because there are so many happy death images, like this one.

Day of the Dead Musicians (n.d.) by Unknown Artist

Another of my favorites is a series of depictions of the Last Supper. They made me realize what an impact DaVinci's rendition has had--the long table with Jesus in the center and the apostles facing the viewer mimic the DaVinci set-up.

Last Supper (1989) by Tim "Junior" Lewis

Last Supper (1993) by Deacon Eddie Moore

Okay, how can you not just LOVE this version? I wish I knew more about it.

Last Supper of Watermelon (n.d.) by Unknown Artist

A close-up of the feast:

Moving on . . . What do you think inspired this work of art?

Coffin (1990) by Sulton Rogers

More death . . .

Graveside Scene (n.d.) by Unknown Artist

The museum had a special exhibit of work by Carlomagno Pedro Martínez, a Mexican artist known for his black clay pottery art, a style specific to the state of Oaxaca.

Close-ups of the three squares above:

For some reason most of my photos in this gallery turned out pretty fuzzy, so I will only include a few.

Crossing the River Styx (n.d.) by Carlomagno Pedro Martínez

This isn't a very good photo, but you get an idea of the scope of the work.

Mexican Revolution, 1910 Oaxaca (n.d.) by Carlomagno Pedro Martínez

The close-ups of different sections give a better idea of the details.

On our way out of the galleries, we stopped to admire a sculpture by an artist with an interesting biography. Felix "Fox" Harris worked as a logging foreman in the 1940s and latter moved to Beaumont, where he was a foreman for a construction company crew that laid railroad tracks. He could not read and could only write his name. He did not start producing art until about 1960 when he was in his mid-50s.

Felix says he had a vision in which God appeared to him, holding a brown sheet of paper representing the struggles and sorrows of Felix's old life and a white one representing what his life could be in the future. In the same way that God transformed Felix from "nothin' to somethin'," Felix transformed recycled items into works of art. Upon his death in 1985, local citizens gathered the work from his yard and gave it to the Art Museum of Southeast Texas (not this museum), most likely rescuing it from destruction.

A large photograph of Felix contemplating his recycled pieces hangs next to the collage.

One more death-related piece of art is in the lobby just outside the gift shop.

Death Cart (with St. Sebastian) (1979)
by Alex Lopez de Ortiz

Also in this part of the lobby are these three works of art: 1) Tree of Life with Adam and Eve (late 20th century) by the Flores Family; 2) Reclining Jaguar (1998-1999) by Alberto Bautista Gomez; and 3) Altar Piece with Catrina Madonna (late 20th century) by Mario Ruiz.