The Pastel Poet Rides of the Texas Plains Rides Again

The McFaddin-Ward House takes its 2016 Lecture Series on the road this month with a film documentary about forgotten artist Frank Reaugh. Experts consider Reaugh (prounounced Ray) to be one of Western art’s most prolific; his works number more than 7,000, yet when he died, most people had never heard of him. The Texas art scene has recently renewed its interest in Reaugh, largely due to a recent film documentary about his life and works. “Frank Reaugh: Pastel Poet of the Texas Plains” pays tribute to a great artist and teacher. Its producer, Marla Fields, will be on hand August 18th to discuss her film at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. The McFaddin-Ward House is proud to be sharing the event at the larger venue.

“We anticipate a large crowd for this particular lecture,” McFaddin-Ward House Museum Director, Allen Lea said. “The Art Museum is lovely and will create the perfect atmosphere for this wonderful screening.”

An Artist Unknown

Frank Reaugh produced thousands of vivid pastels of the Texas Plains. Unlike other painters, though, he focused on animals rather than cowboys. Each summer he would bring a group of students on “Sketch Trips” to far west Texas and teach them his methods. Many call him the “Dean of Texas Painters”.

“What’s remarkable about Frank Reaugh is that very few of us knew what’s remarkable about him,” critic and novelist Michael Ennis remarks in Fields’ documentary. Now, we’re beginning to, again.

He was still working into his late 70s, but by then the art world had passed him by.

“People forgot him before he was ever done painting,” art collector Bill Cheek said.

How could artists forget someone so talented, creative and giving? That’s what filmmaker Fields wanted to know after reading an article about him. “In his final days he became a ward of the city, and that just struck me,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe he wasn’t more well-known.”

A former radio DJ in Temple and Paris (Texas) and now a freelance video producer living in Frisco, she set out to learn all she could about him. Her superb documentary, five years in the making, reintroduces Reaugh to art lovers and to his fellow Texans.

Learn more at http://marlfields.com/frandreaugh