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Art enthusiasts and
birders alike enjoyed this exhibition which featured
thirty-three watercolors and sketches of various birds, most of
which have never before been on display to the public.
Sponsors for the show include the
Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council, Featherfest 2007, and
the Friends of Rosenberg Library.
Gonzales was an
award-winning artist of national acclaim during the early
twentieth century.
His works are
found in the collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art, the
Vanderpoel Art Institute of Chicago,
and the Modern
Art Museum of
Fort Worth.
During his lifetime, Boyer Gonzales
held memberships to elite organizations such as the New York
Watercolor Club, the Salmagundi Club, and the National Arts
Club.
His work was
exhibited in galleries in San Antonio,
Dallas, New York
City, and at the
Museum
of Fine Arts Houston.
Gonzales’s paintings of birds are
not among his most recognized works, but his talent for
capturing natural subjects is evident in those that are featured
as part of this special exhibit.
Boyer
Gonzales was born in
Galveston, Texas
on September 22, 1864.
His father,
Thomas Gonzales, was a successful merchant who immigrated to America from Mexico.
His mother,
Edith Boyer, came from a wealthy Philadelphia family.
After they
married, Thomas and Edith Gonzales moved to
Galveston
in 1853.
Thomas
Gonzales opened a wholesale grocery and cotton firm on The
Strand between 21st and 22nd streets.
The business thrived, and Thomas
Gonzales eventually became president of the Galveston Stock
Exchange and Board of Trade.
 As
a teenager, Boyer Gonzales worked as a bookkeeper for his
father’s business.
Gonzales had been interested in art
since his childhood, but his parents never encouraged him to
seek formal training.
In 1887, when
he was 22 years old, Boyer Gonzales met the artist Winslow
Homer, one of America’s most accomplished
painters.
Arthur Homer,
Winslow’s brother, lived in
Galveston
and was a business associate of Thomas Gonzales and a friend of
the family.
He arranged
for Boyer Gonzales to meet his brother while Gonzales was on a
business trip in New England.
The two artists quickly became
friends.
Homer invited
Gonzales to spend several summers with him at his home in
Prout’s Neck, Maine.
There, mentor and protégé sketched,
painted, and fished together.
At age 27,
Boyer Gonzales was forced to take on more responsibility in the
company when his 34-year-old brother died unexpectedly.
His father passed away a few years
later, leaving Boyer Gonzales in complete control of Thomas
Gonzales & Sons.
His duties to the family business
left Boyer Gonzales with very little time to pursue his true
passion—painting.
On
September 8, 1900, Galveston
Island was
violently struck and nearly destroyed by a devastating
hurricane.
Several months after the storm,
Boyer Gonzales made the decision to sell Thomas Gonzales & Sons
and to devote his life to art.
He married
Nell Hertford of Galveston in 1907.
The couple spent an extended
honeymoon in
Woodstock, New York
where Gonzales had been accepted into the prestigious Art
Students League.
There, he was trained by the
renowned watercolorist and landscape painter, Birge Harrison.
Today more
than 600 oil paintings, watercolors, and sketches by Boyer
Gonzales, Sr. are part of the Rosenberg Library’s museum
collection.
The Galveston and
Texas
History
Center
holds the Gonzales Family Papers, an archival collection that
includes photos, correspondence, diaries, sketchbooks, and other
important documents.
Wings
in Watercolor was on exhibit from March 16, 2007 through
July 16, 2007 in the
Harris
Gallery.
Photo Caption:
1.
Mallard Flight—Edge of Marsh, ca.
1921
2.
Roseate Spoonbill, ca. 1925
3.
Boyer Gonzales (1864-1934)
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