Back in 1973, Texas Monthly published a Guide to Houston. The audience the Guide hoped to attract was clear: “We hope that this volume will prove useful to the salesman just in from Batesville, Arkansas, for the fertilizer convention; the couple and their three children from Linlithgow, Scotland, here for a week’s vacation; the family just dumped by national Van Lines in Ashford Forest Northeast #11; as well as the native Houstonian (on the endangered list) who likes having this kind of information handy.”
In addition to listing Houston’s restaurants, libraries, amusements, shopping, and sports it also listed the museums and galleries that were around, or had just opened in 1973. Houstonia Magazine did a great job reprinting and researching the list in 2014 and even provided what business had replaced the Gallery if it had closed since 1973. The individual Gallery listings not only include the address but also their specialty, a descriptive quote, and advice…
Some highlights:
Cusack Gallery
5120 Bayard
Specialty: Houston’s most avant-garde gallery
Description: “You’re liable to see exhibits consisting of writing on the walls, spots on the floor, or stripes in the corner.”
Advice: “The newest of the new in art may inspire you, appall you, or make you get out your checkbook.”
Replaced by: Lawyer’s office
Janie C. Lee Gallery
2304 Bissonnet
Specialty: The gallery’s windows were boarded up to display the “ENORMOUS” works of Abstract Expressionists like Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler.
Clientele: “Texans who want to cover the wide open spaces with contemporary art.”
Replaced by: My Shabby Slips
Pace Galleries
1770 St. James Place, 6th Floor
Specialty: “Bronzes of wildlife that would grace any handsome old mahogany desk,” “realistic landscapes of Southern scenes,” and “oils of gentle hot air balloons.”
Description: “Pianos are gone. Paintings are in.”
Replaced by: Office building
Texas Gallery
2439 Bissonnet
Specialty: Contemporary work from New York, Los Angeles, and Texas; Earl Staley is “the token Houstonian.”
Clientele: “Works will appeal to those who are interested in setting off the wall of a twelve story lobby or brightening up the side of a bank. The still life crowd should shop elsewhere.”
Replaced by: Buffalo Exchange
Current location: 2012 Peden St.
1 comment
and I’m still here but not at Texas Gallery.