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___________1___________ Art Good Enough for Texas REFINEMENT ]I[N A 1921 issue of the New Yark journal Arts & Decoration, art critic Forbes Watson related an anecdote about a woman from Texas who some twenty-five years earlier had been impressed with the Winged Victory. Seeing a plaster cast of the famous statue in Boston, the naif reportedly exclaimed: "There's a gal with some go, and I want to tell you right now that if that's what you all call art then art is good enough for Texas!" She promptly sent her "western village" a carload of Winged Victorys. "They tell me here in Boston that we haven't any art in Texas," she is supposed to have said, "but I'm going to show them that we have." Watson concluded that she represented a typical breed of Texans "seeking quick culture," who thought "that art could be canned and delivered like any other sweet preserve.,,1 Watson used the tale to establish Texans as stereotypically untutored in matters of art, but photographs reveal that, as was common across America, reproductions of artworks were popular household art in Texas throughout the 1878 - 1920 era. The gauche Texan reportedly shipped copies of the Nike of Samothrace wholesale to Texas because she identified with "a gal with some go." The Winged Victory may have made it to Texas, but photographs show that it was the serene Venus de Milo who met a readier reception in Texas houses (figs. 7. I through 7.4). In addition to incorporating reproductions of works of art in their interiors to signify gentility and refinement, women throughout the country decorated houses with emblems of their own musical and artistic accomplishments . Many Texans, especially women, sought to excel at the piano. As women were agents ofculture in the West, so pianos functioned as marks of civilization. It is hard to overestimate the importance of the piano during this period . The instrument was often the most expensive item a householder purchased, costing $200 and more in the I 880s. The average late-nineteenth-century middle-class I43 Inside Texas 144 wage was $2.50 to $3.00 per day (or between $600 and $700 per year), so a piano represented a considerable investment. 2 Besides its monetary value, a piano had great symbolic worth, especially to frontier Americans. Many communities regarded the arrival of the first piano as a benchmark of civilization. Authors of historical monographs argue over when and who brought the first piano to Texas, and early travelers and settlers frequently noted the presence of pianos in homes visited. Amelia Barr lamented that in 1856 she knew "of only two pianos in the city of Austin.,,3 Pianos defined the space where "refined" activities took place in a home. In the parlor or a space designated as the "music room," a piano signified prosperity, accomplishment , and taste. But pianos were not the only emblems of wealth and culture. The late nineteenth century was the age of leisure: having money meant that one had time to learn to play the piano, to paint china, to practice artistic needlework, and to pursue a variety of other amateur arts. To show their refined sensibilities in the visual and textile arts, Texas women often engaged in a variety of amateur art activities like panel painting and fancy work. Cultural critic Thorstein Veblen decried what he termed "conspicuous leisure," disdainful of those who flaunted their "pecuniary ability to afford a life of idleness.,,4 Nevertheless , women embraced instruction in everything from lacemaking to pyrography. And as part of domesticity, most of these skills resulted either in objects created for home display or in talents for home performance. The W. A. Fletcher house contains many of these elements - a piano, amateur artwork, art pottery, and statuary (including the Venus de Milo). A pair of photographs shows the parlor and sitting room of the Fletcher family home in Beaumont near the turn of the century (figs. 7.1, 7.2). Born in 1839 in Louisiana, Fletcher served in the Confederate army and later wrote Rebel Private, Front and Rear about his war experiences. 5 Like his father, he was a millwright. Fletcher sold his prospering lumber business to the East Texas Kirby Lumber Company in 1901. Objects expressive of occupational and Southern affiliations do not adorn the Fletcher parlors; instead these rooms project feminine grace and refinement. Fletcher's wife and his daughter, Valentine, were largely responsible for the appearance of the rooms...

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