Ann Cushing Gantz papers

A Guide to the Collection

Biographical Note

Born in Dallas on August 27, 1933, Ann Cushing moved with her parents, Maurice and Margaret Cushing, to Memphis, Tennessee in 1940 due to her father’s work with the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Interested in art as a young girl, Ann studied at the Memphis Academy of Art during the summers beginning in 1947 through 1952. In 1953 and 1954 she took summer classes at Southwestern at Memphis, now Rhodes College, and continued her art studies at Sophie Newcomb College, Tulane University, in New Orleans, where in 1955 she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. While at Newcomb College, Ann Cushing studied oil painting with Patrick [Pat] Trivigno, professor of drawing and painting from 1947 – 1987. After she graduated from college, Ann moved back to Dallas with her parents, where she immersed herself in the city’s art scene as artist, art juror and judge, gallery owner, and teacher.

In 1955, Ann Cushing was asked to have her first solo exhibition at the popular Black Tulip Gallery, located at Inwood Village in Dallas, by the gallery owner Everett Rassiga. There she met her future husband, Everett Ellis Gantz, Jr., an aeronautical engineer but also a silent partner in the gallery. On September 20, 1958, Ann and Everett married in Dallas. They had two daughters – Elaine [born 1961] and Melissa [born 1963].

From 1956 to 1964, Ann Cushing Gantz taught art at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Jerry Bywaters, then director of the Dallas Museum, asked her to demonstrate how to make a woodcut in the museum’s “Artists in Action” program. In the same year her wood block print, “Seated Girl,” was accepted into the 6th Southwestern Exhibition of Prints & Drawings, sponsored by the museum and the Dallas Print Society. Gantz continued to have oil paintings and prints accepted into competitions at the Dallas Museum of [Fine] Arts including - 7th Southwestern Exhibition of Prints and Drawings [1957], 28th Annual Dallas County Exhibition [1957], 8th Southwestern Exhibitions, Prints and Drawings [1958], 21st Annual Texas Painting & Sculpture Exhibition [1959], 9th Southwestern Exhibition of Prints and Drawings [1959], 10th Southwestern Exhibition, Prints and Drawings [1960], 24th Dallas County Painting, Drawing and Sculpture Exhibition [1963]. Her work is in the permanent collection at the Dallas Museum of [Fine] Arts including Deidre [ca. 1957, color woodblock print] and Bayou [ca. 1957, Oil on Masonite].

Ann Cushing Gantz was also active in the Texas Fine Arts Association, the Texas Visual Arts Association, the Texas Printmakers organization, serving as president 1958 – 1960, and the Dallas Print and Drawing Society, serving as president 1958 – 1960 and vice-president 1963 - 1964. Her skills received national recognition when she was nominated in the graphic artists division for “New Talent in the U.S.” in the spring, 1958 edition of Art in America. A year later she was nominated in the painting division for “New Talent 1959” in the spring, 1959 issue of Art in America. In 1963 her pencil drawing, Girl in a Sweater, was included in the XXth American Drawing Annual exhibition at the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, which toured the United States under the auspices of the Traveling Exhibition Service of the Smithsonian Institute. Gantz showed her work in exhibitions in other national museums, including the Philadelphia Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and in Dallas and throughout Texas during the 1950s – 1990s. In 1990, she was included in the exhibition The Texas Printmakers: 1940 – 1965 at the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University and in 1996, her work was featured in a 40-year retrospective at the Dallas Visual Art Center.

In 1959, Gantz and fellow artist Ruth Tears whom she had met earlier at the Black Tulip Gallery, opened a studio referred to as “The Barn” on North Central Expressway in Dallas. There she and Tears taught adult classes in drawing, painting, and woodblock printing, and children’s classes in drawing and painting. Their endeavors were highly successful. In 1966, the studio moved to the newly opened Quadrangle in Dallas as “Cushing Galleries,” drawing in fellow artists and art enthusiasts Kay Hunter, Irving Bock, and Fran Newman. Cushing Galleries included a frame shop, gallery, and teaching space for classes. The location of her classes was sometimes referred to as “The Studio,” “Cushing Studio,” or “Cushing Atelier.” The gallery remained at this location until 1971 when it moved into a 125 -year old house at 2723 Fairmount Avenue where the business continued until 1979 when Cushing Galleries closed. Throughout its years in operation, Cushing Galleries featured contemporary artists from Dallas and from across the country. In addition to gallery work, Ann Cushing Gantz was diligent in organizing and exhibiting her students’ work in galleries throughout Dallas including the Ethel May Brodnax Memorial Gallery at Highland Park Town Hall, Cushing Galleries, and later at her teaching studio, referred to as “The Atrium,” located at 11333 North Central Expressway.

Ann Cushing Gantz is known for her successful gallery business and her passionate approaches to teaching, but for over 40 years she also used her art work and artistic skills in Dallas philanthropic work. During the 1960s, she volunteered at the State Fair of Texas in the art division of the Women’s Department and participated in the Dallas chapter of the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee with book and art sales. In 1960, she and Ruth Tears contributed their talents in painting a mural in the Ivor O’Connor Morgan Tuberculosis Hospital in the Children’s Medical Center. In 1973 and 1975 Gantz designed Christmas cards for the Dallas Woman’s Forum Auxiliary to the Wadley Institute of Molecular Medicine. In 2005 she donated a painting for auction to benefit the Retina Foundation of the Southwest.

In 2010 Ann Cushing Gantz retired from teaching and gallery work; she died in Dallas August 22, 2012.

Source:

Email correspondence with Melissa Gantz Bowden, July 10, 16, 2012

Email correspondence with Hillary Bober, Digital Archivist, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, July 13, 2012

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Ann Cushing Gantz collection consists of archival materials that include artwork, clippings, correspondence, documents, ephemera, gallery files, guest books, photographs, publicity, published works, and scrapbooks. The scrapbooks are divided into three categories, including Career of Ann Cushing Gantz, Cushing Galleries - Dallas, and Dallas Print and Drawing Society [Memorabilia]. The archival material is organized into five groupings including Ann Cushing Gantz, Ann Cushing Gantz - Students, Cushing Galleries - Business Records, Cushing Galleries – Gallery Files, and the Dallas Print and Drawing Society.

Restrictions

Access to Collection:

Collection is open for research use. Appointment with curatorial staff at Hamon Library is required.

Publication Rights:

Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the staff of Jerry Bywaters Special Collection.

Copyright Statement:

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Ann Cushing Gantz Collection, Bywaters Special Collections, Hamon Arts Library, Southern Methodist University

Acquisition Information

Gift, Ann Cushing Gantz, 1999.

Custodial History

The Ann Cushing Gantz Collection was donated to Bywaters Special Collections in 1999 by Ann Cushing Gantz

Processing Information

The Ann Cushing Gantz papers were received in no discernible order. During processing the collection was divided into five categories - Ann Cushing Gantz’s personal art career, Ann Cushing Gantz - Students, Cushing Galleries - Business Records, Cushing Galleries – Gallery File[s], Dallas Print and Drawing Society – and placed in archival boxes. The archival material was divided into separate archival files for artwork, clippings, correspondence, documents, ephemera, gallery files, guest books, negatives, photographs, publicity, and published works. Some items had to be placed in an oversize archival flat box. The scrapbooks were digitized for documentation, preservation and research purposes. The scrapbooks entitled September 1960 through 1965 and Dallas Print and Drawing Society, Memorabilia, 1941 – 1964 were placed in two archival flat boxes. The contents in the scrapbook labeled “Cushing Galleries, Dallas, 1972 – 1977” were removed and placed in file folders; newspaper clippings were copied onto acid-free paper. The Cushing Gantz – Gallery Files were kept in order as created by Ann Cushing Gantz. The files located in notebooks were rehoused in archival folders and organized by artist’s last name.

Processed by

Ellen Buie Niewyk, 2012.

Finding aid written by

Ellen Buie Niewyk, 2012.

Encoded by

Ada Negraru, 2012.

Detailed Description of the Collection