The Fort Worth Circle, a progressive mid-century artist group, introduced modernism to the conservative North Texas town and laid the groundwork for the city’s vibrant art community of today.

FORT WORTH, TX—In the early 1940s, a group of young, progressive artists in North Texas coalesced to create what American art critic Dave Hickey—a native of Fort Worth—called the state’s first “genuinely cosmopolitan moment.” The Fort Worth Circle, previously referred to as the Fort Worth School, was composed of about a dozen talented friends, largely white and middle-class men and women, who were considered the pioneers of modern art in Fort Worth.
The Circle was not defined by a common style or shared subject matter. The art of each member was highly distinct and different from each other. Rather, they were kindred spirits in their shared philosophies about art—more a cadre of friends than a school of artists. Though the group shifted over time, at the core of the Circle were artists Bill Bomar, Cynthia Brants, Lia Cuilty, Kelly Fearing, George Grammer, Veronica Helfensteller, Marjorie Johnson, Dickson Reeder, Flora Blanc Reeder, Sara Shannon, and Bror Utter.
Its members rejected the realistic imagery of Texas regionalism that characterized the output from their counterparts down the road who made up the Dallas Nine, a group of artists known for their hard-edged brushwork and earthy palette of local landscapes. Instead, this Fort Worth group of artists created an aesthetic anchored in contemporary surrealism and abstraction, looking to European modernism for inspiration.
Perhaps not revolutionary from a worldview standpoint, their art was definitely subversive from a local perspective. For the conservative public of mid-century Fort Worth accustomed to the prevailing impressionistic paintings of Texas bluebonnets, the work of the Circle artists appeared edgy and esoteric.
During this time, exhibition opportunities for local artists were limited. Two annual juried art competitions—the Fort Worth-based Local Artists Show (1939-1965) and the Texas General Exhibition (1940-1965)—were pivotal in providing the Circle artists exposure, and, in the case of the General, a statewide platform. The Local was housed in the Fort Worth public library’s art gallery and became the prime mover in changing the art of the city. The Texas General Exhibition was conceived by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (now the Dallas Museum of Art), and the Witte Museum in San Antonio, with the show traveling to each institution every year.

By the mid-1950s, many of the Circle artists had moved away and the next generation of artists—centered around the art department at Texas Christian University—rose to the forefront of the local art scene. Circle members who remained in town placed efforts towards expanding beyond the public library’s art gallery and opening what became the Fort Worth Art Center in 1954, which was the city’s first free-standing public art museum. Today, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the oldest art museum in Texas and a descendant of the Art Center, is housed in a world-renowned Tadao Ando building in the heart of the city’s Cultural District. As a nod to the museum’s history, The Modern maintains a gallery devoted to displaying artworks by Fort Worth Circle artists.
What legacy did the Circle leave on today’s Fort Worth arts community? It may be challenging to follow a line of influence.
“In part, it’s hard to talk about their legacy because they worked in so many different styles, which in a way was part of their modernism,” notes Mark Thistlethwaite, emeritus professor of art history at Texas Christian University. However, the Circle artists helped lay the groundwork for individual expression and introduced variants of modernism that were new to both Fort Worth residents and local collectors. “But if they hadn’t existed, there virtually would have been no modern art in Fort Worth,” asserts Thistlethwaite.
Looking at the arts community in Fort Worth over the past decade, one can find groups of artists with a shared creative core similar to the Circle, like the founders of Artspace 111, Homecoming! Committee, and Art Tooth, as Alison Hearst, curator at The Modern, points out. “I am not sure if this is a direct effect of [the Circle] or just the nature of artists wanting to create a scene where they live, but I do feel like there is a lineage of spirit there,” Hearst says.
Shasta Haubrich, executive director of Art Tooth, echoes that sentiment. “I believe the precedent they set, emphasizing collaboration over competition, continues to influence our community today.”
Like the Circle, Homecoming! Committee, active between 2011-2014, consisted of about a dozen artists. Similarly, Homecoming! was a shot in the arm for the Dallas-Fort Worth art community. The group sought to develop collaborative projects in conjunction with individual artistic production. Homecoming! hosted art-centered happenings and participatory events around the city, and are best known for its 2014 blow-up Alexander Calder sculpture imitation The Eagle Has Landed, a tongue-in-cheek allusion to the contentious context that surrounds the original Calder sculpture’s history in Fort Worth, which lived downtown for nearly twenty-five years until the owners quickly and quietly removed the sculpture overnight
A more recent group, Art Tooth, is the result of a 2016 merger between two Fort Worth collectives: Bobby on Drums and The Exhibitionists. Haubrich acknowledges that although the group was originally founded by artists, “We didn’t primarily use it as a platform for showcasing our own art. Instead, we’ve focused on bringing new artists into the scene, fostering inclusivity.” Much more formal in organization than the Circle, Art Tooth produces shows and workshops and supports local emerging artists. In addition to its seven successful years of pop-up shows at venues like the former Shipping and Receiving Bar or the now-closed Gallery 76102, Art Tooth plans to develop dedicated artist studios, addressing the ongoing need for affordable studio space in the city.
Though the Fort Worth Circle may not have a direct influence on artists working in the city today, the group sowed the seeds of change and opened Cowtown to the dynamic limitlessness of art. Its members pioneered a cosmopolitan outlook within a regional landscape, marking a progressive turning point in Texas art history and foreshadowing today’s vibrant Fort Worth artistic community.







