The Art of the Woman explores the life of German-born Elisabet Ney, a flamboyant sculptor who transfixed the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and left the court of the half-mad Ludwig of Bavaria to put down new roots in Texas. Born in 1833, Ney gained notoriety in Europe by sculpting the busts of such figures as Ludwig II, Schopenhauer, Garibaldi, and Bismarck. In 1871 she abruptly emigrated to America and became something of a recluse until resuming her sculpting career two decades later. In Texas, she was known for stormy relationships with officials, patrons, and women’s organizations. Her works included sculptures of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin and are exhibited in the state and US capitols as well as the Smithsonian. Emily Fourmy Cutrer’s biography of Ney makes extensive use of primary sources and was the first to appraise both Ney’s legend and individual works of art. Cutrer argues that Ney was an accomplished sculptor coming out of a neglected German neoclassical tradition and that, whatever her failures and eccentricities, she was an important catalyst to cultural activity in Texas.

At Fair Park in Dallas, a sculpture of a Native American figure, bronze with gilded gold leaf, strains a bow before sending an arrow into flight. Tejas Warrior has welcomed thousands of visitors since the Texas Centennial Exposition opened in the 1930s. The iconic piece is instantly recognizable, yet few people know about its creator: Allie Victoria Tennant, one of a notable group of Texas artists who actively advanced regionalist art in the decades before World War II. Light Townsend Cummins follows Tennant’s public career from the 1920s to the 1960s, both as an artist and as a culture-bearer, as she advanced cultural endeavors, including the arts. A true pathfinder, she helped to create and nurture art institutions that still exist today, most especially the Dallas Museum of Art, on whose board of trustees she sat for almost thirty years. Tennant also worked on behalf of other civic institutions, including the public schools, art academies, and the State Fair of Texas, where she helped create the Women’s Building. Allie Victoria Tennant and the Visual Arts in Dallas sheds new light on an often overlooked artist.