Austin College is hosting two art exhibits in honor of the late Richard Neidhardt, who was associated with the art faculty at Austin College for more than 40 years. “Richard Neidhardt: 1921-2009: A Retrospective of Sculpture and Painting” will run from October 3 to November 5 in the Dennis and Ross Galleries of the Forster Art Complex. A companion exhibit will be shown in Abell Library, featuring biographical materials, a large wooden sculpture, and some of Neidhardt’s whimsical small carvings.
Both exhibits are free and open to the public. Forster Art Complex galleries are open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, October 23, the exhibit will be open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. as part of the Homecoming celebrations. Abell Library is open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to midnight, Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday to 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 1 p.m. to midnight.
Neidhardt, a native of Tennessee, earned an M.F.A. in painting at the University of Florida and then completed a Ph.D. at Ohio State University. He joined the Austin College faculty in 1967 and retired in 1986 as professor emeritus. He died in August 2009. As chair of the art department, he mentored several junior colleagues who went on to achieve prominence both as artists and teachers.
He was awarded a Cullen Grant to Egypt, and Richardson Grants to Southern France and Greece. His sculptures and paintings have appeared widely in museums, galleries (primarily Houston’s Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Inc.), and universities in Texas and elsewhere.
In his art, Neidhardt expressed himself in two different ways. His paintings were formal and abstract statements with little subject matter.
“During World War II as a pilot flying foreign routes, I became interested in cultures and arts of Europe, South America, Africa, the Middle East, and India. I then began the study of art as a painter, searching for a kind of purity free from worldly stress and the vulnerable condition of being human,” Neidhardt wrote in an artist’s statement for the works on display. “The energy of color’s language, the drawn line’s vitality and the aesthetics of mathematics appealed to me and became basic to my work.”
But his sculptures came from a side of him that was keenly aware of earth and its absurdities.
“They came from a side of me aware of being a fellow inmate of the earth with all of its absurdities, a possible justification for being a part of this great mystery,” he said.
Many of his carved wooden images were cast as small bronzes.
Austin College is a leading national independent liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas. Founded in 1849, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original charter and name, the college is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA). Recognized nationally for academic excellence in the areas of international education, pre-professional training, and leadership studies, Austin College is one of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges that Change Lives.
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