Haunted houses get all the love this time of year, but North Texas has no shortage of scary-good art hiding in plain sight.
KERA News asked local museums to send us their spookiest pieces, and they delivered.
The Amon Carter Museum of American Art
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas; © Ann Parker and Avon Neal; 1968.53.2 Courtesy
William Sinclear Spencer, Massachusetts, 1753
From Alli Rogers Andress, manager of family and access programs:
“There is just something about the relaxed way this skeleton reclines in the tympanum, or the rounded top, of their headstone. This stone rubbing taken from a colonial American gravestone is a peaceful, if still frank, reminder of death. Now I lay me down to sleep. . . for eternity!
This artwork is currently on view in Here Lyeth: Grave Rubbings by Ann Parker and Avon Neal. On view through November 8, this exhibition offers a fascinating look at a mid-20th-century project to preserve early American gravestone art through the practice of grave rubbing.”
Dialoguito de Mamá Tierra con D. Cometa Halley
More from Alli Rogers Andress, manager of family and access programs:
“I chose this dramatic (and slightly silly) print by José Guadalupe Posada because it’s such a cinematic tale of terror! We have Halley’s Comet in aggressive and enthusiastic human form, about to pummel the planet while the people of Mother Earth flee in terror. Meanwhile, the moon leers from afar, ridiculing their panic. Such a spooky story!”
The artwork was featured in an exhibition titled Celia Álvarez Muñoz: El Límite that closed earlier this month.
Meadows Museum
Saint Bartholomew
From curator Patricia Manzano Rodríguez:
“I chose this painting because of the wonderfully creepy demon at the saint’s feet. He has fiery red hair, piercing blue eyes, a protruding tongue, and chicken legs, with a second face appearing on his chest. He is shown crouching in chains beneath Saint Bartholomew, who grips the knife of his martyrdom, emphasizing the saint’s power over evil. Even more intriguingly, the demon bears numerous scratches across his face and body, evidence of early modern vandalism that suggests someone may have found this particular demon just as unsettling as we do today!”
Crow Museum of Asian Art
Daruma Statue
From Delwyn Davis, associate curator:
“I chose this piece due to the unsettling intensity of Daruma’s gaze; for an unsuspecting visitor his eyes would be startlingly illuminated. Although certainly rather a nightmarish vision, his wide-eyed stare is rooted in a legend about the patriarch of Zen Buddhism – Daruma spent nine years staring at a cave wall in meditation and cut off his own eyelids in order to be able to meditate day and night without falling asleep. This brutal anecdote demonstrates his dedication and is reflected in the way Daruma’s eyes are depicted here.”
Dallas Museum of Art
Cupid, Death, and the Beyond
From Emily Friedman, Allen and Kelli Questrom Curator of Prints and Drawings:
“Max Klinger was a German artist associated with the Symbolism, an avant-garde art movement that spread across Europe in the late nineteenth century. Artists like Klinger prioritized unconventional pictorial practices, and the resultant work is strange, fantastical, even dystopian. Klinger is best known for his print cycles, such as the Intermezzos, Opus IV portfolio, which includes this print, Cupid, Death, and the Beyond. Death rides a coffin on wheels while Cupid pedals, bow in hand. Behind them, a nightmare figure meant to signify the “Beyond” follows on a strange bison-human-limbed Frankenstein figure. The ultimate meaning of the scene is elusive; many of Klinger’s compositions remain open to interpretation.”
Seaside Cemetery
From Shelby Bennett, Curatorial Assistant for European Art:
“Though devoid of figures, this dark and moody landscape offers a pointed commentary on the relationship between nature and mankind. The pounding surf and fierce wind beset the coastal cemetery and its fragile grave markers, dramatizing the insignificance of human life and death in the face of nature’s raw power. Hungarian by birth, Adolf Hiremy–Hirschl was trained in Vienna. The artist was a contemporary of the Symbolists, a late nineteenth century avant-garde art and literary movement with practitioners across Europe, including Gustav Klimt. By comparison to his avant-garde peers, Hiremy–Hirschl’s approach to painting was more traditional. Seaside Cemetery, however, demonstrates his sensitivity to the heightened emotional content that was a defining characteristic of Symbolism. The evocative handling of paint makes this work a favorite among museum visitors — standing in front of the picture you can almost feel the spray coming off of the turbulent sea.”
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. William F. Runyon Courtesy
The Witch
“The Witch” is from Andy Warhol’s Myth series. In 1981 Warhol created a series of 10 portraits featuring iconic figures who shaped America, including Mickey Mouse, Santa Claus and Uncle Sam.
Nasher Sculpture Center
11 hanging silicones
From the museum:
“Bruce Nauman: Identical takes on the trope of memento mori through its intimate ties to creation, death, and remembrance, given the role of taxidermy forms as a way to enliven something that has perished and transform living nature into still life.”
Arts coverage on NTX NOW is made possible through the generosity of TACA, fueling a vibrant arts community for Dallas.
Got a tip? Email Marcheta Fornoff at mfornoff@kera.org.
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