The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth is presenting a groundbreaking exhibition featuring the extensive art collection of Charles Butt, Chairman of H-E-B supermarket chain. "American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection" runs through January 25, 2025, marking the first time North Texas residents can view dozens of carefully selected works from Butt's private collection that he has been quietly building for approximately 60 years.
Shirley Reece-Hughes, Senior Curator of Paintings, Sculpture, and Works on Paper and curator of this exhibition, explained that Butt was ready to share his remarkable collection with the public. "He's been quietly amassing this collection for probably 60 years," she said. "I think he was ready to share the collection — and he's an active collector, so he's still acquiring — but he's amassed such an amazing representation of the Western canon of American modern art."
The comprehensive exhibition features over 80 works, including paintings and works on paper spanning from the twentieth century through the early 1980s. The collection showcases pieces by renowned American modernist masters including Romare Bearden, Edward Hopper, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alma Thomas, and Andrew Wyeth. These works reflect Butt's vision of American creativity while demonstrating how these iconic American modernist artists strived to distinguish themselves from their European counterparts.
According to Reece-Hughes, these artists broke with established traditions, experimenting with different styles, new techniques, and innovative subject matters. "It shows the range, and it shows how the artists were really trying to reinvent themselves," she explained. "So, the Americans — as a young country — were really striving to really find their own voices and their own expressions."
As a native Texan, Butt is dedicated to sharing art within his home state. Following its display at the Amon Carter Museum, this exhibition will travel exclusively to three other Texas museums in a carefully planned tour. The collection will move to the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin in spring 2026, followed by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in fall 2026, and finally to the McNay Museum in San Antonio in spring 2027. "It is really his love letter to Texas," Reece-Hughes noted.
Complementing the main exhibition, Butt made a promised gift to the museum of Rufino Tamayo's "The Family" (1925). Tamayo was the first internationally recognized Latin American artist, and this particular work was included in the artist's first solo exhibition in the United States. While his contemporaries were exploring political themes in their art, Tamayo focused on indigenousness and mixed-race heritage in Mexico. "This work really crosses cultures because of the thematic portrayal of the family and unity," Reece-Hughes observed.
The exhibition is thoughtfully organized into four distinct sections, beginning with "Intimate Perspectives." Reece-Hughes designed this opening section to reflect Butt's personality and his understanding of how artists and friends influenced each other. This section features a compelling pairing of a work by Thomas Hart Benton alongside one by his student, Jackson Pollock. The section also explores intimate spaces through pieces like Alice Neel's "Fire Escape," which represents a lesser-known perspective of her artistic work.
The second section, "The Language of the Sea," reflects Butt's childhood in Corpus Christi and his lifelong passion for maritime themes, which has significantly influenced his collecting practice. This diverse celebration of American coastlines ranges from Mary Bonner's sailboat etchings to Ralston Crawford's "Bora Bora II." One surprising inclusion is Thomas Moran's "Smoking Ships at Sea," which forebodes the dangers of maritime and industrial ambitions. "It's a different view into Moran's thinking," Reece-Hughes commented.
"Land Progression," the third section, highlights the American modernist perspective within the visual tradition of landscape art. This section features a comprehensive range of works throughout Marsden Hartley's career, depicting the contrasting terrain of his home state of Maine and New Mexico. Notably, Hartley only visited New Mexico once in 1918, yet painted these landscapes from memory, demonstrating the lasting impact of that single experience on his artistic vision.
The final section, "Geometric Utopias/Dystopias," combines geometric abstractions with paintings depicting urban and rural post-industrial scenes including factories, farms, and machinery. This section highlights the revolutionary work of female artists Blanche Lazzell and Alice Trumbull Mason, who created paintings with no identifiable subject matter. "They went to pure abstraction so there wouldn't be gendered readings of their work," Reece-Hughes explained. "So, if they went into their own creation of their own abstract styles, it could be an artwork that stood on its own and not be misinterpreted."
On November 13, the museum will host "Second Thursdays at the Carter: Collect — Create," inviting patrons to explore the exhibition while learning about starting their own art collections. Butt's collecting journey began when he was a 20-year-old college student and purchased a framed cover of Reader's Digest featuring Winslow Homer's "Breezing Up" for just one dollar. This first purchase, which still hangs in his home, reflects his enduring passion for sailing and maritime themes.
When asked whether others can follow Butt's example of building a significant art collection, Reece-Hughes expressed optimism. "I think so," she said. "I think collecting is about personal passions and interests." The exhibition serves as both an inspiration for aspiring collectors and a testament to the power of sustained passion for American modernist art over six decades of dedicated collecting.
