The Left Bank on the Bayou

The 'Left Bank' on the Bayou
Avant-garde Art and Theater in 1930s Houston
 
In 1930, Houston was still a town of less than 300,000. After the war, its population would explode into what is today the fourth largest city in the United States. Perhaps still more of a frontier town than a cosmopolitan center for arts, 1930s Houston did begin to attract progressive Texans who believed that avantgarde performing and visual arts had a place in the Bayou City.

A key figure in Houston's rich history of visual and performing arts includes Margo Jones, a theatre director and innovator who is credited with creating the first professional theater-in-the-round in the United States. Inspired by Jones' passion, a group of visual artists sought to bring Modern art to Houston. Included in the group were artists Carden Bailey, Gene Charlton, Nione Carlson, and Maudee Carron. Gene Charlton, Forrest Bess and Robert Preusser went on to national and international careers in the visual arts. "The 'Left Bank' on the Bayou: Avant-garde Art and Theater in 1930s Houston," is an exhibition produced by the O'Kane Gallery at the University of Houston-Downtown, intent on recreating the flavor of that early spark that set the tone for acceptance and tolerance for a broad range of arts that are apparent in today's thriving Houston art scene.

This exhibition is funded by grants from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art (CASETA)