Texas sculptor Dorothy Austin passed away last week at the age of 100. Her work Slow Shuffle was featured in the 2009 Dallas Museum of Art exhibition All the World’s a Stage: Celebrating Performance in the Visual Arts, and this past year her sculptures Noggin and Male Torso were included in the exhibition Texas Sculpture. We were fortunate to have Dorothy Austin visit us in October 2009 with her family and wanted to share those memories with you.
Sculptor Dorothy Austin with her family on a visit to the DMA in October 2009.
Dorothy Austin and DMA Senior Curator Olivier Meslay
Dorothy Austin, Noggin, 1933, white pine, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of an anonymous friend
Dorothy Austin, Male Torso, late 1930s-early 1940s, white pine, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Dr. and Mrs. Robert W. Webb
Dorothy Austin, Slow Shuffle, 1939, carved plaster, Dallas Museum of Art, Texas Art Fund and Early Texas Art Fund
I have often admired her “Noggin” sculpture. So glad that work is here for us to enjoy.
Best to Ms. Austin’s family.
wow, what a fine age to reach 100, sounds like she had a ‘lived’ life and was a very pioneering female artist. There would not have been too many Texan female sculptors in the 1930’s!!! Sounds like she has a lot of determination. I like her sculptures also, great work!, what an inspiring lady. Her family i am sure are very proud of her. May she rest in peace and find some sculpture tools in heaven 🙂