OJAC Collection - Kelly Fearing

Kelly Fearing
American Fort Worth Circle
American, (1918–2011)
Kelly Fearing, a maverick of Texas modernist art who taught generations of artists during his four decades at the University of Texas, died Sunday, the 13th of March, of congestive heart failure at his home in West Lake Hills at the age of 92. He was born in Fordyce, Arkansas to George David Fearing and Frankie Kelly Fearing on the 18th of October, 1918. After graduation from high school, he studied art at Louisiana Tech University, then later at Columbia University, from which he received his master's degree. From 1945-1947, he taught at Texas Wesleyan College. In 1947 he started his long term career at the University of Texas in the Department of Art and Art History, where he retired as professor emeritus in 1987.

After his retirement, he continued to work as a professional artist. Fearing's work from his Fort Worth years is abstract, surrealistic and filled with allegory - all characteristics that would remain in his work over the decades. Dickson Reeder, a Fort Worth artist who worked for the same contractor, introduced Fearing to area artists and they became the center of the swirl of avant garde printers and painters. This group -- who introduced modernist ideas to Texas art -- later became known as the Fort Worth Circle, in which Kelly is one of the last artists of this group. More than 80 of his prints and drawings are in the Blanton Museum of Art's permanent collection. He was an inspiration to students, fellow professors, and fellow artists.

Source: University of Texas News

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