Charles Schorre  1925-1996

Charles Schorre was born in Cuero, Texas, in 1925. In 1948, he graduated from the University of Texas - Austin with a BFA, then married Margaret Storm and set up residence in Houston. He and his wife had three daughters and eight grandchildren.

Schorre taught classes and led workshops at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1949-50) and Rice University (1960 - 72). Later, in 1974 he conducted a month-long university workshop in Guadalajara, Mexico and in 1978 he led an outdoor figure drawing workshop in Ingram, Texas.

In 1963, Schorre began traveling throughout the United States observing mental health facilities in preparation for designing, illustrating and partially editing Planning, Programming and Design for the Community Mental Health Center (1965) for which he won a number of awards. He went on in 1968 to design, edit and partially illustrate Life Class, listed among the Fifty Best Books of the Year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

Schorre would receive awards from the International Typographic Society and the Watercolor Society only to sever, as a protest, all connections with professional organizations in 1970. After starting his Emerge series in 1956, he initiated the Artist's Handbook series in 1970, and by 1971 he had embarked on his extensive Pages From Books Unpublished series.  In 1977, the same year he was awarded a poster commission from the American Academy in Rome, he began his Art Lessons series.

In 1979, Mobil Corporation awarded Schorre an Artist-in-Residence grant for a stay in Saudi Arabia. He also received that year a National Endowment for the Arts grant. He would later attend the 34th International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado as a National Endowment Fellow.

Schorre was named Texas Artist of the Year in 1986 and received the City of Houston Mayor's Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts. He would subsequently be selected to participate in a group exhibition for the 1990 Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations held at Rice University. In 1993, he received the Educator Award from the American Institute of Architecture.

In July 1996, Schorre died in Houston.

Submitted by David Wilkinson

Charles Schorre, 1925-1996

Charles Schorre was born in Cuero, Texas. In 1948, he received a BFA from The University of Texas at Austin. Moving to Houston shortly thereafter, he took a job as an illustrator at an advertising firm.

From 1949 to 1955, Schorre was an instructor at the Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He served as an assistant professor of fine art at Rice University from 1960 to 1972. His work was shown in Houston at the DuBose, Texas and Meredith Long galleries.

Schorre's work received strong recognition and critical acclaim; thus his work was widely exhibited. He exhibited in group shows at the American Watercolor Society (New York), American Institute of Graphic Arts (New York), New Orleans Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Museum and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Schorre was equally accomplished and won awards for both his graphic and fine art presentations.

Compiled and submitted by Stephanie Reeves

CHARLES SCHORRE (1925–1996)

Charles Schorre was born in Cuero, Texas. After serving in the Marine Corps, he graduated from the University of Texas with a BFA. He began his career in advertising and was one of Houston’s foremost artists, photographers, instructors, graphic designers, and creative explorers. He taught classes and led workshops at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston as well as Rice University where he served as an assistant professor from 1960 to 1972.

Selected Biographical and Career Highlights

1925 Born in Cuero, Texas, Served in U.S. Marine Corps

1948 BFA, University of Texas at Austin, Texas

1949–55 Instructor, Museum School, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

1960–72 Professor, Rice University, Houston, Texas

1972 Artist in Residence, Ossabaw Island, Georgia

1979 Artist in Residence, Saudi Arabia, Mobil Oil Corporation Grant

1986 Texas Artist of the Year, Art League of Houston, Texas

1986 City of Houston Mayor’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts

1996 Died in Houston, Texas


Selected Prizes, Awards

· Texas General/Annual: Honorable Mention 1949

1949 Honorable Mention, Skip Rope, Hot Pepper, watercolor
· Houston Area Annual: Prize 1965, 1976

· Houston Exhibition: Prize 1966


· Other Exhibitions: Windsor-Newton Award 1970 American Watercolor Society; First Prize 1969 Southwestern States Watercolor Society

1969 1st Prize, Southwestern States Watercolor Society

1970 Windsor Newton Award, American Watercolor Society

Selected Exhibitions

· 1946 Permanent U. S. Marine Corps Exhibition, Washington, DC

· 1947 Caller-Times National Exhibition, Corpus Christi, Texas

· 1947 9th Texas General Exhibition 1947–1948, circulated: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1948 1st Southwestern Print Exhibition, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

· 1948 First Central States Graphic Arts Annual, Joslyn Memorial Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska

· 1949 11th Annual Texas Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture 1949–1950, circulated: Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas (honorable mention)

· 1950 25th Annual Exhibition of Work by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

· 1959 Solo, University of Texas at Austin, Texas

· 1964 Charles Schorre: Cruciforms, Rice University, Houston, Texas

· 1965 Charles Schorre, University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin, Texas

· 1965 Houston Area Annual Exhibition, Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Texas (prize)

· 1966–83 DuBose Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 1966 Houston Exhibition ’66, Exxon Building, Houston, Texas (prize)

· 1969 Southwestern States Watercolor 1st Annual Exhibition (1st prize)

· 1969 Solo, Photographs, Latent Image Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 1970 American Watercolor Society 103rd Annual Exhibition, New York, New York (Windsor-Newton Award)

· 1971 Fourteenth Annual Delta Art Exhibition, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

· 1972 Artists Against the War, American Institute of Graphic Arts, New York, New York, traveling exhibit

· 1973 Private Works, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas

· 1974 Retrospective, DuBose Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 1974 Solo, Drawings, Collages & Paintings, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas

· 1975 20th Exhibition of Southwestern Prints and Drawings, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

· 1975 Artists Make Toys, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas

· 1976 Houston Area Annual, Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Texas (prize)

· 1977 Conversations with Artists, University of Houston at Clear Lake City, Texas

· 1977 Charles Schorre/Retrospective, Historical Museum, Cuero, Texas

· 1977 Portraits: The Mental Picture, AIGA, New York, New York, traveling exhibition: United States, Canada

· 1977 International Drawing Biennale, Middlesborough, England

· 1978 Charles Schorre: Recent Works, Rudder Exhibit Hall, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas (catalogue)

· 1978 Charles Schorre, David B. Findlay Gallery, New York, New York

· 1978 Prints from Little Egypt Enterprises, Moody Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 1978 Works on Paper: Southwest 1978, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, circulated: Warehouse Living Arts Center, Corsicana; Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, New Mexico; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo; Art Center of Waco; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas (catalogue)

· 1979 Solo, Visions from Saudi Arabia, France, Ireland, and the Texas Hill Country, DuBose Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 1979 Works on Paper, Nave Museum, Victoria, Texas

· 1979 Solo, Charles Schorre: Recent Works, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

· 1979 American Drawings II, Virginia Museum of Art, Portsmouth, Virginia

· 1979 Doors: Houston Artists, Alley Theatre, Houston Festival, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

· 1979 51 Drawings, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, traveling

· 1979 Miniature Show, Lawndale Annex, University of Houston, Texas

· 1979 Anthony G. Cronin Memorial Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

· 1979 Pictures in “Picture” Magazine, Cityscape Photo Gallery, Los Angeles, California

· 1979 Some Houston Photographers, Museum School, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

· 1980 New Orleans Triennial, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana

· 1980 Charles Schorre/Retrospective, Nave Museum, Victoria, Texas

· 1980 Solo, Wildine Galleries, Albuquerque, New Mexico

· 1980 Houston Area Exhibition: Recapitulation 1928-1960, Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Texas (catalogue)

· 1981 Charles Schorre: Pages from Books Unpublished, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas; CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, New York

· 1981 Invitational ’81, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas

· 1981 Impressions of Houston, O’Kane Gallery, University of Houston/Downtown, Houston, Texas

· 1981 Masks, Little Egypt Enterprises, Houston, Texas

· 1982 Art from Houston in Norway 1982, Stavanger Kunstforening, Norway; Tromso Kunstforening, Norway; Christiansand Kunstforening, Norway; Oslo Kunstforening, Norway (catalogue)

· 1982 Recent Purchases, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

· 1982 Premier Event Group Show, Midtown Art Center, Houston, Texas

· 1982 Flowers and Gardens in American Painting, DuBose Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 1982 Solo, Texas Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 1982 The Americans: The Collage, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

· 1982 Color, DuBose Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 1982 Texas on Paper, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, traveled to: University of Colorado, Boulder; Abilene Christian University, Texas; Tyler Museum of Art, Texas; Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York; University of Arizona, Tucson; Amarillo Art Center, Texas (catalogue)

· 1983 A Salute to Houston Artists, Midtown Art Center, Houston, Texas

· 1983 The Contemporaries, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

· 1983 Solo, Paintings and Drawings, DuBose Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 1983 Suzanne Paul, Charles Schorre, Casey Williams, Texas Gallery, Houston, Texas

· 1984 Texas Visions, Transco Tower, Houston, Texas

· 1984 Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America, Lawndale Annex, University of Houston, Texas

· 1984–95 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas

· 1985 Fresh Paint: The Houston School, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, , traveled to: Institute for Art and Urban Resources, Inc. (MoMA PS1), Queens, New York; Oklahoma Contemporary Art Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (catalogue)

· 1985 Layering, an Art of Time & Space, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico

· 1986 The Texas Landscape, 1900–1986, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

· 1986 Texas Annual 1986, Texas Fine Art Association, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas

· 1987 From the Object: Still Life Themes and Variations, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

· 1987 Abstract Sensibilities Now, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas

· 1987 Third Coast Review: A Look at Art in Texas, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado

· 1988 Houston 88, juried, Cullen Center, Houston, Texas

· 1988 Houston Area Exhibition, juried, Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, Texas

· 1989 Toy Show, Transco Tower, Houston, Texas and Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, Texas

· 1989 Charles Schorre: Photocollages, MSC Forsyth Center Galleries, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

· 1989 Messages from the South, Sewall Art Gallery, Rice University, Houston, Texas

· 1990 Printmaking in Texas—The 1980’s, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas

· 1990 Texas Artists: Another Reality, McNay Museum, San Antonio, Texas

· 1990 Organic Abstractions, Rudder Exhibit Hall, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

· 1990 Tradition and Innovation: A Museum Celebration of Texas Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

· 1990 Group Exhibition, Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations, Rice University, Houston, Texas

· 1993 Artists’ Progress: Seven Houston Artists 1943–1993, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

· 1997 Charles Schorre, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas (catalogue)

· 2004 A Selection of Art Made in Houston 1950-1965, Brazos Projects, Brazos Bookstore, Houston, Texas

· 2004–05 Rice Institute and the Visual Arts in Houston: 1900–1960, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, Texas

· 2006 Houston Art in Houston Collections: Works from 1900 to 1965, Heritage Society Museum, Houston, Texas

· 2008 Founders of Houston Art: Thirty Artists Who Led the Way, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2009 Painting West Texas: 35 Artists/100 Years, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas (catalogue)

· 2009 Back to the Future: Elements of “Modern” in Mid-Century Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2009 Texas Paper: Watercolors, Pastels and Drawings from the Lone Star State, 1938-2008, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2010 Water Rites: Rivers, Lakes, and Streams in Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2010 Third Anniversary Show: A Tribute to Houston Artists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2010 The Presence of Light: Sky and Light in the Texas Landscape, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2011 Lone Star Modernism: A Celebration of Mid-Century Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2011 Breakthrough: Sixty Years of Texas Abstraction, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2012 A Survey of Texas Modernists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2012 Texas Expressionism, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2013 Rhythms of Modernism, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2013 Summer Encore Exhibition, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2014 Houston Founders at City Hall Art Exhibition, City Hall, Houston, Texas

· 2014 Lone Star Masters of Modernism, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas

· 2015 Bayou City Chic: Progressive Streams of Modern Art in Houston, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas (catalogue)

Selected Public Collections

American Artists Group, New York, New York
American Bank, Houston, Texas
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
Citicorrp, Inc., New York, New York
Exxon, New York, New York
First Bank of Minneapolis, Minnesota
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska
St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston, Texas
Texas Commerce Bank, Houston, Texas
Transco, Houston, Texas