Stephen Thomas Rascoe was born in Uvalde, Texas on May 8, 1924, but spent most of his early years growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas.
After serving in the United States Army Air Force from 1942 to 1946, he attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he became cartoon editor of The Texas Ranger, (the U.T. humor magazine) and had his cartoons published in Yank and several national magazines during World War II.
He eventually received his B.F.A. in 1948 and a M.F.A. in 1951, both from the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduation, Rascoe returned to Corpus Christi and worked as a draftsman for Shell Oil Company.
He married Barbara Butler of Pecos, Texas in December of 1951, and the couple had two children, Paul Stephen and Jean Stephanie. In 1964, Rascoe accepted a position as a fine art professor at the University of Texas at Arlington where he remained until his retirement in 1990.
While serving in the Army Air Force during World War II, Rascoe was inspired by the great western canyons he flew over during this period, commenting in the book, Pecos to Rio Grande: Interpretations of Far West Texas by Eighteen Artists, published by Texas A&M University Press, 1983, "I have flown over most of the canyons of the Southwest. The aerial view of a canyon often gives an intense impression of its tremendous size and its dramatic color." He traveled extensively to Europe, Canada, Mexico, the Yucatan, the Caribbean, and throughout the United States.
During Rascoe's distinguished career he earned many prestigious art awards. His paintings can be found in the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Art, the Art Museum of South Texas, the Texas A&M University Museum, Arlington Museum of Art, the University of Texas at Arlington, Southern Methodist University, Texas Fine Arts Association Laguna Gloria Museum and the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, in addition to numerous private collections.
Stephen Thomas Rascoe passed away June 16, 2008, at the age of 84.
Texas Exhibitions:
Arlington: Arlington Museum of Art; University of Texas at Arlington Art Gallery; Upstairs Gallery; Arlington Art Association
Austin: University Museum; University of Texas at Austin; Texas Fine Arts Association Exhibitions; Laguna Gloria Art Museum Driski ll Gallery; Bayliners Club
Corpus Christi: Centennial Art Museum; Art Museum of South Texas; Corpus Christi Art Foundation; South Texas Art League; Del Mar College; University of Corpus Christi
Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art, Texas Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions/Southwestern Art Exhibitions; D.D. Feldman Annual Invitational; Southern Methodist University Pollock Galleries, Owen Arts Center; Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts, Mary Nye Contemporary Art Gallery.
Fort Worth: Fort Worth Art Museum; Amon Carter Museum of Western Art.
Houston: Annual Exhibitions of Works by Houston Artists, Houston Museum of Art; Temple Emanu El (one of eleven Texas painters invited to create and exhibit a painting); Rice University Art Gallery; Contemporary Art Museum; University of Houston Art Gallery.
Longview: Longview Junior Service League Annual Invitationals.
Lubbock: Texas Tech University Museum, Lubbock.
San Antonio: Invitational, Witte Memorial Museum.
Waco: Waco Contemporary Arts Museum.
Exhibitions Outside of Texas:
The Art Institute of Chicago
Texas Contemporary Artists, Knoedler Gallery, New York
Art U.S.A., Madison Square Garden, New York
Southwestern Artists Biennial, Sante Fe, New Mexico
Butler Institute Annuals, Youngstown, Ohio
Sarasota Annuals, MId-America Annuals, Nelson Gallery, Kansas City
Gallery, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Denver Art Museum: Annual for Western Artists/Artists West of the Mississippi/Texas Painters (one of seven invited).
One-Man Exhibitions:
Fort Worth: Rascoe Show, November 2007 and One-Man Show. 80th Birthday Celebration, May 2004; Galerie Kornye West
Dallas: Mary Nye Contemporary Art Gallery; Highland Park Town Hall; Whittle Music Company; Pegasus Theatre; Metropolitan Showrooms, World Trade Center; State Fair Music Hall.
Houston: James Bute Gallery; Right Angle Gallery, Dryer Galleries; Nahan Gallery.
Corpus Christi: Corpus Christi Art Association; Centennial Art Museum; Browning Design Center; El Sol Gallery; Little Theatre.
Austin: Laguna Gloria Art Museum; Driskill Gallery; Byliners Club.
Laredo: Vidaurri Galleries; Laredo Art Association.
Kingsville: Texas A & I Art Gallery.
San Angelo: San Angelo College Art Gallery.
San Marcos: Southwest Texas State Teachers Art Gallery.
Waco: Museum of Contemporary Art.
Beaumont: Morehouse Contemporary Arts Gallery.
One-Man Exhibitions continued:
Arlington: Arlington Museum of Art (the Museum's first show, 1988); Upstairs Gallery; University of Texas at Arlington Theatre.
Major Awards:
Houston Museum of Fine Arts Purchase Award, in the 18th annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1956.
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts First Purchase Award, in the Texas annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1957.
Friends of Texas Fine Arts Purchase for the Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, 1958.
D.D. Feldman Purchase Award, at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1959.
Junior Service League of Longview Annual Invitational awards three years.
South Texas Art League, and Corpus Christi Art Foundation Annual Exhibitions, awards six years.
Collections:
Dallas Museum of Art
Houston Museum of Art
Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi
Arlington Museum of Art
Southern Methodist University, Dallas
The University Art Museum of the University of Texas at Austin
Texas fine Arts Associations Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin
Texas A & M University Museum, The Frank H. Wardlaw Collection of Texas Art, College Station
Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan, (eight paintings)
Memory Tech, Plano (twenty-one paintings)
Besides those listed, many other distinguished corporations, banks, savings and loans, architectural firms, libraries, and private collections throughout the U.S.
Publications:
"A Voyage of Discovery," Dallas Home Design, 2003
Three paintings included in the book Pecos to Rio Grande: Interpretations of Far West Texas by Eighteen Artists, published by Texas A & M Press, 1983, Introduction by Ron Tyler, Publishers Foreword by Frank H. Wardlow.
Two series of paintings in Ford Times Magazine, "Bethlehem on the Rio Grande," December 1961; "The Laguna Madre," June 1963.
Write-ups in House and Garden Magazine and Southwest Gardener in the early '60s.
Noted by Eloise Spaeth in her book American Art Museums and Galleries: An Introduction to Looking, Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1960.
Articles and photographs of paintings in the The Shell Pecten, The Shell News, English in Texas Magazine (accompanying poetry), UTA Magazine of the University of Texas at Arlington.
Who's Who in the World
Who's Who in America
Who's Who in American Art
Who's Who in the South and Southwest
Critiques:
"Mr. Rascoe breaks up his subject matter into planes, both of form and color. He is possessed of a gorgeous yet sensitive palette." Dallas Times Herald
"Rich spaciousness, a controlled, yet rich palette, linear variation and accent Carefully planned and skillfully applied color and steady, dry brush--release and Expressionist-like masculinity of attack." Corpus Christi
"His style tends to quietly abstract essentials of form, not starkly or irresponsibly, but boldly, with sinew of structure dominating mood." Dallas Morning News
Following is the Obituary of the Artist
Stephen Thomas Rascoe, 84, an artist, retired fine art professor and gentleman, died Monday, June 16, 2008.
Mr. Rascoe's wish was to participate in the Willed Body Program for medical research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.
Memorials: American Heart Association.
Stephen Thomas Rascoe was born May 8, 1924, in Uvalde, son of the late William Marion Rascoe and Jane Grace Johnston Rascoe. He grew up in Corpus Christi. He was a student at the University of Texas at Austin before serving in the United States Army Air Force from 1942-1946. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948 and his Master of Arts degree in painting in 1951, both from the Art Institute of Chicago.
Upon returning to Texas, Mr. Rascoe worked as a draftsman before accepting a position at the University of Texas at Arlington as a fine art professor in 1964 and continued in this role until his retirement in 1990. Through his work at UTA, Mr. Rascoe was able to inspire and encourage a whole new generation of Texas artists. During his distinguished career, Stephen Rascoe won many prestigious art awards.
His paintings are included in the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, Houston Museum of Art, Art Museum of South Texas, Texas A&M University Museum, Arlington Museum of Art, University of Texas at Arlington, Southern Methodist University, Texas Fine Arts Association Laguna Gloria Museum and the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin and numerous private collections.
A painter of abstract landscapes, he has been a long-time art professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.
He was born at Uvalde, Texas and studied art at the University of Texas at Austin for two years, before serving in the military during WWII from 1942 to 1946. Rascoe earned his B.F.A. degree in 1949 and an MFA in 1951, both from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
He was a professor of fine art at the University of Texas at Arlington from 1964 until his retirement in 1990.
He has traveled extensively in Europe and Mexico and the Western United States, where he is especially fond of aerial landscape perspectives, he gained by flying over the land.
Museum collections include Dallas Museum of Art, Houston Museum of Art, Art Museum of South Texas, Arlington Museum of Art, Southern Methodist University, University Art Museum of the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Fine Arts Association's Laguna Gloria Museum, Texas A&M University Museum's Frank H. Wardlow Collection.
Corporate Collections include Ford Motor Company, Memory Tech Company Collection.
Professor Rascoe died on Monday, June 16, 2008.
Source: University of Texas Newsletter
