David Adickes
(1927-2024)
"Man On Horse" Bronze Sculpture
7.5 x 6.5 x 3
Signed inner rear leg.
cowboy, horseback, horse, western, wooden base
Houston sculptor and painter David Pryor Adickes died on Sunday, July 13 at age 98, leaving a legacy of nearly eight decades of artmaking that included many notable monumental public sculptures and signature paintings. Mr. Adickes may have cut a diminutive figure — at 105 pounds he was once deemed too slight to enlist as a World War II Army pilot — but he became a giant of Texas art over his long lifetime.
Mr. Adickes was born in Huntsville in 1927, and lived there through graduating with a degree in math and physics from Sam Houston State University (SHSU), before decamping to Paris in 1948. There he studied the art of El Greco, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Marc Chagall. In a 2017 Texas Country Reporter story, Mr. Adickes quoted his friend, noted author James Michener — whom he called “Jim” — in saying, “I just come from Texas, but I’m not a Texan. I’m a French artist, if you had to really put geography [on it]. Paris influenced me more than any other place in the world.”
But few artists could have been more Texan. In true maverick style, Mr. Adickes sidestepped traditional methods of applying for public art commissions through governmental channels, instead parlaying successful real estate ventures into buying land on which to situate his artworks. One such example is his massive Sam Houston sculpture — a Huntsville icon, titled A Tribute to Courage — grandly stands nearly 70 feet tall on a grassy plot he owned on the southern edge of town, overlooking Interstate 45.
Dixie Friend Gay, a longtime friend of Mr. Adickes and noted public sculptor who goes through traditional channels to propose and site her work, said good humoredly, “He talked to me about how I did public art, and he goes, ‘You know what? I just go buy the property and stick what I want to on it.’”
Ms. Gay said Mr. Adickes was generous in sharing his substantial knowledge on complex sculptural processes. This trait was also recognized by artist Jack Massing, Executive Director of The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, who to work through the complex concrete layering processes of building his huge sculptures. “As a maker, he was fearless in making these giant things. He figured it out. He got it done, and he did it for so long,” Mr. Massing said.
Linda Wiley also admired Mr. Adickes, for his work as an artist and for his charming personality. They met 30 years ago while he was working on the Sam Houston sculpture. “Those of us around in Huntsville ... had heard of this guy that was building a giant statue, and so I went out and met David and his charming self, and started taking pictures,” she said. That initial encounter eventually became Ms. Wiley’s 1996 book about Adickes as an inspiration for creativity in everyone, Making It Happen: Exploring the Creative Process Through the Sculptures of David Adickes. The title is a reference to Mr. Adickes’ fortitude, Ms. Wiley said.
“David didn’t just dream up the dream, he realized the dream.” The two became a couple, then life partners. One dream of Mr. Adickes’ that remains unrealized was finding a permanent Texas home for his collection of 43 famed giant president’s head sculptures, which remain at his downtown studio. The building faces demolition by the Texas Department of Transportation through eminent domain. “So there’s the ticking of the clock, because we’re hoping to get them transferred to their new home before TxDOT says you gotta move them now,” Ms. Wiley said.
Thirty years ago, after seeing firsthand the monumental Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, Mr. Adickes undertook what would become an expensive and consuming obsession to craft large-scale concrete heads for each president. By the end of his life, he had completed every president through Barack Obama. In a 2014 interview with Houston Public Media, Mr. Adickes said, “It’s this crazy idea, but I have crazy ideas,” concluding with a lightheartedly self-deprecating pronouncement, "It's a curse."
In a February 2025 Texas Monthly article on the quandary of their preservation, Mr. Adickes is quoted as saying, “I don’t want them to die. ... My goal is to create works of art that will be here for generations — that will bring pleasure for generations to come. My whole life is based on that desire.”
Mr. Adickes purchased the former Huntsville High School, when the building was to be razed, and converted it into the Adickes Art Foundation Art Museum to house his ever-growing collection of paintings and sculptures. Ms. Wiley said they sold the building a few years ago to SHSU, which turned it into a natural history museum. Regarding what will happen to the artistic legacy of Mr. Adickes, “As far as a museum in his honor, that remains to be seen. I’m going to let the stars align on that and see what happens.” She said TammyDowe of Spot On Public Relations in Houston is working on finding a home for the presidents’ heads, and Mr. Massing said he believes the heads will be the most important part of Mr. Adickes’ legacy and hopes they find a home.
According to those who knew him, Mr. Adickes will be remembered for his good will as much as his artwork. Mr. Massing said, “His impact is going to be felt for another 30 to 50 years because of the people that he touched.” Ms. Gay remembered him as an engaging personality. “I loved his stories. He was such a unique storyteller,” she said, describing him as a “Renaissance Man” with a wide range of interests. In a 2008 oral history book by Sarah C. Reynolds, Houston Reflections: Art in the City, 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, Mr. Adickes recalled starting The Studio School of Contemporary Art on Truxillo Street with Paris colleague Herb Mears in 1951, and later, opening the Love Street Light Circus and Feel Good Machine in 1967, calling it “the hottest psychedelic club in town," having hosted such bands as The Red Crayola, at the time "just a bunch of kids from Rice (University)."
In 2017, Mr. Adickes told the Texas Country Reporter that loving what he did was key to his longevity, declaring, “I’ll never retire. That’s not possible.” Ms. Wiley said he stayed active, in mind and spirit, until he died. “He was David until the very last.”
For an extended visual tour of Mr. Adickes’ Houston- and Huntsville-based monumental sculpture, visit the Houston Chronicle’s recent memorial photo essay. A public memorial event will be held in mid-October, Ms. Wiley said, with further details forthcoming.
Source: Glasstire (2025), written by Nicholas Frank
Submitted by: Stephanie Reeves
Biography from the Archives of askART
Photo of David Pryor Adickes
Sculptor David Adickes is known for a major project titled Presidents Park in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he created 42 portraits bust of American presidents. Each sculpture is twenty feet tall, and their size was the subject of much protest and controversy. However, a court ruling allowed them to stay.
Source: Art
Antiques, November 2000
Now mainly known as a creator of giant sculpture, Adickes spent most of his professional life teaching, painting, and creating small bronzes. A commission for Houston's Performing Art Center in 1982 marks the beginning of his giant sculpture design. After the 36-foot tall cellist called the Virtuoso in a cubist style, he created a number of abstract works, including a giant cornet for the jazz stage at the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Circa 1994 he finished a giant statue of Sam Houston, first President of Texas, followed by his 42 statue tribute to United States Presidents.
Adickes has degrees in mathematics and physics which serve him well in the engineering of his works. Working on a giant sculpture series which includes the Beatles, and he hopes to end with a 280-foot tall cowboy statue, Adickes is also painting again.
Source: Susan Warren. "Concrete Cowboy: Sculptor of Tall Art Sets Sights Higher," in The Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2006 (page A1)
Biography from Foltz Fine Art
Photo of David Pryor Adickes
Born in Huntsville, Texas, David Adickes earned his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics from Sam Houston State College (now University). The summer after graduation, he attended the Kansas City Art Institute and realized that art was what he really wanted to do. Adickes used his G.I. Bill to study painting in Paris with modern master, Fernand Leger. He returned to Houston and began painting full-time.
In 1983, he was commissioned to make his first monumental sculpture, Virtuoso, which now resides at the Lyric Center in downtown Houston. Adickes also created the 76-foot tall figure of Sam Houston that stands on Interstate 45 just south of Huntsville. The Winds of Change, an 8 foot bronze of President George Bush for the Bush Presidential Library at TAMU.
Selected Biographical and Career Highlights
1927 Born in Huntsville, Texas
1945–46 U. S. Air Force
1948 BS Physics/Mathematics, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas
1948 Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Kansas
1948–50 Atelier Fernand Léger, Paris, France
1954–55 Instructor, University of Texas at Austin at Austin
1957–58 Around-the-world-tour, one year in Japan with solo shows in Tokyo and Osaka
Resides in Houston, Texas
Selected Prizes, Awards
Houston Annual: Purchase Prize 1953, 1955 (March), 1955 (December); Cash Prize 1954; Honorable Mention 1953
1953 Purchase Prize, Beach Scene, casein and Honorable Mention, Fishermen on Beach, pastel
1954 Cash Prize, Three Figures Before a Black Boat, casein
1955 (March) Purchase Prize, Spanish Interior, oil
1955 (December) Purchase Prize, In Attendance, casein
Texas General/Annual: Recommended for Purchase Prize 1951; Cash Prize 1951, 1954
1951 Cash Prize and Recommended for Purchase Prize, Harlequins, gouache (2 figures)
1954 Cash Prize, Risque-Tout, oil
Texas Watercolor Society: Purchase Prize 1952, 1953; Cash Prize 1952; Materials Prize 1953
1952 Purchase Prize, Composition, watercolor and Cash Prize, Still Life with Coffee Urn, watercolor
1953 Purchase Prize, 7 of the Species, watercolor and Materials Prize, View of the Village, watercolor
Texas Fine Arts Association: Purchase Prize 1953 (spring), 1953 (fall); First Prize 1956
1953 (Spring Festival) Purchase Prize, Harlequins (3 figures)
1953 (Fall Annual) Purchase Prize, Three by the Sea, casein
1956 First Prize, Harlequin With Banjo, oil
Southwestern Prints and Drawings: Purchase Prize 1956
1956-57 Purchase Prize, Two Men on a Beach, lithograph
D. D. Feldman: Merit Award 1956
1956 Merit Award, The Poets
Selected Exhibitions
1951 Houston Art League Fair, (rented booth with Herb Mears), Shamrock Hilton, Houston, Texas
1951 26th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
1951 Paintings and Drawings by David Adickes, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
1951 13th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture, circulated: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas (same entry: cash prize and recommended for purchase prize)
1952 Texas Watercolor Society 3rd Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas; Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas (2 entries: purchase prize and cash prize)
1952 5th Southwestern Exhibition of Prints and Drawings, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
1953 Texas Watercolor Society 4th Annual Exhibition, Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas, selection circulated: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas A&M University, College Station; Texas A&M University, Kingsville; Centennial Museum, Corpus Christi, Texas (2 entries: purchase prize and materials prize)
1953 Texas Fine Arts Festival, Coliseum, Austin, Texas (purchase prize)
1953 Texas Fine Arts Association Annual Exhibition, Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin, Texas (purchase prize)
1953 28th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (2 entries: purchase prize and honorable mention)
1953–62 Solos and Group, James Bute Gallery, Houston, Texas
1954 29th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (cash prize)
1954 16th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture 1954, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth, Texas (cash prize)
1955 (March) 30th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (purchase prize)
1955 (December) 31st Annual Exhibition of Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (purchase prize)
1955 17th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture 1955–1956, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin
1956 D. D. Feldman Collection of Contemporary Texas Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (merit award)
1956 Gulf-Caribbean Art Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, traveled to: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg; Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado (catalogue)
1956 Annual Spring Show, Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, Texas (first prize)
1956 6th Southwestern Exhibition of Prints and Drawings, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, traveled to: Centenary College, Shreveport, Louisiana; Elisabet Ney Museum, Austin, Texas; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque; Texas Tech College Museum, Lubbock; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; University of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Oklahoma A&M College, Stillwater, Oklahoma (purchase prize)
1957 7th Southwestern Exhibition of Prints and Drawings, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
1957 Survey of Painting in Texas, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, circulated by American Federation of Arts (catalogue)
1957 Solo, Witte Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas
1957 Recent Contemporary Acquisitions—Houston, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas (catalogue)
1957 David Pryor Adickes, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
1957 Solo, Laguna Gloria Gallery, Austin, Texas
1957 32nd Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
1958 Solo, Formes Gallery, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan
1959 60 Prints by 60 Artists from Local Collections: Post-War Prints 1946–1959, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
1959 34th Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
1959 Made in Texas by Texans, Dallas Museum of Contemporary Art, Sheraton-Dallas Hotel, Dallas, Texas (catalogue)
1959 Solo, Janet Nessler Gallery, New York, New York
1959 21st Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1959-1960, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; Museum, Texas Tech, Lubbock; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1961 Solo, Galerie de la Vieille Échoppe, St. Paul-de-Vence
1961–62 Solo, Haydon Calhoun Gallery, Dallas, Texas
1962 Solo, Fifth Ave. Gallery, Fort Worth, Texas
1962 24th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1962-1963, circulated: Witte Museum, San Antonio; Centennial Art Museum, Corpus Christi; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
1962 Solo, Stewart-Ricard Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
1963 34th Annual Dallas County Exhibition: Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
1963 25th Annual Texas Painting and Sculpture Exhibition 1963-1964, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Centennial Art Museum, Corpus Christi; Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso; Witte Museum, San Antonio; University of Texas at Austin
1963 University of Texas Art Faculty—Past and Present, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
1963– Solos and Group, DuBose Gallery, Houston, Texas
1970–Solos and Group, Wally Findlay Galleries, Palm Beach, Florida
1971–72 Texas Painting and Sculpture: The 20th Century, Pollack Galleries, Owen Arts Center, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, traveled to: Witte Confluence Museum, HemisFair Plaza, San Antonio; University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; The Museum, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas (catalogue)
1973 The Michener Collection: American Paintings from the Twentieth Century, inaugural exhibition, Michener Galleries, University of Texas at Austin, Texas
1975 Evolution in Figurative Art, Selections from the Michener Collection, University of Texas at Austin, Texas
2004 A Selection of Art Made in Houston 1950-1965, Brazos Projects, Brazos Bookstore, 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 Back to the Future: Elements of “Modern” in Mid-Century Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas
2009 Adickes…Early: Fifty Paintings from the Formative Period, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas (catalogue)
2009 A Texas Sampler: Vintage Paintings by Thirty Texas Artists, 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 Third Anniversary Show: A Tribute to Houston Artists, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas
2011 His World of Color: David Adickes, Nave Museum, Victoria Texas
2011 Lone Star Modernism: A Celebration of Mid-Century Texas Art, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas
2011 Portrait of Houston: 1900–2011, Alliance Gallery, Houston Arts Alliance, Houston, Texas (catalogue)
2012 A Survey of Texas Modernists, 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 An New Visual Vocabulary: Developments in Texas Modernism 1935-1965, One Allen Center, Lobby Gallery, 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 Commissions
1983 Virtuoso, Lyric Center, Houston, Texas
1994 Sam Houston, Huntsville, Texas
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
James A. Michener Art Foundation, Doleystown, Pennsylvania
Longview Art Association, Longview, Texas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Witte Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas