Jerry Bywaters

Williamson Gerald Bywaters (1906-1989) was an American artist, university professor, museum director, art critic and a historian of the Texas region. Jerry Bywater's career and life's work focused on elevating the quality of Texas art, attracting national recognition to the art of the region and lifting it above provincialism.

Bywaters was born in Paris, Texas, on May 21, 1906. When a childhood accident kept him out of school for a year Bywaters filled his time drawing. This was his first step toward his life in art. He attended the Terrill Preparatory School for Boys in Dallas, which he credits with helping "me develop as a writer and later critic". His illustrations appeared in the school paper and annual. After graduating Bywaters enrolled in Southern Methodist University and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Journalism, and another in General Literature. In his last year he took a painting class from Ralph Rowntree and in July 1927 traveled to Europe with him to study art. The following February he went to Mexico to study the Mexican mural movement and met Diego Rivera. From him he learned that "art, to be significant, must be a reflection of life". In the summer of 1928 he continued his study of art at the Old Lyme Art Colony. There his ability was recognized by noted American painters Bruce Crane and William S. Robinson. It was then that Bywaters decided to pursue art as a profession. He sought to overcome his father's concerns over his career choice, writing to him that he would earn less as a commercial artist in the long run. In the fall he moved to New York to attend the Art Students League. There he studied with John Sloan, who advised him to return to the Southwest where there were "a lot of interesting things" he could paint, convincing Bywaters to return to Dallas.

Bywaters produced landscapes, still lifes and portrait paintings, as well as lithographic prints and murals. In 1933 Art Digest recognized Bywaters as an artist of national importance. His paintings in museum collections include On the Ranch (1941) at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; Where the Mountain Meets the Plains, at Southern Methodist University; and Oil Field Girls (1940), at the Blanton Museum, University of Texas at Austin.

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