On Wednesday afternoon in DeGolyer library’s Texana Room, Hamon Arts Library curators Ellen Buie Newyk and Sam Ratcliffe gave the Clements Center Brown Bag Lecture on the Texas Regionalism artist Jerry Bywater. Entitled “Jerry Bywaters: Lone Star Printmaker & Interpreter of the Southwest,” the lecture gave all in attendance a glimpse into Bywater’s artistic career.

Ratcliffe, the first to speak, told of Bywaters’s life as an artist and painter. Bywaters, a member of the SMU class of 1927, demonstrated his artistic skills throughout his college career. Although there was no art program at SMU at the time, Bywaters, who majored in comparative literature, served as an art critic for the school’s Southwest Review and drew for the Rotunda yearbook.

He worked at the Dallas Museum of Fine Art (now the Dallas Museum of Art), and as Ratcliffe noted, “Mr. Bywaters had an attitude of ‘I can learn from anyone,'” so his office was filled with notes from different museums. Furthermore, because of his fascination with the Southwest, Bywaters painted many aspects of the region, from scenery to cowboys to old homes and shops.

Newyk spoke on Bywaters’s lithographs, mentioning that “his print career is one of the highlights of his artistic achievements,” and that he helped to spread interest in printmaking. Although he was a print pioneer, other famous artists influenced Bywaters’s regionalist viewpoints. When on a trip to Mexico, Bywaters met muralist Diego Rivera.

Of their meeting, Bywaters stated, “Diego Rivera has taught me a lesson. Art, to be significant, must be a reflection of life.” With this philosophy in mind, Bywaters captured the spirit of the Southwest in his lithographs.

After the lecture, attendees had the opportunity to purchase books written by the presenters, as well as participate in a question-and-answer session. A showcase of Bywater’s work is available for viewing in the Hamon Arts Library.