About the Artist
David Adickes was born in 1927 in Huntsville, a charming East Texas Piney Woods town renowned as the home and final resting place of Sam Houston. He was the third of four brothers. As a child, he enjoyed drawing and painting but was actually more interested in music and acting at the time.
Adickes attended Texas A&M University for three semesters, then served in the Air Corps and landed a position with the Air Transport Command as a steward on flights to and from Paris. Back home in 1947, he finished a math and physics degree at Sam Houston State Teachers College, then turned his sites on art.
The summer of 1948 was spent immersed in the art school life, thanks to the GI Bill. Then it was straight back to Paris to study for two years at the atelier of the French master Fernand Léger.
In his illustrious 97 years of life, David Adickes:
Exhibited in countless galleries and museums around the world, starting in Houston with the DuBose Gallery.
Taught art at the University of Texas at Austin (1955).
Spent the summer of ‘56 in Tahiti, following the footsteps of famed artist Gauguin.
Took a two-year trip around the world, spending one year traveling Japan with best pal, James Michener, who also penned a lengthy art critique and art book introduction.
Opened a “clean” psychedelic night club for teenagers (no booze), named---appropriately for the times--- “Love Street Light Circus and Feel Good Machine.” 1967! SIDENOTE: This led to—decades later—the naming of a famous Houston beer in a nod to his concept, Love Street, by Karbach Brewing!
Became a proud father of daughter, Mary (“Bobo”) Adickes Van Pelt, along with Mary’s mother, Muffett Criner in Houston (1971). He is now an equally proud grandfather to young artistic talents, Cynthia and Mary, children of daughter Mary and Guy Van Pelt.
Created the celebrated Virtuoso sculpture, still displayed at the Lyric Centre in Downtown Houston, Big Alex, the famed giant telephone, in Montrose, Houston, and Stone Trumpet on Galveston’s Strand.
Created one of the tallest sculptures on the planet, the 67-foot tall Sam Houston sculpture in Huntsville, Texas. This monumental work and the step-by-step process was documented by fellow Native Texan, Linda Wiley, in her photo and journalistic book, Making it Happen: Exploring the Creative Process.
This led to his creation of the famed series of colossal busts of U.S. presidents, all a subject of increasing interest among in-the-know art, Adickes, and Texas/U.S. history fans.
Has cast, sculpted or bronzed heads or full body sculptures of heads of state and hometown heroes, including Governor John Connally, Dr. Denton Cooley, President George H.W. Bush, and so many more tall Texans.
Has created thousands of brilliantly hued, unquestionably “David Adickes” creations of figurative, cubist, landscape, and seascape paintings, and bronze, plaster, or concrete sculptures that reside in museum and private collections across the globe.
Has been featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, on the final cover of LIFE Magazine, in countless respected publications, and, recently, CBS Sunday Morning.
DAVID ADICKES TODAY: What’s happening now + up next
David now spends time creating—painting, sculpting, writing musical scores and compositions, and even theatre scripts and a couple of joke books.
He creates daily at his private studio in Houston while enjoying life to the fullest with his beloved friend and sweetheart of many decades, Linda Wiley, a talented, and recorded flautist, in Houston.
As always, Adickes never stops. In addition to the above daily practice, David has prepared his colossal “outdoor” sculptures for placement and acquisition via civic + public art programs and real estate markets, available to individual, corporate, charitable, civic, and municipal collectors.