Arts
William Dickerson
Alex Graves
Arthur William Hall
Norma Bassett Hall
Phyllis Haver
Frederick Remington
Marian Koogler McNay
Mort Walker
Gene “Yogi'“ Williams
William Dickerson
Nationally recognized painter, lithographer, and art educator, born in 1904 in El Dorado, KS. Family moved to Wichita in 1906, where he spent the rest of his life. After instruction at the Art Institute of Chicago, he accepted a teaching position with the School of the Wichita Art Association, later known as Wichita’s Center for the Arts. He later served as director of the association from 1933 until retirement in 1971, shaping the direction of Kansas’s art through several generations of students.
Considered the “Last Great Kansas Regionalist”, he remains the most representative painter and printmaker in Kansas art history, a monument to the greatest days of the Regionalist movement in this nation.
Recipient of numerous awards gained from competitive exhibitions in some of the nation’s most prestigious museums, his work has been exhibited in one-man and group shows throughout America and Canada, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
Alex Graves
Executive producer, director and writer of film and television, Alex Graves was born on July 23, 1965, in Kansas City, MO. The son of Bill Graves of Graves Drug Store, Alex was raised in El Dorado, KS.
Alex attended the University of Kansas in for 2 years before transferring to study filmmaking at the University of Southern California, where he graduated in 1987.
He began his career with an independent film that he wrote and filmed on a low budget in the El Dorado area. The film was picked up for distribution by the Miramax studio, receiving favorable reviews.
Following that initial success, Graves went on to work extensively as a director and producer on many television dramas, including “The Practice”, “Ally McBeal”, and “The West Wing”. He continues to work on films as well, writing and directing Casualties and currently on The Crusaders, which is scheduled for release in 2007.
Graves has won two Emmys for producing “The West Wing”, as well as winning the Producers Guild of America award.
Arthur William Hall
Nationally known artist and printmaker, Arthur W. Hall was born Oct. 30, 1889 in Bowie, TX. He attended Chicago Art Institute, coming to El Dorado, KS in 1921 following service in the Army infantry in France in World War I.
Working as a court reporter for the 13th Judicial District while continuing to produce art, his works of art were largely influenced by places he visited in Europe, Kansas, and the Southwest.
As a founding member of the Prairie Print Makers, Hall not only produced fine etchings but was considered the most accomplished etcher of the group. Achieving national reputation, his prints are included in important collections such as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, France.
In 1927, Hall was awarded the Bryan prize for the best group of American prints at 8th International Exposition of Prints in Los Angeles, CA. He also received gold and bronze medals from the Kansas City Art Institute. His etching, “Field Hand”, earned the Henry B. Shope prize in the annual exhibition of the Society of American Etchers in 1937.
Norma Basset Hall
Nationally known artist and woodblock printmaker, Norma Bassett Hall was born in Halsey, Oregon in 1888. She attended the Chicago Art Institute, moving to El Dorado, KS in 1922 upon marrying fellow artist Arthur W. Hill.
As a pioneer in bringing the Japanese ukiyo-e technique of woodblock printmaking to America, Norma Hall developing this style in El Dorado, and later in New Mexico. She gained national recognition for her beautiful woodcut prints and serigraphs.
As the only female founding member of the Prairie Print Makers, Hall participated in many group art shows, touring exhibitions, and one-person shows at galleries such as the United States National Museum, Honolulu Academy of the Arts, and Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, France.
Phyllis Haver
Phyllis Haver, 1920s silent film star, was born on a farm near Douglass, Kansas on January 6, 1899. She moved to Los Angeles, California with her mother when she was eight years old, where she grew up.
After graduation from Manual Arts High School, Haver went on to a highly successful career as an actress in silent films. She played the part of Roxie Hart in the original film version of Chicago, achieving worldwide recognition.
Thought by many to be America’s finest actress in both comedy and dramatic roles, Haver chose to walk away from the fame and glamour of Hollywood in favor of marriage to millionaire William Seeman. The couple later divorced.
On November 19, 1960, Phyllis Haver was found dead in her Connecticut home of a possible drug overdose.
Frederic Remington
Painter, sculptor and writer Frederic Remington was born on October 4, 1861 in Canton, New York. Once a resident of Butler County, he operated a sheep ranch near Plum Grove in Fairmount Township from 1883 to1884.
Briefly attending the Yale School of Fine Arts & the Art Students League in New York, Remington went on to become the West’s most successful illustrator. As a pictorial historian, he preserved memories of a rapidly vanishing saga, giving the country what has become the accepted vision of the American West. In nearly 3000 drawings and paintings, 22 bronze sculptures, 8 books, a Broadway play, and over 100 articles and stories, he immortalized the Western experience as one of independence, individualism, and stoic heroism.
His works are exhibited in museums across the nation. In 1888 he won both the Clarke and Hallgarten prizes at the annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design. At the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889 awarded him the silver medal. The U.S. Post Office in 1940 issued a special commemorative stamp honoring Remington.
Marian Koogler McNay
(Jessie) Marian Koogler McNay, philanthropist and patron of the arts, was born Feb. 7, 1883 in Ohio. In 1884, her family moved to El Dorado, KS where she grew up, the only child of Dr. and Mrs. Marion A. Koogler. Dr. Koogler purchased large holdings of Butler County land, where oil was later discovered.
McNay studied art at the University of Kansas and the Art Institute of Chicago. She is remembered for her extensive collection of Modern Art.
Upon her death in 1950, this collection and McNay’s estate was left in trust to her adopted city of San Antonio, TX, along with plans to turn her home into a museum of modern art. The Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum continues today as one of the nation’s finest collections.
Mort Walker
World-renowned cartoonist Mort Walker was born September 3, 1923, in El Dorado, KS. His family left the area around three years later; Mort grew up in Kansas City, MO.
Already a well-selling cartoonist, Walker was chief editor for Hallmark cards at age 18, while attending college.
His college education was interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. Serving in the U.S. Army for four years, including time in Italy, he was discharged as a first lieutenant. At this time he re-entered college, earning his degree from the University of Missouri.
An integral member of the cartooning world for over 50 years with his strips, Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois, he is heavily involved in the National Cartoonists Society and the Newspaper Features Council. He founded the International Museum of Cartoon Art, and today lives in Stamford, Conn.
Among his many honors are the 1953 Reuben from the National Cartoonists Society (cartoonist version of the Oscar) as Cartoonist of the Year, and the 1955 Silver Lady from the Banshees Club, as Outstanding Cartoonist.
Gene “Yogi” Williams
Widely recognized artist and sculptor, as well as physician, Dr. Gene “Yogi” Williams was born Dec. 22, 1923. Raised in El Dorado, KS, he exhibited an early talent for art.
Beginning his medical practice in Arizona, he moved back to El Dorado in 1970, following a heart attack.
Following combat in the infantry during World War II, he graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in fine arts, and earned a medical degree from the University of Kansas Medical School.
An artist of enormous versatility, his drawings, paintings, wood carvings, and sculptures have been exhibited across the United States.
At age 55, Williams died tragically in a hot-air balloon accident on July 4, 1979.
He was the first Pfizer Fellowship recipient in medical audiovisual education. His bronze sculpture of Jim Bridger was selected by the National Sculpture Society to be exhibited in New York City. Members of the University of Kansas Medical Alumni Association selected him posthumously as Alumnus of the Year.