The Chairman of H-E-B has been collecting art for decades. For the first time ever, North Texans can see dozens of selected works at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. American Modernism from the Charles Butt Collection is now on view through Jan. 25 at the Fort Worth museum.
“He’s been quietly amassing this collection for probably 60 years,” said Shirley Reece-Hughes, Senior Curator of Paintings, Sculpture, and Works on Paper and curator of this exhibition. “I think he was ready to share the collection – and he’s an active collector, so he’s still acquiring – but he’s amassed such an amazing representation of the Western canon of American modern art.”
Organized by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, this exhibition features over 80 works, including paintings and works on paper from the twentieth century through the early 1980s. The works by Romare Bearden, Edward Hopper, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Georgia O’Keefe, Alma Thomas and Andrew Wyeth reflect Butt’s vision of American creativity as well as show how these American modernist icons were trying to distinguish themselves from European artists. These artist broke with tradition, experimenting with different styles and new techniques and subject matters.
“It shows the range, and it shows how the artists were really trying to reinvent themselves,” Reece-Hughes said. “ So, the Americans – as a young country – were really striving to really find their own voices and their own expressions.”
A native Texan, Butt is dedicated to sharing art in his home state. Following its display at the Carter, this exhibition will travel exclusively to three other Texas museums: the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin in spring 2026, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in fall 2026 and the McNay Museum in San Antonio in spring of 2027.
“It is really his love letter to Texas,” Reece-Hughes said.
courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas Rufino Tamayo’s The Family (1925) is featured in the exhibition, pictured on the far left.
Complementing this exhibition, Butt made a promised gift to the museum of Rufino Tamayo’s The Family (1925). Tamayo was the first internationally recognized Latin American artist and this work was included in the artist’s first solo exhibition in the United States. While his contemporaries were exploring political themes in their art, Tamayo was considering indigenousness and mixed race heritage in Mexico. With this work, he explores something universal.
“This work really crosses cultures because of the thematic portrayal of the family and unity,” Reece-Hughes said.
This exhibition is divided into four sections, starting with “Intimate Perspectives”.
“I wanted to curate this show to reflect his [Butt’s] personality so that ‘Intimate Perspectives’ is the first section of the exhibit. It he clearly thought about the way the artists and friends influenced each other,” Reece-Hughes.
A work by Thomas Hart Beaton is paired with one by his student, Jackson Pollock. Intimate spaces are also explored in Alice Neel’s Fire Escape, a lesser known perspective of her work.
courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas The works on view at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art are only a selection of what Charles Butt has been collecting for six decades. And the native Texan is still collecting.
The second section, ‘The Language of the Sea’, reflects Butt’s childhood in Corpus Christi, his passion for the sea and the influence of the sea on his collecting practice. From Mary Bonner’s sailboat etchings to Ralston Crawford’s Bora Bora II, this section is a diverse celebration of American coastlines. Thomas Moran’s Smoking Ships at Sea is surprising as it forebodes the dangers of maritime and industrial ambitions.
“It’s a different view into Moran’s thinking,” Reece-Hughes said.
The section called “Land Progression” highlights the American modernist perspective of the visual tradition of landscape art. This section features a range of works throughout Marsden Hartley’s career, depicting the contrasting terrain of his home state of Maine and New Mexico. Hartley only visited New Mexico once in 1918.
“He painted it from memory,” Reece-Hughes said.
courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas The section of the exhibition titled “Land Progression” explores the significance of land to the creation of American Modernism.
The final section, “Geometric Utopias/Dystopias”, combines geometric abstractions with paintings depicting urban and rural post-industrial scenes such as factories, farms and machinery. By creating paintings with no identifiable subject matter, Blanche Lazzell and Alice Trumbell Mason revolutionized the use of abstraction in an art world ruled by the male perspective.
“They went to pure abstraction so there wouldn’t be gendered readings of their work,” Reece-Hughes said. “So, if they went into their own creation of their own abstract styles, it could be an artwork that stood on its own and not be misinterpreted.”
courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas The exhibition concludes with a section titled “Geometric Utopias/Dystopias”.
On Nov. 13, the museum will host Second Thursdays at the Carter: Collect & Create, inviting patrons to explore the exhibition and learn more about starting an art collection. Butt started collecting as a 20 year-old college student when he purchased a framed cover of Reader’s Digest featuring Winslow Homer’s Breezing Up for a dollar. His first purchase reflects his passion for sailing, and it still hangs in his home. Can others follow his example?
“I think so,” Reece-Hughes said. “I think collecting is about personal passions and interests.”
Learn more: Amon Carter Museum of American Art
