Kelly Fearing (American, 1918-2011). Expectancy of the Day, The Shape of the Morning Series, 1967-68. Oil on canvas laid...

Description

Kelly Fearing (American, 1918-2011)
Expectancy of the Day, The Shape of the Morning Series, 1967-68
Oil on canvas laid on board
30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61.0 cm)
Signed lower right: Kelly Fearing

Property from the Estate of Kelly Fearing

EXHIBITED:
Old Jail Art Center, Albany, Texas, n.d.;
Fort Worth Art Association, Fort Worth.

When looking back at the life of William Kelly Fearing (1918-2011), some familiar sayings apply. One of them is: He marched to a different drummer. His earliest aspirations pointed him toward a life in fine art, but also to a career in gymnastics, dancing, and professional ballet. Another is: He did it his way. Fearing taught art at the University of Texas at Austin for forty years, retiring in 1987. Afterward, his career as a painter and printmaker continued uninterrupted almost until his death. A third saying, courtesy of George Bernard Shaw, may describe Fearing's outlook the best: Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say, why not. In a voluminous oeuvre of drawings, paintings, and prints, Kelly Fearing allowed us into his private realm--a place that straddled a physical world we recognize, and a harmonious, unseen dimension that we hope and suspect is there.

One adjective placed on Fearing's work is the word 'mystical.' A marvelous retrospective, organized in 2002 by the University of Texas at Austin Creative Research Laboratory, was titled "The Mystical World of Kelly Fearing." For him, mysticism, the conviction that ultimate spiritual reality is attainable and knowable, was serious business. He took a leave of absence from his duties in Austin in the 1970s to spend a period of reflection with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh at the Bhagwan's ashram in Poona, India. For a time, Fearing continued to wear the orange robes of discipleship. When mystics and seekers of the truth first surfaced in his paintings in the late 1940s, they were placed there out of kinship with the artist.

Fearing embraced the central theme that would dominate his art for the rest of his life; how could he express wonder and admiration for the physical world and, at the same time, question his place in it? Using painterly figures clothed in robes or wearing nothing at all, Fearing confronted the conundrum of vulnerability. He frequently invoked the imagery and symbolism of sea and sky, earth and rock, and the life cycle. Still, these symbols represented a natural order that was permanent and independent of human presence. These things would exist whether Fearing's figures were in them or not. Human existence must somehow draw into balance with all other forces of nature, and finding the balance point became Fearing's challenge to his peers and us.

As a teacher and author, Kelly Fearing influenced countless young people who looked to art as their career choice. As an artist, he enjoyed statewide respect and the enduring support of collectors. For those of us who came to know him late in his life, Kelly Fearing's depth of experience, approachability, and willingness to share of himself made his art and that of his generation real and indispensable components of Texas culture. It is impossible to look upon one of Kelly Fearing's exquisitely painted owls, fishes, or four-legged creatures and not wish that we had known him sooner.


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