Mid Century
Boyer Gonzales Jr, a noted painter and teacher in Texas was born in
Galveston, Texas and raised in family homes in both Galveston and
Woodstock, New York. He attended Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania and
in 1931 graduated with a degree in architecture from the University on
Virginia.
During the summers while at the university he studied
with his father in Woodstock. After graduation he returned to Woodstock
and studied under Henry Lee McFee and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. He also assisted
Yasuo Kuniyoshi in his classes.
In 1937 he returned to San
Antonio to assist McFee in establishing the Witte Memorial School of
Art. He taught at the school until 1939 when he accepted a position at
the University of Texas in Austin. In 1941 Gonzales taught at the
Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles.
From 1942-1945 Boyer Gonzales Jr served in the United States Army Air Corps.
In
1946 he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Texas.
From 1947-48 he was chairman of the art department. In 1954 Gonzales
accepted a teaching position at the University of Washington, Seattle
and Director of the Henry Art Gallery at the university. He served as
chairman of the art department from 1954-66. In 1975 he received the
Governor's Award of Special Accommendation. In 1979 he retired as
professor emeritus. He died in Bellevue, Washington in 1987.