Leola Freeman: Painter of El Paso History and a Maker of the El Paso Art Scene
Leola Freeman was not only an exceptional artist, but she also painted El Paso history and made El Paso art history. She painted oil portraits of the men responsible for obtaining El Paso’s first city charter, Judges Joseph Magoffin and Allen Blacker. Magoffin was an El Paso pioneer and the builder of the historic Magoffin Homestead. She also did a portrait of Captain John R. Hughes of the Texas Rangers who did more to establish law and order along the border than any other man. Freeman was a trailblazing impressionist and portrait artist who helped shape El Paso’s 20th-century art scene. In the mid-1940s, with the help of her second husband, Freeman built an adobe home and artist’s studio in the Val Verde section of El Paso at 363 South Concepcion street. In 1951 she opened El Paso’s first art gallery in this same location. The Leola Freeman Art Gallery showcased work by American painters such as Thomas Moran, Robert C. Minor, and Charles Appel, as well as paintings, sculpture, and ceramics by regional artists from Texas and New Mexico. One of her closest friends and a confidant was Urbici Soler, an American sculptor and art educator remembered chiefly for Cristo Rey (‘Christ the King’), a monumental statue of Jesus on the cross atop Mount Cristo Rey. To say the least, Leola Freeman was a part of El Paso’s art history, and a large contributor to our culture.
For more information please visit https://thc.texas.gov/events/woman-her-easel-leola-freeman-jennifer-moxley from which much of the text above was taken.