Onya La Tour

Onya La Tour (1896–1976) was an American art collector and dealer, artists' model, manager of art galleries in Puerto Rico, New York City, and Indiana, and an advocate for modernism and the appreciation of modern art. In the 1930s to 1960s, La Tour acquired hundreds of paintings and graphic art works by modernist artists, many of whom later became notable. During the Great Depression, she was Director of the Federal Art Gallery in New York City, which supported artists under the auspices of the Work Projects Administration. "While Onya, strictly speaking, was not an artist, her life was her art."

Biography Early life La Tour was born Ona Alberta Tarr to Simon Wesley Tarr and Elva Ethel Hardin Tarr of Washington, Indiana. and then with her step-mother and half brother (see Alva La Toor below) in Oklahoma.

In the 1930s, La Tour traveled extensively in Europe. She had a close relationship with artist Arnold Franz Brasz, with whom she shared a studio in the Beechwood area of Hollywood, California. "The WPA program made no distinction between representational and nonrepresentational art. Abstraction had not yet gained favor in the 1930s and 1940s and, thus, was virtually unsalable. As a result, the Federal Art Project supported such iconic artists as Jackson Pollock before their work could earn them income." Quoted from Federal Art Project#Background. 1937–1939: Onya La Tour Gallery, 596 Riverside Drive (Harlem), New York NY, opened October 22, 1937. La Tour claimed that this was the first gallery in the US to specialize in abstract art. 25 West 8th Street, New York City, no further information. 1940–47: Indiana Museum for Modern Art, Brown County, Indiana.

La Tour's subsequent homes Spellbound House, Saint Blue Cloud's House, and her house on Browncliff Lane also served as private galleries (see #Exhibitions).

Modernism in Indiana

Indiana Museum for Modern Art From July, 1938 to December, 1939 the bulk of La Tour's collection of approximately 500 art works by approximately 100 artists was warehoused in Indianapolis.

La Tour lived in the barn so the farmhouse could be used as the Museum gallery. a concrete-block home that she called Spellbound House (see links below to photographs and painting of this home).

Saint Blue Cloud's House Sometime in the 1950s, La Tour designed and began building (mostly with her own labor ) a wood frame house across the road from Spellbound House. This new home she called Saint Blue Cloud's House. Many photographs of this house taken in 1958–1963 are in the Indianapolis Museum of Art Archive, and see the link below under #Homes to a photograph of this house.

Fire: In 1962, La Tour was away for months, and the electricity was turned off. When she returned from New York City around Thanksgiving, an electrician turned the electricity on while La Tour was shopping in Nashville. Just as La Tour returned home about noon, moisture caused an electric box near the kitchen to burst into flame. She phoned for help. While the fire consumed some paintings, papers, books and a closet, volunteer firemen arrived and threw other paintings out on the lawn. Shortly, the city water supply failed. Luckily, La Tour had had a cistern built, which enabled the fire to be put out. Locals teased her about constructing a cistern when she had city water, but without the cistern, the fire would have burned down the house. It is not known how many works of art were lost in the fire.

Partners, family and daughter Siblings Onya had a number of siblings, including the two mentioned here. Brother: Alva "Al" J. La Toor (1908–1958) was Onya La Tour's half brother, born to La Tour's father Simon Tarr and his second wife. He was a painter and leather craftsman. La Toor's studio was at 100 South Van Buren St., Nashville, Indiana, a distinctive building with 3 large windows in the front, still in use in 2018.

Sister: Merle Carrie Tarr, who died at a young age.

Partners Dates are approximate. 1910s: There is some evidence that La Tour may have had two marriages in Oklahoma, one to a man named Cicle. 1920s: Albro Latimer Kellock, a violinist from Scotland. They met at Graceland College in Lamona Iowa, and married December 3, 1920, in Jeffersonville, Indiana. They lived in at the homestead near Spokane and later in Seattle, Washington. Late 1920s/Early 1930s: La Tour met Arnold Franz Brasz when he was President of the California Watercolor Society. She shared a home and studio with Brasz, whom she may have married, first in Washington State and later in Hollywood, California. Late 1930s: Maurice Jungbeck, a writer, at 596 Riverside Drive, New York NY, which was also the Onya La Tour Gallery. Whether this indicates a romantic relationship, and the full name of Dahl, are unknown. 1950s: Emanuel Glicen Romano spent months at a time living with La Tour. It is uncertain to what extent this was a romantic relationship, but Romano inscribed a 1950 portrait "To dearest Onya, with love, E. Romano" (see #Art Portraits of Onya La Tour). Furthermore, a note in La Tour's diary calls 1951 "the peak of her existence" because Romano was with her.

Photographs In addition to the portrait above, the following photographs are available online. Where indicated, photos were taken by Frank Hohenberger. 1940: Portrait of LaTour sitting on the steps of her home, also the Indiana Museum of Modern Art. By Hohenberger. 1940: Portrait of LaTour with her daughter Manya. By Hohenberger. 1943: Onya La Tour Dahl, Rolla, Missouri. Photograph by H. A. Fletcher. The identity of Dahl is unknown: see #Partners. ca. 1943: Portrait by Roy Hirshburg: also available at 1946: LaTour with the Home Economics Club of Van Buren Township, on the porch of her home, also the Indiana Museum of Modern Art. By Hohenberger. LaTour is at left in a dark dress. Another photo of the same group on the same day. Undated, ca. 1950: LaTour sitting in the living room of Spellbound House. Photographer unknown. Undated portrait attributed to Hohenberger: Undated portrait in profile, photographer unknown:

Homes 1940, LaTour Gallery of Modern Art, also called the Indiana Museum of Modern Art. By Hohenberger. Note the paintings hanging on the exterior wall behind the porch. Additional images of this building and property will be found by searching the Hohenberger Collection for LaTour. 1948, Onya LaTour residence by Hohenberger. La Tour called this Spellbound House. It is at the top of Bryson Lane in Nashville, Indiana, on the East side of Bryson Lane. 1772 Bryson Lane. Photos of this house, extensively modified much later: Undated (before 1958 ). Saint Blue Cloud's House, as LaTour called it, is the home that LaTour designed and built across Bryson Lane from Spellbound House (West side of Bryson Lane, 1774 Bryson Lane, Nashville IN). By Hohenberger. Many more photos of this house, when La Tour lived there, are in the Indianapolis Museum of Art Archives. and includes 100 works by David Davidovich Burliuk, 9 works by Oronzo Vito Gasparo, 76 works by Helen West Heller (30-some of which are now in the Indianapolis Museum of Art ), and 28 works by Phillip Ayer Sawyer. Also included are one or a few works by each of Josef Albers, Maurice Becker, :de:Hans Böhler, Ilya Bolotowsky, Arnold Franz Brasz, Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Arshile Gorky, John D. Graham, Guy Maccoy, Jackson Pollock, Emanuel Glicen Romano, Will Henry Stevens, and many others. One of the two paintings listed by Stuart Davis sold for $362,500 in December 2010. This exhibition may never have taken place. A letter dated October 11, 1940, says she will be unable to participate, despite the catalog having been printed, as "pressing business requires [her] presence in the East".

1942: Twenty Portraits of Onya La Tour, Indiana University Art Center. 1969: The Personal Collection of Onya La Tour, October 5–23, Leah Ransburg Gallery, Indiana Central College. The catalog to this exhibit reproduces a "forward for the catalog of her amazing collection" dated February 5, 1942, by Katherine Sophie Dreier, President, Société Anonyme: Museum of Modern Art. The catalog to this exhibit lists 41 works by 31 artists.

Posthumous exhibitions 2014–15: The Onya La Tour Collection: Modernism in Indiana, Indianapolis Museum of Art, October 17, 2014 – April 12, 2015. "Presenting 30 works from the unconventional collection of an Indiana native, The Onya La Tour Collection: Modernism in Indiana highlights the early Modernist movement in America." 2014–15: Onya La Tour: Pioneering Modern Art in Indiana at the Indiana University Art Museum.

Notes and references