William Ralph Caver (1932-2005)
Painter, Sculptor, Ceramicist, Weaver and Print Maker who’s professional career spanned over five decades.
Born in Longview, Texas in 1932, Caver was raised in Atlanta, Texas. Caver lived, studied and worked in Dallas, Germany, France, Mexico and Spain before settling close to his hometown in Texarkana, Texas in 1970.
Caver’s work was influenced by the Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, Modernism and Brutalism movements. In various newspaper and art journal articles, Caver mentions Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, David Siqueiros, Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keefe, Jackson Pollock, and Antoni Gaudí as influences on his own work during his career.
Known as a patient professor with a legendary sense of humor and a supreme rancantour, Caver’s colourful sense of whimsy and affinity for all things bizarre are evident in his body of work.
“The organic, other worldly quality of his images of abstracted animal and vegetable forms relate to the dreamlike work of Surrealism. On the other hand, certain flat, abstract paintings with their thick textures and gestural brushwork recall the work of the Abstract Expressionists of the 1950s. Paintings of the early seventies are reminiscent of the late works of Picasso in their visual fragmentation of the subjects. In many cases all these influences mix and mingle, but the final product is always a distinctive vibrancy, raw energy and sense of humour that mark it as a work of Ralph Caver.”
Excerpted from Joe A. Thomas, Ralph Caver: Artist and Teacher. 2004
Caver served as the Director of the Art Department at TCC and Professor of Art at A&M University in Texarkana, Texas.
1955 Bachelor of Science degree in Art from North Texas State University
1962 -1964 Art Coordinator for twelve schools, Poitiers, France for the US Department of Defence
1967 Masters in Fine Art degree from University Guanajuanto, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
1968 University of Mexico, Mexico City, post graduate coursework
1971 Sculpture featured in Artists/USA, 1970-71: The Buyer's Guide to Contemporary Art (Lightman, Paul, and Newman, Elias)
1971 University of Barcelona, post graduate coursework, Barcelona, Spain
1999 Bio featured in Who Was Who in American Art : 1564-1975 (Hastings Falk, Peter, 1999)
2017 featured in Texas Artists and Artisans: 1718-1959 (Vic Roper)
Work shown pubic collections: Houston Museum of Fine Arts, North Texas State Gallery, Institute Allende Gallery, Texarkana Regional Arts Council, Texarkana College, Texas A&M University.
Commissioned works: Sculpture, Louisville Library. Sculpture, St. James Church, Painting, Teeple Hall, LLP , San Diego, CA., Sculpture, private collection, New York, NY. Painting, private collection, Barcelona, Spain.
From the mid 1950s until the early 2000s Caver showed his work in numerous exhibitions, both solo and collective in Texas and Mexico. His pieces received numerous Best in Show and First Place awards in both national and regional juried shows.
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1991, Caver’s work evolved as he began losing control of his hands he was forced to give up throwing on the potter’s wheel and floor loom weaving. He developed a fascination for the human body, especially the hands and the feet and exaggerated the size of body parts in later works. Caver continued to paint until his death in 2005.