Everett Spruce was known for his contributions to the Texas Regionalist movement and as a member of the Dalla Nine, a group of artists who depicted life in Texas during the Great Depression. Born in Arkansas, Spruce first started sketching landscapes and nature studies as a child. As a teenager, his drawings earned him a scholarship to the Dallas Art Institute, where he was introduced to the works of Braque, Cézanne, Matisse , and Picasso. Inspired by their use of color and form, Spruce experimented with watercolors in earth tones and broad brushstrokes to evoke his beloved Arkansas landscape. During a visit to Big Bend National Park in the 1930s, Spruce was awestruck by the rugged landscape and, throughout his career, would return to Texas and other Southwestern regions to paint the diverse terrains.

As Spruce’s paintings gained national recognition, his work was collected in major institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He became a leading figure in Texas art, teaching at the University of Texas at Austin for over three decades.

In 2020, the Carter presented the first 21st-century retrospective of the artist, Texas Made Modern: The Art of Everett Spruce. The following year, Spruce’s daughter, Alice Spruce Meriwether, donated her father’s archive to the Carter. The collection covers his career from 1927 through his death in 2002 at the age of 94.