Biography
Gladys Marie Lux was born in 1899 and raised on a farm near Wood River, Nebraska. Her parents, Clarence Burton Lux and Mary Hannah (Hansen) Lux, instilled in her the values of hard work, family, education, and self-reliance. Farm life in the early 1900s demanded constant attention to domestic tasks such as sewing, cooking, and cleaning, but Gladys found time for fun, especially riding horses and driving the family sleigh. Her mother, who died when Gladys was 18, loved art and nurtured her daughter’s budding interests and talents. Gladys took china painting classes and learned to paint in water colors and draw.
Gladys and her younger brother Elton attended school together, taking their horse-drawn sleigh on snowy days. After her graduation from Wood River High, she studied at State Teacher’s College in Kearney and taught one year at rural schools in Hall County. When Elton graduated from high school, Gladys wanted to stay and take care of her father, but Clarence insisted both she and Elton move to Lincoln and study at the University of Nebraska. Gladys earned Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University. Later she took summer continuing education classes at the Chicago Art Institute.
Gladys taught art and crafts at Central High School in Sioux City, Iowa and then began college level teaching at Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1927. At times she was the only art teacher at Wesleyan and for many of her 40 years there, she served as director of the department. She regularly taught classes, occasionally finding time to help design sets for school plays, and was instrumental in the creation of the arts degree program. Gladys believed every person had a “desire to use their fingers or hands to express themselves”. Thousands of students benefited from her disciplined instruction.
Gladys created art throughout her life and became a well-known artist of the Regionalist movement. Her work was exhibited in museums in Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, New York, Colorado and Illinois. Her painting “Good Faith”, which shows a farmer planting his crops, was chosen for exhibit in the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Another work – “Inflation” – gained special attention for its depiction of the historic inflation of a stratospheric balloon near Rapid City, South Dakota and was described in the book Independent Spirits: Women Painters of the American West 1890-1945.
Throughout her life, Gladys was a collector and savvy business woman. She purchased over 200 art prints, two a month, which have become a valuable collection including works by well-known artists. She also loved dolls, collecting over 1600 in her lifetime. Gladys bought and rented several rental properties in Lincoln, doing much of the repair work on them herself.
In her retirement, Gladys made a lasting contribution to University Place, the Lincoln neighborhood where she lived and taught. She bought the old city hall building and partnered with the city to renovate it. The Lux Center for the Arts, dedicated in 1988, hosts exhibits featuring local and regional artists and, keeping with Gladys’ belief in the importance of education, offers a variety of art classes.
Gladys Lux chose to live in her home state throughout her life. She never lost her love of the land and her warm memories of growing up in rural Nebraska. Her art tells the story of the plains, with their beauty and challenges – the hot summers and the harsh winters, the growing crops and the bare fields. It is filled with the Midwest’s classic features - grain elevators, farmhouses, barns, cottonwoods, country roads, the lay and contour of the land - and reminds us of the “good faith” needed by farmers to plant their crops. Her art remains her greatest legacy and is a tribute to her beloved state.
Written by Barbara Laur (October 6, 2022)
Barbara's is married to Mike Lux