David Bates
Paintings: The Garden Room, 1983; Magnolia, 1988
Sculpture: Magnolia

Most members are not aware of the fact that the large corridor leading from the reception area back to the Oak Room is named the “Bates Gallery.” Paintings in the Corridor are entirely the work of this Texas artist.

Born in Dallas 1952, David Bates has established a National reputation as an artist whose paintings convey both visual sophistication and emotional power. No other contemporary Texas Artist has achieved as much critical acclaim and market success in recent years- Bates had been labeled one of painting’s finest practitioners.

Bates believes the intricacy of his paintings “makes it more interesting and richer for both of us” (painter and viewer). “It’s that rawness that I need to have. I need to balance the very beautiful, the formal, and the contemplative with that quirky, southern thing.”

David Bates presently lives and works in Dallas. His paintings, works on paper and sculptures have been represented in numerous private and museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Carnegie Museum, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, The Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and Both the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Frank Stella

Three large pieces by Frank Stella are prominently displayed at the entry of the club. One large piece Hangs behind the reception desk while two others flank the stairway to the fourth floor.

Stella was born in Malden, Massachusetts on May 12, 1936, is an American painter and printmaker. After attending high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, he went to Princeton University

Upon moving to New York City in late 1950s and early 60s, he reacted against the expressive use of paint by most painters of the abstract expressionist movement, instead finding himself drawn toward the “flatter” surfaces of Barnett Newman’s work and the “target” paintings of Jasper Johns. He began to produce works which emphasized the picture-as-object, rather than the picture as a representation of something.

Stella is a significant figure in minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. He participated in the major movements of Modernism, Minimal Art, Abstract expressions, Geometric abstraction, Abstract illusions and Lyrical abstraction, among others. In addition to Newman and johns, he was influenced by Caravaggio, Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline.

Yvonne Jacquette

For over 40 years, Yvonne Jacquette has utilized the vantage point of commercial jets and private planes, as well as high-rise buildings, to create both daytime and nighttime views of cities and towns, factories and farmlands, rivers and harbors from coast to coast and border to border.  Although looking from tall buildings or airplanes at cities and  landscapes below is an experience common to all of us, few contemporary artists have explored its artistic possibilities.

Jacquette was born in Pittsburgh in 1934 to a family that eventually included 7 children.  Neither parent was artistic, but they encouraged her to draw. She began taking private art lessons after the family moved to Stamford, Connecticut in 1941.  By the time Jacquette graduated from Stamford High School, she had won artistic competitions.  

The Cutty Sark Ship's Model

In the days of sail, the clippers were the fastest vessels afloat. Today, the Cutty Sark, fastest of them all - remains intact to show  how lovely were these greyhounds of the sea.

The Cutty Sark (Scots: a short chemise) was built in 1869 and launched November 22nd of that year.  Cutty Sark was destined for the sea trade, then an intensely competitive race across the globe from China to London, with immense profits to the ship to arrive with the first tea of the year.  She did not distinguish herself, however.  In the most famous race, against Thermopylae in 1872, both ships left Shanghai together on June 18, but two weeks later Cutty Sark lost her rudder after passing through the Sunda Strait.  Cutty Sark arrived in London on October 18, a week after Thermopylae, a total passage of 122 days.  Her legendary reputation is supported by the fact that her captain chose to continue this race with an improvised rudder instead of putting into port for replacement, yet was only eaten by one week.

In the end, clippers lost out to steamships, which could pass through the recently-opened Suez Canal and deliver goods more reliably, if not quite so quickly, which proved to be better for business.  Cutty Sark was then used on the Australian wool trade, where she did very well, posting Australia-to-Britain times of as little as 67 days. Her best run, 360 nautical miles in 24 hours, was said to have been the fastest of any ship of her size.

In 1922, she was bought by Captain Wilfred Dowman who restored her to her original appearance and used her as a stationary training ship. In 1954, she was moved to a custom-built dry-dock at Greenwich in London. 

Cutty Sark is also preserved in literature in Hart Crane's long poem "The Bridge" which was published in 1930.

Cutty Sark is the epitome of the great age of sail. The City Club is proud to showcase its replica in the distinguished atmosphere of the Oak Bar. 

4th Floor Gallery

Housed in the 4th floor gallery, City Club is proud to display a dozen architectural drawings from the private collection of one of our owners.  From Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Miami Beach and St. Louis to Fort Worth's very own Bass Hall and the Chisolm Trail Mural, some of the Country's most beautiful buildings are immortalized from a photo or sketch.