REV. JOHNNIE SWEARINGEN

We first met Johnnie Swearingen in the mid 1980's. when he lived in Brenham, Texas. He was a character and a great painter who believed in himself and his talents.

The Rev.Johnnie Swearingen was born August 27, 1908, in the African American community, CampgroundChurch, located outside of Chappell Hill, Washington County, Texas

He attended school through the eighth grade in Petersville(near Brenham).

A religous man, Swearingen joined the John Daniels A.M.E. Church at an early age, later moving his membership to Allwise Missionary Baptist Church, Chappell Hill, Texas. Swearingen claims to have given his first sermon when he was four years old, standing on a box between his parents,he proclaimed "To Dirt, to dirt, to dirt". He said that he had been called by the Lord to preach and paint.

In 1926 Swearingen married Lora Ann Williams ,and began to work on a farm, near Brenham Texas. The couple divorced shortly there after and Johnnie began to ride as a stowaway on freight trains hobo-ing westward toward Califorina occasionally finding work, picking grapes and "chopping"cotton as the depression crippled the country. Swearingen claimed to have started painting while inSan Pedro,Califorina , supporting himself working as a longshoreman.

In 1947 Swearingen received word his father was seriously ill, prompting his return to Texas,
where he resumed farming and painting near Brenham. Often setting up shop on the Washington County courthouse lawn, preaching and painting. Swearingen would display his paintings on his old truck and park at Michalak garage on Market street in Brenham, where he was a familar sight and where patrons could view his" gallery on wheels".

In 1961 Sigman Byrd, a reporter from the Houston Chronicle came to Brenham to meet another artist, Ruth Spain who could talk of nothing else, but the" primitive artist", whom she called,"Chappell Hill's Grandpa Moses". It was this meeting that resulted in a short article, with photograghs of Swearingen which appeared January 9 ,1961. Byrd drove the four miles out to the Swearingen farm in the Huisache Hills north of town. There he found the 52-year old artist-tennant farmer painting, but not having much luck selling his work, at least to those outside of Brenham. Swearingen said,"My tractor's down, and I'm trying to sell it. My horse died, but I still got a pair of mules and Lord, I wish that man from Houston would come pay for them two pictures". This article was the precursor to many others.

It was during this time that Swearingen bought oil paints and masonite panels from Shear's hardware store. In 1975 an article in the Houston Home and Garden section of the Houston Post featured Swearingen more extensively, bringing more patrons to Swearingen's studio to buy paintings. Swearingen's work was included in "The Eyes of Texas", an exhibition of living Texas Folk Artists in 1980 at The University of Houston, curated by Gaye Hall and David Hickman. Black History/Black Vision was a more extensive exhibition ,curated by Lynne Adele at the University of Texas at Austin, in 1989, and traveled to the San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures, and the Amarillo Art Center. These exhibitions helped bring Swearingen's work to the attention of a wider audience.

Swearingen was a storyteller in the African-American tradition, often incorporating several tableaus in one painting. There has never been a great number of African-American artists in Texas. The importance of artists like Johnnie Swearingen, who document their culture and personal history is clear. Many cultures have been documented by descriptive and detailed writers, so we have a fairly complete idea of their history and folklife; however Swearingen's paintings illustrate the seldom documented African-American culture in Texas, as well as the history of Washington County,Texas.

Swearingen like other folk artists used materials that were available to him, often blending markers, charcoal penci, lindseed oil and oil paints in a number of early works. However Swearingen primarily liked to work with oil paints if economy would permit.

In 1993 Swearingen suffered a series of strokes, which eventually crippled his hands, preventing him from painting. He only lived a month after this, passing January 14, 1993 in his home of Brenham, Texas at age 84. We sure feel lucky to have known him.