South Carolina art dealer Jack Morris spent more than six decades in the art world. His path crossed with many of the greats: Frank McCarthy, John Clymer, Tom Lovell, Clark Hulings, John Coleman, Kim Wiggins, Glenna Goodacre and many others. Morris, known for his affable personality and deep knowledge of Western art, died October 29 in Greenville, South Carolina. He was 86 years old.
Born in Macon, Georgia, Morris went to the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where he earned his bachelor’s degree and masters in drawing and painting. He also played football for the university from 1961 to 1963. Later graduate work pushed him into American art history, which propelled him into positions as an art administrator at Harvard University in 1970, and then also an assistant to the director at the Columbia Museum of Art and executive director of the Greenville County Museum of Art.
Jack Morris, former partner at Scottsdale Art Auction, with Michael Frost, left, and Brad Richardson. Courtesy Scottsdale Art Auction.
After several prominent positions at museums and art institutions, Morris became an art dealer in the 1970s. He owned galleries in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and South Carolina. One early venture was Connally, Altermann & Morris Galleries, which he owned with fellow dealer Tony Altermann and John Connally, the former Texas governor who was injured in the presidential limousine at the time of the John F. Kennedy assassination in Dallas in 1963. The gallery, which was later known as Altermann & Morris Galleries, was a major force in the Western art world. Other galleries included Morris & Whiteside and Morris Fine Arts.
In 2004, Morris partnered with art dealers Brad Richardson and Michael Frost to create the Scottsdale Art Auction, which held its first sale in 2005. Richardson recalls Morris was the partner who initiated the creation of the auction powerhouse. “It was Jack’s idea. At the time, he wanted to do multiple sales a year, but I only wanted to do one a year. I credit him for coming up with it,” Richardson says. “It was a pleasure and an honor to work with Jack Morris. After partnering with him for more than 20 years, I always appreciated his high integrity and enthusiasm for the art business.”
In addition to his role as an art dealer, Morris also served as a chairman of the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, and he was also a licensed auctioneer in Texas and South Carolina. —
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