Inside Charles Morin Fine Art, located at 244 West Main Street, sunlight streams through high glass windows, illuminating canvases colored with Spanish matadors, Texas
bluebonnets and Old West Mexican bandits.
In what was previously RS Hanna Gallery, San Antonio native Charles Morin is bringing a vintage vibe and discerning niche to Fredericksburg’s burgeoning art scene.
The gallerist grew up in the Alamo City with an entrepreneurial spirit dating back to third grade, when he and his friends formed a small club at school. In those days, Morin brought trinkets, rocks and candy to class and sold them to his peers. “That was the start of it all,” he said. “It was a thrill to make a few nickels or dimes on something I found in my parents’ junk drawer.”
While he didn’t know much about art growing up, his self-proclaimed “passion for old things” was passed down from his father, who instilled in him a love of old cars. “I wish I could have lived at various times in the past,” he said. “I wanted to go Back to the Future way
before Michael J. Fox did.”
Over the years, Morin’s interest in history continued, and he owned an antique store in New Braunfels for 25 years before opening his acclaimed gallery in San Antonio’s Alamo Heights neighborhood. “I started seeing a trend of Texas art becoming more and more popular … I just jumped in one day and the rest is history,” he said.
Today, Morin is recognized for his outstanding collection of vintage Texas art, be it oil paintings, antique horn furniture, or 19th century utilitarian pottery.
Opening a location in Fredericksburg has been a deep-seeded dream for Morin and the decision to do so came about serendipitously. This fall, he delivered a painting by artist Sam Wilson to RS Hanna Gallery, where The Oil Painters of America National Exhibition was taking place. After the show, when he returned to retrieve the painting, he noticed a small “For Rent” sign hanging on the gallery’s front door. He promptly called the owner, signed the lease, and was open by November’s First Friday Art Walk.
Much like his San Antonio opening, Morin’s mentality has been, ‘If you build it, they will come.’
“I knew my San Antonio location would become very successful and it has,” he said of his legion of loyal clientele adding, “I feel the same thing here … There is electricity in the air.”
On a recent tour, he paced the gallery’s wooden floors, pointing out works by Comfort artist P.L. Hohnstedt and Paul Schumann from Galveston before stopping at a painting titled El Cordobés by Porfirio Salinas.
A woman walked in recently and told Morin she had seen the famed bullfighter in Spain years ago. “That’s what makes this so fun, when you know a cool story that goes with these things,” he said.
Luckily, no matter what day you visit, stories abound in Morin’s company. He calls his canvases “old friends” and passionately shares his immense knowledge and historical acumen with his worldly clientele.
Most of Morin’s collection is comprised of famous, deceased Texas artists, one of which he’s dedicated an entire room to. The “G. Harvey Room,” named after the late Fredericksburg painter, Gerald Harvey Jones, boasts 10 of his works — including one titled Cowboy Campground. In it, a fly fisherman casts his line, as smoke rises from a distant campfire and sunlight sparkles on the surface of the water. “That’s what put G. Harvey on the map was having light and motion in his paintings,” said Morin, “He knew how to capture the light.” Also in this room are five additional canvases by Porfirio Salinas, whose paintings hung in the White House during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration.
As with his San Antonio gallery, Morin has something here for a wide range of budgets, be it a small $250 painting or an investment piece priced at north of $350,000. “To me, both of those collectors are the same. They love the art and I love them,” he shared. The most rewarding experiences, he says, come from the sensory, emotional connections people have with the work, the artist, and the history.
“When people buy from my gallery, they are not just buying a painting; they are also buying me. I know the provenance of many of the pieces and can share interesting stories about them as well,” he explained.
Next year, Morin looks forward to immersing himself in the fabric of Fredericksburg. “The folks that live here are rabid fans of their town — they are passionate like I am about vintage Texas paintings,” he said.
Located a few steps down Main Street is the well-loved Insight Gallery, owned and operated by Elizabeth and Stephen Harris. “We were so saddened when Hanna Gallery closed,” said Elizabeth adding, “We couldn’t be more thrilled that another gallery went in there. The more great galleries there are in town, the more great people will come to Fredericksburg.”
Ernie Loeffler is the president and CEO at the Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau and shared in Harris’s sentiment.
“The gallery scene in Fredericksburg is continuously evolving,” he said. “The FCVB welcomes Charles Morin to an anchor building in the West Main Arts and Entertainment District. With their original gallery in San Antonio, their knowledge of the arts market will strengthen our community of artists and galleries here.”