13 Nov Texarkana Artist Henry Fort II’s Scott Joplin Painting Heads to New York Museum Exhibition

A painting of ragtime composer Scott Joplin at his Texarkana school is part of a new show at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, per the Texarkana Gazette.

“Scott Joplin at Orr School,” painted in 2020 by Henry Fort II, is among the works in “Ragtime: Cakewalk in Pianoland,” which runs from Nov. 13 through June 13, 2027. Fort used oil paint, with stones set into the canvas surface.

According to the museum, the show is arranged in seven thematic sections that follow ragtime from its historical foundations through its rise in popularity and its spread into Broadway, film and popular culture. It draws on The John Davis Collection of Early Printed Musical African Americana, along with items from the Morgan’s own holdings and private collections. The curators are Jesse Erickson, Robinson McClellan and guest curator John Davis.

Carol Collins-Miles, who directs the Scott Joplin Support Group as a volunteer, commissioned the painting for the group’s “Scott Joplin’s Texarkana!” art collection. Thomas and Leah Orr later bought it at auction and lent it to the Morgan, according to Upper East Side Texas magazine.

Nicknamed the “King of Ragtime,” Joplin grew up in the Texarkana area and began his musical training there. His best-known works include “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer.” The Orr School, which dates to about 1880 and stands in Texarkana, Arkansas, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.