Salle Werner Vaugn pictured outside her Harmonium Cottages
A native Texan, SALLE WERNER VAUGHN (b. 1939) was born in Ennis and grew up in Tyler, Texas. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Texas Woman’s University in Denton in 1961, where artists Toni LaSelle and Carlotta M. Corpron were among her mentors. After living briefly in San Francisco, she returned to Texas, studying graphic and theater design in Dallas. Then known by her maiden name, Salle Werner, she was featured in Texas Painting and Sculpture at the Dallas Museum of Art in 1968, 123456: Recent Works at the Tyler Museum of Art in 1973, and she received national exposure when she was included in the 1973 Whitney Biennial. Shortly thereafter, Vaughn moved to Houston; in 1989 she began to acquire Victorian cottages in Houston’s Magnolia Grove neighborhood. Now spanning a city block, these historic cottages and their gardens have become sites for ever-evolving and immersive installations.
Vaughn has also presented her work in solo exhibitions at numerous Houston venues, including Parkerson Gallery, Hiram Butler Gallery, McClain Gallery, and Meredith Long & Company. Outside of Houston, Vaughn has exhibited at La Boetie, Inc., New York (1983), at the Meadows Gallery at the University of Texas at Tyler (1999), and both her work and her wide-ranging collections were highlighted at C.G. Boerner Gallery, New York (2008). In addition to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Vaughn is represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morgan Library, the Tyler Museum of Art, and the Menil Collection. Her work was included in the group exhibition Strangeness, Tone, Translucency at McClain Gallery in 2024, as well as Gold: Devotion & Desire in 2025.
[Biography by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston]