David Pryor Adickes (1927–2025) was an American modernist painter and sculptor whose career spanned nearly eight decades and whose work became an important part of the cultural landscape of Texas, particularly Houston and East Texas. Born January 19, 1927, in Huntsville, Texas, Adickes was the third of four sons of Cecil Frederick Adickes and Marie (Pryor) Adickes. He graduated from Huntsville High School in 1943 and briefly attended Texas A&M University before serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Following his military service, he returned to Huntsville and earned a degree in physics and mathematics from Sam Houston State Teachers College (now Sam Houston State University) in 1948. He subsequently studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and, using the G.I. Bill, spent 1948–1950 in Paris studying painting at the Atelier Fernand Léger under the French modernist artist Fernand Léger.

Adickes returned to Texas and established himself as a painter, exhibiting extensively throughout the state and nationally. He taught in the Department of Art at the University of Texas at Austin in the mid-1950s while continuing his artistic practice. Although painting remained an important part of his career, Adickes increasingly turned toward sculpture beginning in the 1980s. His monumental public works include Virtuoso in downtown Houston, the 67-foot A Tribute to Courage depicting Sam Houston in Huntsville, The Beatles sculptures in Houston, and American Statesmanship Park, featuring monumental busts of Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington. His work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Dallas Museum of Art; the Blanton Museum of Art; the Witte Museum; and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Adickes remained active as an artist in Houston until his death on July 13, 2025, at the age of 98. He is remembered as a significant figure in the development of modern art in Houston and as one of Texas's most recognizable creators of monumental public sculpture.