Acrylic on masonite board, circa 1980. 165x165 mm; 6 1/2x6 1/2 inches. Signed in acrylic, lower left recto. Signed and titled in ink, verso.
Provenance: DuBose Gallery, Houston, with the label on the frame back; private collection, Texas.
This intimate portrait is a beautiful example of the realist painting of Kermit Oliver. At a young age, Oliver had a passion for depicting the animals, figures and landscape found on the family ranch through painting and drawing. He attended Texas Southern University in 1960 where his professor John Biggers inspired him to stay "true to your own message, your own language." After graduating from TSU, Oliver rose to prominence as an artist in Houston in the 1970s.
When the DuBose Gallery began to represent him in 1970, he became the first African American artist in Houston to be represented by a commercial gallery. Oliver and his family moved to Waco in 1984 where, despite the fame from his many Hermès scarf commissions, he retreated from the art world. Oliver was honored with a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 2005, and at the Art Center of Waco in 2021. His paintings are in many museum collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Southern University, Houston, the Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC.
