?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
KERMIT OLIVER (1943 - ) Theresa.
Acrylic on masonite board, 1973. 165x165 mm; 6 1/2x6 1/2 inches. Signed, titled and dated in oil, verso.
Provenance: private collection, Florida.
This intimate portrait is a beautiful example of the painting of this Texan artist, and his first to be offered at Swann Galleries. At a young age, Kermit Oliver had a passion of depicting his family's farm 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. In 2005, he was honored with a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX. His work is included in museum collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas Southern University, Houston, the Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, and the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, Washington, DC.
