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Kermit Oliver
Nissan Morning
2004

Name: Nissan Morning
Brand: Kermit Oliver

$21,000List Price

About the Item

Kermit Oliver was born in 1943 and grew up in the small town of Refugio, Texas near Victoria, among relatives who were ranchers and cowboys. In high school, he developed a serious interest in art, influenced by his rural surroundings, his family's strong oral tradition, religion, and the illustrations he saw in both the Bible and secular literature. For more than 40 years, Kermit Oliver has painted nature- and myth-inspired portraits and landscapes rooted in his life as a native Texan, earning public recognition while carefully guarding his privacy. In his early years Kermit refined his techniques and his interest in narrative painting as a student under Dr. John Biggers at Texas Southern University in Houston, where he earned a bachelor of fine arts degree and met his wife, Katie, who also is an artist. They were married in 1962. (A showing of their early works was on view at University Museum at Texas Southern University from May 27-July 10, 2005.) The first retrospective exhibition of Kermit Oliver's work, opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on March 6, 2005. It traces the imagery used by the longtime Waco resident over four decades. Inspired by his rural Texas heritage and his study of mythology, religion, and history, Oliver blends contemporary and classical elements to create a unique vision of the world in a style of painting he calls "symbolic realism." Notes from a Child's Odyssey: The Art of Kermit Oliver, a survey of more than 90 paintings and other works, reveals insight into the complexities of his work and into the complexities of the man himself. The exhibition was organized by the MFAH and was on view through July 4, 2005. "Kermit Oliver's work is fired by a keen intellect and a vivid imagination," said Peter C. Marzio, MFAH director. "He reinvents age-old stories of civilizations and cultures from around the world filtered through his experience as a man of the 20th and 21st centuries. The museum is pleased to present a comprehensive overview of this important Texas artist's haunting work." Oliver's life is a fascinating blend of creativity and practicality, of well-protected privacy and public recognition. For most of his adult life, he has worked full time as a mail sorter at the Waco post office and has pursued a full-time art career as well. A steady income, he reasoned, was the most logical way to support his family while giving him the freedom to follow his artistic muse. The relationship between high fashion and art has always been a complex one. In Texas, the primary arbiters of twentieth-century taste were the Marcus family. Their stores in Texas anchored by the flagship in downtown Dallas, fostered a new style of entrepreneurship in the state. It is through the Marcus’s friendship with Jean-Louis Dumas and Xavier Guerrand, then president of the American office of Hermes, that Kermit Oliver was thrust into the rare field world in which wealth, celebrity, and impeccable taste converge on an international stage. In 1982, he began a long-term relationship with Hermès, the famed Paris fashion house, after his work was brought to Hermès's attention by art consultant Shelby Marcus, wife of Neiman Marcus executive Lawrence Marcus. At that time, the upscale retailer was the only store in Texas to carry the distinctive Hermès scarves. In 1984, the House of Hermes produced its first scarf based on a design by Kermit Oliver. Kermit is the only American artist to design scarves for Hermes.- Kermit was profiled in a 1986 issue of People magazine under the headline “A Waco Postman Designs Hermes Scarves with a Western Flair.” Kermit’s designs for Hermes scarves are currently reproduced in the beautiful Hermes publication La Beaute en Voyage. Kermit has completed 14 scarves to date. Among his many commissioned paintings in Texas is the altarpiece for the renovated chapel at Trinity Episcopal Church in Houston, unveiled in 2003. The 9-by-6 foot composition shows a youthful Christ rising from the tomb wearing a crown of white lilies. In all of the works, Oliver's spirituality is evident, says Alvia J. Wardlaw, MFAH curator of modern and contemporary art. "In his work, Kermit Oliver takes Texas in terms of the land and his sense of the people -- his father was a working cowboy for many years, so he had these heroes growing up -- and he overlays that with the mythology he's created," Wardlaw says. "He paints in a classical manner, but brings in contemporary figures and elements and hopes viewers will be drawn to look deeper, to find more meaning." It's impossible to account for the past three decades of Texas art without including Kermit Oliver in the picture. The reclusive Waco resident is known throughout the state for his haunting still lifes, landscapes, and portraits based on the Bible, classical mythology, and literature and folktales from around the globe, all retold from a contemporary point of view. Regained more widespread recognition when three of his large paintings were chosen for "Beau Monde," Dave Hickey's SITE Santa Fe exhibition last year. Kermit Oliver is a thoughtful and accomplished artist whose classic approach to painting produces beautiful, color-saturated compositions.

Creator:
Kermit Oliver (1943, American)
Creation Year:
2004
Dimensions:
Height: 48 in (121.92 cm)Width: 32 in (81.28 cm)
Medium:
Acrylic
Period:
2000-2009
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Woodway, TX
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU97113365353

2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Glue, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Stretcher Bars

bazevian animal
FRENCH SCHOOL Venice Beach Chut les Barbizons! Cat Katze, 2025

$464 Sale Price

$6,400

H 72 in W 60 in

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About the Item

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