Kermit Oliver, born 1943, August 14, Refugio, Texas
Education:
1967
Texas Southern University, Houston, TX , B.F.A. Composite
Degree/Bachelor of Science-BFA/Art Education Recipient of Jesse Jones
Art Scholarship
1966 Rice University, Summer Program Studied with Elaine de Kooning
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2005 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (lifetime retrospective )
1997 Kermit Oliver: Painting, "Texas Realists: Contemporary Artists Exhibition Series", Museum of the Southwest, Midland, TX
1995 Book of Pages, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
1993 In the Garden, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
Longview Museum and Arts Center, Longview, TX
1991 Kermit Oliver, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
1990 Hand-Colored Prints, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
The Art Center, Waco, TX
1989-90 Kermit Oliver: Current Allegories, Art Museum of Southeast TX, Beaumont, Traveled to The Art Center, Waco
1989 Kermit Oliver: New Works, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
Kermit Oliver: Contemporary Allegories of the Mythical and the Spiritual, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin
1987 Kermit Oliver: Works on Paper, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
1979 2719 Gallery, Houston
1971-83 DuBose Galleries, Houston
1970 Courtney Gallery, Houston
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2004 African-American Art from the MFAH Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
2003 A Panoramic View, University Museum, Texas Southern University, Houston
Miniatures, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
For the Birds, Galveston Art Center,Galveston, TX
2001
Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitanism, The Fourth SITE SANTA FE
International Biennial, Santa Fe, NM, curated by Dave Hickey
1997 Classically Inspired, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
1996 Intimate, Barbara Davis Gallery, Pennzoil Building Gallery, Houston
New Beginnings, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
Five, Waco Creative Art Center, Inc., Waco, TX
1995 Texas Myths and Realities, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Drawing fromStrength - 26 Artists Make Their Mark, Transco Tower, Houston, Sally Sprout, Curator
1994 The Box, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
Collector's Choice: Living With Art, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX
Texas Selections from the Collection of the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX, Clint Willour, Curator
Veiled Images, Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX
Landscape Without Figures, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston. David Brauer, Curator
Veiled Images, SFA Gallery, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX
Miniatures, Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Houston
1993 Texas Contemporaries: Acquisitions of the Nineties, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1992 20th Anniversary Exhibition, The Waco Creative Art Center, Waco, TX
1990 The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism, The Blaffer Gallery, The University of Houston
Humphreys-Fentress Collection: American Artist, Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center,TX
1985 Fresh Paint, the Houston School, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Selected Commissions:
2003 Resurrection, Morrow Chapel, Trinity Espiscopal Church, Houston
2001 Elijah Reflecting As He Gathers His Mantle, Congregation Emanu El, Houston
1999 Jonathan, Congregation Emanu El, Houston
1990 Houston Grand Opera, Poster Commission
1985 Scarf Design, House of Hermes, Paris
1980 "Houston Art Festival", Poster Commission
1976 Baylor College of Medicine, Otorhinolaryngology and Communitive Systems, Houston
1975 Teacher Retirement System of Texas Bldg., Austin, TX
1973 The Child Foundation, Mrs. Henry E. I. Du Pont commission, Wilmington, DE
1968 Texas Pavillion Hemisfair, San Antonio, TX
Book Illustrations:
1997 Baker, T. Lindsay (ed.). Till Freedom Cried Out: Memories of Texas Slave Life (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1997).
1969 Diaz Sanchez, Ramon. Cumboto (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969), translation by John Upton.
1967 Rulfo, Juan. Burning Plain And Other Stories (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967), translation by George Schade.
Selected Bibliography:
2002 Hickey, Dave. Beau Monde: Toward A Redeemed Cosmopolitanism (Santa Fe, NM: SITE Santa Fe), pp. 37-39, 75-76, 114-115.
Kalil, Susie. "Kermit Oliver," Artforum (April 2002), pp. 141-142.
Lennie, Janaki. "Kermit Oliver: The Distance to Here," ARTLIES (n. 33, Winter 2001-2002), p.78.
Washington, Jesse. "Unmasked at Last," Houston Press (May 9-15, 2002), pp. 25-37.
2001 Anspon, Catherine. "Art Notes," Paper City (December 2001), unpaginated.
Colpitt, Frances, et al. "Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitanism," ARTLIES (n.31, Summer 2001), p. 83.
Mitchell, Charles Dee. "Making the Case for Pleasure," Art in America (November, 2001), pp. 126-127.
Rush, Michael. "In Santa Fe, Searching for the Meaning of Beauty," New York Times (July 8, 2001, Arts/Leisure Section), pp. 31-32.
2000
Greene, Alison de Lima. Texas: 150 Works from the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston (Houston: Museum of Fine Arts in association with Abrams, Inc.,
New York, 2000), pp. 80, 86, 247.
Hoover, Carl. "Baylor Gallery Exhibiting Local Artist's Paintings," Waco Tribune-Herald (November 3, 2000), p. 4B.
Landay,
Janet. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Visitors Guide (London: Scala
in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2000), p. 357.
1997 Wardlaw, Alvia J. Kermit Oliver (Houston: Hooks-Epstein Galleries, 1997), unpaginated exhibition catalogue.
Bucher, Kristin, "Myth & Reality," Southwest Art, (May).
Johnson, Patricia C. "Dido to Beanies, Galleries beckon with '97s last art," Houston Chronicle (December 17).
1995 Levin, Steven. "Scarving Artist," Southwest Airlines Spirit (May).
1992 Anderson, Gretchen. "The Magic of Scarves," Continental Airlines Profiles (August).
Laird, Cheryl. "Special Delivery Designs," The Houston Chronicle (May).
"Texas Artist, Kermit Oliver is a First at Hermes," The Houston People Magazine.
1991 "Uncle Jack," commissioned illustration, Houston Metropolitan Magazine (May).
1989 "A Waco Postman Designs Hermes Scarves with a Western Flair," People (November 1987).
Freudenheim, Susan. "Art Notes",Texas Homes (January).
1983 Olsen. Florence. "Face Value Protraits are Back," Houston Home and Garden (September).
1982 Crossley, Mimi. "2 Exhibitions: Dorothy Hood, Kermit Oliver," The Houston Post (February 28).
Ewing. Betty. "House of Hermes' New Collectible, a Houston Original," The Houston Chronicle, (December 5).
1978 Biggers, John. Black Art in Houston (Austin: Texas A&M University Press).
1977 Fox, Elton. Black Artists of the New Generation (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company).
1975 Moser, Charlotte. "Kermit Oliver," Currant Art Magazine (October/November).
1974 Crumbacher, Marge. "Kermit Oliver," Southwest Art (December).
Selected Museum Collections:
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
The El Paso Museum, TX
The San Antonio Museum of Art, TX
The Dallas Museum of Fine Art., TX
Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX