At a crucial moment in the development of Texas art, an eccentric oil wildcatter turned to the prestigious San Antonio Art League with a proposal. He would fund a national art competition featuring the state’s wildflowers if the league would handle the details. Thus were born the Texas Wildflower Competitive Exhibitions. A transplanted “Yankee trader,” Edgar B. Davis had the mystical conviction that his success was intended for the public good. After developing the Luling oil field in the early 1920s, he established charitable foundations and gave generously to the arts. With a wordly sophistication and a special affection for Texas wildflowers, he offered substantial cash prizes to attract many of the nation’s most prominent artists to the wildflower art competition. Davis later broadened the scope to include scenes of Texas’ ranching and cotton industries. From this alliance of philanthropy and talent came what art historian Cecilia Steinfeldt calls “a milestone in the saga of Texas art history.” Exhibitions in the late 1920s nurtured the state’s emerging art community and fueled the regionalist movement that would reject impressionism and gain prominence in the 1930s. Twenty-nine color plates of the competitions’ best work are reproduced here, including paintings by such artists as José Arpa, Dawson Dawson-Watson, and Oscar E. Berninghaus, and Herbert Dunton (founding members of the Taos Society of Artists). Eight more prize-winning works are included in black-and-white. Cecilia Steinfeldt’s foreword places the competitions in historical perspective, and art appraiser and teacher Richard Casagrande comments on the paintings in an afterward.

Texas Art and a Wildcatter's Dream: Edgar B. Davis and the San Antonio Art League (Volume 9) (Joe and Betty Moore Texas Art Series)

Arts & Photography

Reaves Jr., William E.

History & Criticism

Texas A&M University Press

A significant collection of Texas paintings and prints hangs humbly and inconspicuously throughout the offices, conference rooms, and hallways of Texas A&amp;M University Press. These works comprise the Frank H. Wardlaw Collection of Texas Art, named in honor of the Press’s founding director, who was one of the genuine publishing icons of his day. Established in 1983 at the dedication of the new headquarters of Texas A&amp;M University Press on the campus of Texas A&amp;M, the collection began with twenty inaugural contributions that came as gifts from respected Texas artists whose art appeared in the books Wardlaw had shepherded to publication at the Press. Since then, the collection—which continues to be linked to artists published by the Press—has grown to house more than one hundred paintings, photographs, and illustrations. Among the noted artists featured in the collection are E. M. (Buck) Schiwetz, Otis Dozier, Michael Frary, Everett Spruce, Emily Guthrie Smith, Jerry Bywaters, and, among more recent additions, Dorothy Hood and Richard Stout. Through interviews with longtime staff and research into the Press’s book files and correspondence, William and Linda Reaves have uncovered the captivating history of this unlikely collection. In A Book Maker’s Art, they present the freshly assembled story of the Wardlaw collection, from its modest yet unique beginning to its present-day status as one of the university’s excellent collections of Texas art, reflecting the exceptional bond of arts and letters that has come to distinguish Texas A&amp;M University Press.

A Book Maker's Art: The Bond of Arts and Letters at Texas A&M University Press (Volume 21) (Joe and Betty Moore Texas Art Series)

Reaves, Linda J.

E. M. (Buck) Schiwetz (1898–1984) could be called a “favorite son” among Texas artists working in the twentieth century. Schiwetz ranks among the state’s best-known early artists, having left behind an important body of iconic Texas imagery produced over a prodigious career spanning some seven decades. Educated as an architect at A&M College of Texas, he parlayed this training with natural acumen to become a consummate draftsman, prominent illustrator, and celebrated artist. 
In the mid-twentieth century, Schiwetz distinguished himself as an active participant in the rise of Texas art. As the Texas art scene experienced a period of dynamic growth and development, his artwork evolved across successive movements of Lone Star Impressionism, Regionalism, Modernism, and Expressionism. During his lifetime, the artwork of Buck Schiwetz arguably graced more publications than that of any other Texas artist. Featured in popular journals such as The Humble Way or published in the pioneering art books issued by academic presses at both the University of Texas and Texas A&M University, Schiwetz’s Texas imagery has long been employed to portray and celebrate Lone Star history and culture. 
The Artistic Legacy of Buck Schiwetz provides a long-overdue examination of this important Texas artist and his legacy: the first authoritative treatment of Schiwetz’s career as both fine artist and accomplished illustrator, and the first scholarly examination of his full body of work.

The Artistic Legacy of Buck Schiwetz (Volume 26) (Joe and Betty Moore Texas Art Series)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Reaves Jr., William E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Reaves Jr., William E.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Reaves Jr., William E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Texas Art and a Wildcatter's Dream: Edgar B. Davis and the San Antonio Art League (Volume 9) (Joe and Betty Moore Texas Art Series)

A Book Maker's Art: The Bond of Arts and Letters at Texas A&M University Press (Volume 21) (Joe and Betty Moore Texas Art Series)

The Artistic Legacy of Buck Schiwetz (Volume 26) (Joe and Betty Moore Texas Art Series)