Kermit Oliver
Kermit Oliver is famously known as the sole American to design scarves for Hermes. He's a renowned painter who has had his paintings in the opening exhibit of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He's won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Houston Art League, and sorted mail for the Waco post office (which gave him the cash flow and time to spend painting).
Mr. Oliver came to Hermes when the Dumas family asked the Marcus family (of Neiman Marcus fame) for recommendations on American artists to commission for la maison. Like Robert Dallet, Kermit Oliver's work is alive with realistically-rendered animals. But while Dallet's most famous works focuses on animals and nature from Africa and Asia, Oliver explores the people, animals and nature of America, particularly the southwest (though he's also covered Canada and the Pacific Northwest).
Personally, Kermit Oliver is an acquired taste. I have such affection for Tsitsika and Texas Wildlife but I generally avoid realism (take that any way you'd like). I wrestle with framing vs wearing these scarves and if they didn't come with such grail-y pricetags I'd get doubles and not have to make decisions.
Mr. Oliver came to Hermes when the Dumas family asked the Marcus family (of Neiman Marcus fame) for recommendations on American artists to commission for la maison. Like Robert Dallet, Kermit Oliver's work is alive with realistically-rendered animals. But while Dallet's most famous works focuses on animals and nature from Africa and Asia, Oliver explores the people, animals and nature of America, particularly the southwest (though he's also covered Canada and the Pacific Northwest).
Personally, Kermit Oliver is an acquired taste. I have such affection for Tsitsika and Texas Wildlife but I generally avoid realism (take that any way you'd like). I wrestle with framing vs wearing these scarves and if they didn't come with such grail-y pricetags I'd get doubles and not have to make decisions.
Pani la Shar Pawnee, 1984
|
Faune et Flore du Texas / Texas Wildlife, 1986
|
Faune et Flore du Texas / Texas Wildlife, Houston Museum of Fine Arts SE, 2005
|
Tsitsika, 2002
|
La Vie au Sauvage, 2015
|
Other scarves designed by Kermit Oliver
|
|
