DALLAS, TX.- In 1923, when she was just 15 years old, Josephine Oliver embarked on a monthlong plein-air sketching trip to West Texas with the legendary artist Frank Reaugh and his students. These rugged trips, where students sleeping in canvas tents were expected to sketch up to four pastels a day, are the stuff of legend for collectors of early Texas art. It would be the first of eight such expeditions for the young Oliver, who left her home in Dallas to travel through the wilderness in a rattletrap Model T car nicknamed "the Cicada." Like her famed instructor, Oliver made pastels on small pieces of paper to capture the fleeting light and color of the Texas plains—a practical solution to painting on the move, and a deliberate artistic choice that favored contained, poetic impressions of the vast Texas landscape.

Oliver would go on to marry Dallas-based artist Olin Travis, whom she met on her final sketching trip, and together, the influential and talented couple built a collection of early Texas works, highlights of which Heritage is honored to present in its Texas Art Signature® Auction on June 21. "This auction is especially meaningful as it brings together works by families across multiple generations," says Atlee Phillips, Heritage's Director of Texas Art. "The auction features three pastels from Josephine Oliver's trips with Reaugh, including a particularly sensitive study of Cap Rock Mesa, as well as two intimate, atmospheric works featuring longhorn cattle by Reaugh himself that have been in the Travis family collection for many decades."

Josephine's crayon portrait of Frank Reaugh offers a rare, personal glimpse of the artist by one of his closest students. Her striking Portrait of Harry Carnohan, an oil painting of the Dallas painter and fellow student of Reaugh, speaks to her skill as a portraitist. Josephine's husband Olin Travis is considered Dallas's first native-born professional artist. He co-founded the Art Institute of Dallas in 1926, training many artists who would define the Lone Star Regionalist movement. Throughout his long career, Travis pushed himself to experiment, working in styles ranging from Impressionism to Modernism, and is known both for allegorical works like The Nixie and Release, as well as exceptional plein-air studies of White Rock in Dallas; the Gulf Coast near Fulton; and the old Haley Ranch in West Texas. "These locations resonate deeply with collectors who love these areas," says Emily Duffy, Fine Art Cataloger at Heritage, adding, "They know these places in their bones."In addition to the Oliver-Travis Estate, this summer's event presents the most diverse selection of Texas art at Heritage in over 10 seasons. "This auction brings together a vibrant cross-section of Texas art—spanning Modern, Mid-Century, Western, and Contemporary voices," Duffy says. "There are 130 objects made by 66 artists."

An Outstanding Group of Paintings by Enigmatic Artist Fred Darge

Not much is known about the early biography of Fred Darge, a naturalized citizen originally from Germany who became a fixture in the Dallas art scene in the latter half of his life. But his vivid depictions of cowboy life are some of the most well-known and desirable examples of Texas narrative realism. Heritage is proud to offer three of the finest Fred Darge paintings to come to market in some time—Round-Up Days (featured on the cover of this auction's catalog), New Mexico Goat Herder, and Goat Herders—each a masterclass in brushwork, atmosphere, and narrative.

Collector Favorites Porfirio Salinas and G. Harvey

The celebrated paintings of Porfirio Salinas, a favorite of LBJ, are some of the most recognizable and beloved scenes of Texas landscapes. In this event, Heritage proudly presents Flowers in Bloom, a classic Salinas bluebonnet landscape, on the market for the first time from a private collection in Chappell Hill. Three other handsome Salinas landscapes—Afternoon Graze, Bull Creek and Along the Riverside—are also featured in this auction. Few Western artists capture cowboy life with such aching beauty as G. Harvey, whose 1975 painting The New Filly, from a private collection in Aledo, Texas, joins three other quietly poignant Harvey scenes of cowboys and bluebonnets.

Modern and Contemporary Highlights

Among the 130 Texas works, Heritage is pleased to offer more sculptures than usual, including a stunning and very rare abstract sculpture in onyx by Chares Umlauf. Umlauf, the legendary Austin sculptor and instructor, is also represented by four of his bronze animal figures, notably this earthy, rugged rhinoceros.

Heritage is also pleased to offer a night scene of oil derricks by George Grammer, whose dramatic works capture the stark geometry and surreal beauty of Texas's industrial landscapes. These scenes, his most evocative and significant contributions to midcentury American art, are in the collections of major museums throughout the state.

A group of six works by the longtime UT Austin instructor Kelly Fearing ranges from a street scene painted in watercolor from 1939 to a lovely abstracted study of the Agean Sea from 1965. Fearing, an iconoclastic mystic whose works were rooted in the natural world, taught in Austin for 40 years, retiring in 1987.Contemporary strength comes through in Crosses Along the Hallway by Lee N. Smith III and Bus Stop by David Bates—two commanding canvases that reflect the complexity and grit of late 20th-century Texas art. A crisp trio of abstract grids by Houston-based artist Susie Rosmarin is a strong example from this collectable painter.

Other highlights in the sale include Moonlight by Hari (Harry) Kidd and Gathering Flowers by Julius Stockfleth, both from the collection of John L. Nau, III. Stockfleth's piece offers a rare and lyrical glimpse into early coastal Texas through the eyes of a German-born Galveston painter. In addition, there are three expressive prints by seminal Dallas artists Edward G. Eisenlohr; Charles Traylor Bowling; and Reveau Bassett.