You'll Go Wild. . .

. . . over this superb silk scarf from the French luxury design house Hermès. First introduced in 1986, this design is called "Faune et Flore du Texas” (animals and flowers of Texas).

Of course, any Texas-themed accessory must include a longhorn!

The Texas state bird, the mockingbird, serenades the Texas official small mammal, the armadillo.

"The coyotes wail, along the trail, deep in the heart of Texas. . . ."

A majestic mountain lion.

Birds of a feature also flock together.

However, this scarf is extra special. The original Hermès design had a banner framing the longhorn that read "Faune et Flore du Texas” and "Texas Wildlife." But on this example, the banner instead reads “The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston” and "Kermit Oliver 2005.” Hermès reissued this scarf in 2005 in a special edition as part of a retrospective of Oliver’s works at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.

Born in 1943 in Refugio, Texas, where his father worked on a cattle ranch, the young Oliver demonstrated a talent for drawing animals and flowers, He graduated from Texas Southern University in Houston in 1967 with Bachelor of Fine Arts and art education degrees. Oliver initially taught at Texas Southern University, but instead decided to focus on his art. He was the first African-American artist in Houston to be represented by a major commercial gallery. While Oliver quickly became a highly successful and sought after artist, he was never comfortable in that role and the demands of the gallery scene. In 1978, Oliver began working as a processor at a Houston post office and later transferred to Waco, sorting mail on the night shift so that he could paint during the day, pursuing his own vision and occasionally working on commission. He retired from postal service in 2013 and continues to paint and draw. Oliver refers to his work as "painted collages," interposing a variety of realistically rendered images of people, animals, and plants, sometimes with surreal, mythological, or religious themes. 

His partnership with Hermes began in 1980. Hermès approached Lawrence Marcus of the renown upscale department store Neiman Marcus regarding whether he could recommend an American artist to design for a scarf with a Southwestern theme. Marcus referred the company to Oliver. Oliver has since designed 17 designs for the company. He is in fact the only American artist who has designed for Hermès.

All posted items are for sale at Next-to-New, but things can sell quickly!