Olin Herman Travis, a native Texan, was the son of Olin Few Travis, a printer by profession from a distinguished Southern Family, related to William Barrett Travis, commander of the Alamo.

    Travis soon manifested a talent for art and was given a liberal education, receiving instruction from a number of leading artists of the country, including Charles Francis Browne, Kenyon Cox, Ralph Clarkson, Harry Walcott and the Spanish artist Sorolla.

    Travis paints in oils, watercolor, pastels and tempera. His subjects are landscapes, portraits, etc., winning several awards at the Art Institute of Chicago. His works have been exhibited in many of America's foremost museums. Travis also taught art at the Chicago Art Institute and was director at the Chicago Commercial Art School.

     After leaving Chicago in 1913, he spent several years sketching in various parts of the country, including a six month cruise on the Great Lakes and several winters in Florida and trips to the Ozark Mountains where his artist wife Kathryne Hail Travis was born. Kathryne was a student of his in Chicago.

     In 1923 Katheryne & Olin moved to Dallas, where they opened a studio. They became popular members of the local art colony. His works were exhibited in the 1920's at the Dallas Art Association, which he was director. Four examples of his works that where exhibited then are "Through Sylvan Pineland of Florida", picturing a wagon road through tall graceful pines in their blending of browns and greens; "The Red Cottage" showing a small house set back against a clump of trees, with a field shadowed with purple lying in the foreground; "The Three Birches", showing a group of trees whose silvery bark, streaked here and there in black, stand out in bold relief against the green background of trees in the distance; "The Trail to the Valley", picturing a pathway between shadowy green trees.

     In 1923 Travis exhibited at the Texas State Fair in Dallas (Major Annual Exhibit, Including Works by Monet, etc.). Several of his canvases were accepted for the exhibit.

    In addition to his artistic talents, Travis is a capable art instructor and a writer on art. The Dallas Art Institute was organized in January 1926 which Travis was the President of the school.

    In 1927, a summer colony for art students was established in the Ozark Mountain district. Travis believed and taught his students the importance of study from the model in the open air with the indoor work of the studio as an essential factor in the painters work. The camp was situated in the heart of the Boston Range of the Ozarks, twenty miles north of Ozark, Arkansas at Cass, the site of an abandoned sawmill town. Here the art students spent the month of July, where a wealth of material was at the doorstep of the camp, with an ever changing drama of color and form to tempt the painter.

    Memberships Include: Chicago Society of Artists; Texas Fine Arts Association; Southern States Art League; Highland Park Art Association; American Artists Professional League; American Federation of the Arts.

    His works are included in many private and public collections.

 

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