Winners of the Davis Competitions 1927-1928
Introduction and signing of the book "Texas Art and Wildcatter's Dream" 

TThe exhibitions in the two institutes allow the public to see for themselves, how important San Antonio and The San Antonio Art League Museum was and is for the growth and nurturing of a strong artist community in the city. From 1912 until 1926, when the Witte Museum was founded, the San Antonio Art League, as it was called at this time, was the only place in town where art work was displayed, collected and cared for in an organized manner. After the Witte Museum opened, The Art League was invited to share space with the museum and became known for may decades as their "art department"

It was in the late 1920's that a Texas oilman, Mr. Edgar B. Davis, put the San Antonio Art League Museum in charge of administering a national competition for wildflowers in 1927, to be extended to include the categories of cotton picking and ranching in 1928 and 1929. Drawn by the incredible allure of the prize monies offered, the splendid reputation of the city, and the lavishly underwritten events surrounding the exhibitions (More than $53,000 in prize moneys were given in three years, and over $350,000 spent on events and traveling shows), such famous artists as Jose Arpa, Dawson Dawson-Watson, Oscar E, Burninghaus and Herbert Dunton (the latter two founding members of the Taos Society of Artists) and many others came. This "milestone in the saga of Texas art history" as Cecilia Steinfeldt called the competitions, catapulted Texas into the national art scene of the day, and fuel the regionalist movement that would reject impressionism and gain prominence in the late 1930's.

The book telling the story of the Yankee entrepreneur-texas oilman and the San Antonio Art League was written by Dr. William E. Reaves Jr. It includes a forward by Cecilia Steinfeldt and an afterword by Richard Casagrande as is published by Texas A&M University. Titled: Texas Art and a Wildcatter's Dream. Edgar B. Davis and the San Antonio Art League, it will be distributed and offered for sale just in time at the opening on April 2 and at the opening of the 68th Local Annual Artist Show Sunday, March 29, 1998 from 2-5 pm at The San Antonio Art League Museum.