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Humanities Texas is pleased to introduce Of Birds and Texas: The Gentling Brothers and Their Magnificent Book, a new traveling exhibition presented in partnership with The Bryan Museum.

The exhibition explores the enduring legacies of Stuart and Scott Gentling, twin brothers and collaborative artists whose remarkable book of bird paintings, Of Birds and Texas, became the defining touchstone of their careers. Self-published in 1986, the Gentlings' book received widespread acclaim. Critics at the time described it as a “magnificent achievement” and “the most stunning and prodigious book in Texas history.”

Inspired by John James Audubon's Birds of America, the Gentlings' project featured forty watercolor bird studies, ten landscape paintings, and a collection of essays—all imbued with a singularly Texas focus and aesthetic. Despite financial hardships and personal health setbacks, the brothers labored for nearly a decade on their ambitious folio. In its completed form, the elephant folio weighed forty-six pounds and carried a $2,500 price tag.

Of Birds and Texas: The Gentling Brothers and Their Magnificent Book is adapted from an exhibition developed by The Bryan Museum in Galveston in 2022. At the core of the new exhibition are framed lithographs of all forty bird paintings from the Gentlings' original folio. This traveling version also features freestanding interpretive panels developed by Humanities Texas in consultation with the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Through narrative storytelling, photographs, and interpretive labels that share the Gentlings' own reflections on their paintings, the exhibition presents a fresh look at two of Texas's most fascinating artists. At the same time, it offers viewers a unique window into the distinct landscapes and vibrant avian diversity of the Lone Star State.

The exhibition is available to reserve now through the Humanities Texas traveling exhibitions program. To learn more about booking it for your venue, please contact our exhibitions coordinator at exhibitions@humanitiestexas.org.

Of Birds and Texas: The Gentling Brothers and Their Magnificent Book is made possible in part by generous support from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Kate Marmion Charitable Foundation.

Stuart and Scott Gentling with Of Birds and Texas, 1986. Photo by Bob Wharton. Courtesy Amon Carter Museum of American Art and Bob Wharton.
Burrowing Owl by Scott and Stuart Gentling, 1984. Courtesy Amon Carter Museum of American Art. © Amon Carter Museum of American Art.