The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973 Page: 501

Book Reviews

ing early Texas architecture. Comparisons may be odious, but the ear-
lier Buck Schiwetz' Texas (University of Texas Press, 1960) does more
to place E. M. Schiwetz, the artist, in proper perspective than does the
larger and lusher volume now being reviewed.
In the introduction, R. Henderson Shuffler adds little to Schiwetz's
reputation in calling him "Texas' best known and best loved artist."
This statement is not only inaccurate but of little significance in evalu-
ating the artist's accomplishments.
The general organization of the book follows the earlier volume, ex-
cepting the strangely unchronological arrangement of plates for a retro-
spective survey. The artist's comments are properly informal and infor-
mative.
Schiwetz's sojourn into abstraction is dutifully recorded and in his
own words, "The main thing about abstract art is that so much of it is
phony." "Oil Derricks" and "Fredericksburg," in which he has tried to
reconcile his basically realistic talent with a more fashionably shallow
abstraction, prove his point. Those of us who admire Buck Schiwetz for
what he does better than anyone around will find occasional rewards as
in "The Van Behr House, Sisterdale," "Remnants of a Ranch Near
Fredericksburg," and the unpolished but interesting "Excerpts from
Fredericksburg Cemetery."
What we have in the new volume are 96 reproductions of mixed
quality-sketches, paintings, and etchings. The editors do the artist an
injustice by their choices. Those who had hoped for a worthy compan-
ion to the earlier volume will be disappointed.
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts BARNEY DELABANO
The Public Lands of Texas, 1519-970o. By Thomas Lloyd Miller.
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972. Pp. xxii+341.
Illustrations, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $8.95.)
Following a brief survey of the Spanish and Mexican Land Grants,
Thomas Lloyd Miller traces the history of the Texas public lands from
Stephen F. Austin's efforts to colonize Texas to the present. After vali-
dating Spanish and Mexican cessions of more than 26,280,000 acres and
ceding 67,000,000 acres to the United States to settle a boundary dis-
pute, Texas was left with nearly 150,000,000 acres. This book is mainly

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