Drawing on archival documents, press releases, periodicals, and exhibition brochures in all known collections and archives, Paula and Michael Grauer provide as much information as is possible on the artist's birth and death dates and places, primary cities of residence, art education, professional credentials, and exhibition records.

Following the alphabetical list of artists, tables for each of the major exhibitions and competitions in Texas in the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries cross-reference the artists who participitated in those exhibitions. More than 150 color illustrations supplement the entries, showing Texas artists at their best.

Using pre-1945 exhibition and other historical records as the criteria for inclusion, the compilers received assistance from leading scholars in the field as well as collectors,