diff --git a/doc/devel/documenting_mpl.rst b/doc/devel/documenting_mpl.rst
index 72f1bedd22d6..9b8dec1ed988 100644
--- a/doc/devel/documenting_mpl.rst
+++ b/doc/devel/documenting_mpl.rst
@@ -729,7 +729,7 @@ gets interpolated into the docstring.
 Note that this scheme does not work for decorating an Artist's ``__init__``, as
 the subclass and its properties are not defined yet at that point.  Instead,
 ``@_docstring.interpd`` can be used to decorate the class itself -- at that
-point, `.kwdoc` can list the properties and interpolate them into
+point, `.artist.kwdoc` can list the properties and interpolate them into
 ``__init__.__doc__``.
 
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/_api/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/_api/__init__.py
index 483b810e5d7d..1aec5be218ea 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/_api/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/_api/__init__.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
     in your own code.  We may change the API at any time with no warning.
 
 """
-
+from collections import namedtuple
 import functools
 import itertools
 import re
@@ -58,6 +58,16 @@ def fget(self):
         return self._fget
 
 
+ArtistPropertyInfo = namedtuple('ArtistPropertyInfo', 'kwdoc, is_alias')
+
+
+def artist_property(kwdoc=None, is_alias=False):
+    def decorator(func):
+        func._artist_property = ArtistPropertyInfo(kwdoc, is_alias)
+        return func
+    return decorator
+
+
 # In the following check_foo() functions, the first parameter starts with an
 # underscore because it is intended to be positional-only (e.g., so that
 # `_api.check_isinstance([...], types=foo)` doesn't fail.
@@ -261,6 +271,8 @@ def method(self, *args, **kwargs):
                     method = make_alias(prefix + prop)
                     method.__name__ = prefix + alias
                     method.__doc__ = "Alias for `{}`.".format(prefix + prop)
+                    method._artist_property = \
+                        ArtistPropertyInfo(kwdoc=None, is_alias=True)
                     setattr(cls, prefix + alias, method)
         if not exists:
             raise ValueError(
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/artist.py b/lib/matplotlib/artist.py
index 1f33b9d3ec11..b66b862854e2 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/artist.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/artist.py
@@ -1490,7 +1490,12 @@ def is_alias(self, o):
         ds = inspect.getdoc(o)
         if ds is None:
             return False
-        return ds.startswith('Alias for ')
+        result = ds.startswith('Alias for ')
+        alt_result = (o._artist_property.is_alias
+                      if hasattr(o, '_artist_property')
+                      else False)
+        assert result == alt_result
+        return result
 
     def aliased_name(self, s):
         """
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/text.py b/lib/matplotlib/text.py
index 4aac1f055db7..efc1f05c2713 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/text.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/text.py
@@ -1304,6 +1304,7 @@ def get_parse_math(self):
         """Return whether mathtext parsing is considered for this `Text`."""
         return self._parse_math
 
+    @_api.artist_property(is_alias=True)
     def set_fontname(self, fontname):
         """
         Alias for `set_family`.