Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2017/ No.124 i Western Art Collector

We reached out to museum directors, curators, gallery owners, artists and art experts to ask them one simple question: “What is your favorite work of art that depicts a cowboy?” Responses immediately started pouring in with names that you would expect—artists such as Frederic Remington, William Herbert “Buck” Dunton, William R. Leigh, Frank Tenney Johnson and James Reynolds—as well as some living artists such as Howard Post and Deborah Copenhaver Fellows. The works represent a wonderful cross section of cowboy art. Frederic Remington (1861-1909) The Stampede, 1908, oil on canvas, 26. x 395⁄8". GM 0127.2329. Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK. “ I believe this particular painting synthesizes all that popular culture gets wrong about cowboys, cowboying and cow work. It was dangerous, dirty, challenging, uncomfortable and often boring… every single day.…

There was a time not so long ago that Western artwork could only be found in the Western United States. If you walked into a gallery on the East Coast and asked to see an original cowboy painting, you just got a blank stare. However, today many of the finest examples of Western American art are found in Georgia, Florida, New York and other key locations throughout the Eastern United States. As strange as it seems, many predominate Western artists never lived in the West. Frederic Remington and Carl Rungius produced hundreds of the most iconic Western artworks ever created in their New York studios. Today artists such as Robert Griffing, John Buxton and H. David Wright continue the tradition of painting extraordinary historical works in their eastern studios. It’s…

UPCOMING GROUP SHOW Up to 36 works December 1-16, 2017 Trailside Galleries 7330 E. Main Street, #100, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 (480) 9457751 www.trailsidegalleries.com This winter, Trailside Galleries will present their special holiday show The Twelve Artists of Christmas in Jackson, Wyoming, and Scottsdale, Arizona. In Jackson, the show will highlight a collection of small works by wildlife painters, while in Scottsdale, the focus will be on Western pieces. Although in past years the holiday miniature show has featured all gallery artists, this year the theme will highlight a select group of painters who will each be exhibiting at least three small works. Artists participating in the Jackson show include Shawn Gould, Ken Carlson, Bruce Lawes, Jhenna Quinn Lewis, Lindsay Scott, Tucker Smith and Dustin Van Wechel, among others. At the…

History Colorado has announced its major new exhibition, Backstory: Western American Art in Context, to open at the History Colorado Center this spring. Debuting March 18, the exhibition will feature 50 iconic works from the Denver Art Museum’s Petrie Institute of Western American Art displayed alongside historic artifacts from History Colorado’s collection. “We are delighted to be collaborating with History Colorado on Backstory, and offering Western American art lovers the opportunity to explore one of DAM’s most beloved collections in a new dialogue with History Colorado’s amazing historical artifacts,” said Christoph Heinrich, director of the Denver Art Museum. Spanning the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, the collection interweaves artworks with historical artifacts to immerse viewers in the American West’s stories of cultural diversity, inspiration landscapes, new beginnings and romantic spirit. “The…

Charles M. Russell passed away 91 years ago, but his artistic reach has spanned time with ease, particularly with contemporary artists who look back on Russell’s works as authentic portrayals of the Old West. These two subjects—Russell and the living artists who adore his contributions to Western art—are brought together in two separate shows now on view at the Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine, Texas. Charlie Russell Heads West focuses on Russell’s work, from finished masterpieces, to preliminary sketches to illustrated letters, and it articulates some of Russell’s most notable traits, including his authentic portrayals of cowboys and Native American figures. Running concurrently alongside that exhibition is They Savvy Russell, which features contemporary work from living artists who have been greatly influenced by Russell. “Four years ago we…

On January 19 and 20 the Scottsdale Art Auction will host a special two-day auction for the recently closed Leanin’ Tree Museum of Western Art in Boulder, Colorado. The museum, which shut its doors in August after more than 40 years exhibiting Western and Native American art, was the pride and joy of Ed Trumble, founder and owner of the Leanin’ Tree greeting card company. Trumble, who is 92 years old, is a prolific collector and his interests flow through traditional cowboy works to more modern works by cutting-edge Native American artists. Because the museum shared its owner with a greeting card company, several works in the collection include holiday-themed paintings, including at least three works that depict Christmas in the West. One of the paintings is Jack Roberts’ Looks…

Jan. 3, 2018: Petrie Institute of Western American Art Symposium Denver Art Museum | Denver, CO | (720) 913-0130 | www.denverartmuseum.org Western Art Collector is a proud sponsor of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art Symposium. DECEMBER Dec. 2-3 NATIONAL HISPANIC CULTURAL CENTER 29th annual Winter Spanish Market Santa Fe, NM – (505) 246-2261 www.spanishcolonial.org Dec. 2-Jan. 6, 2018 THE PLAINSMEN GALLERY Small Works & More Dunedin, FL– (888) 779-2240 www.plainsmen.com Dec. 2-Jan. 14, 2018 DESERT CABELLEROS WESTERN MUSEUM Holiday Trains Wickenburg, AZ – (928) 684-2272 www.westernmuseum.org Dec. 2-Feb. 25, 2018 LEIGH YAWKEY WOODSON ART MUEUM Wild Fabrications Wasau, WI – (715) 845-7010 www.lywam.org Ending Dec. 3 MEDICINE MAN GALLERY Stephen C. Datz Tucson, AZ – (800) 422-9382 www.medicinemangallery.com Dec. 3-Mar. 11, 2018 UTAH MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS Go West! Art…

In Johnny Cash’s rendition of “Streets of Laredo” he sang, “I can see by your outfit that you are a cowboy…” A cowboy’s outfit is identifiable and also crucial to his work. Artists who paint and sculpt cowboys take particular pains to depict cowboy regalia accurately knowing they will be judged by collectors who know their gear. The gear itself is manufactured with pride for its efficiency and, often, for its artfulness. Chaps are made of hide and protect the cowboys legs from brush and thorny plants. They were developed by the Spanish and called chaparehos or “legs made of iron.” “Hair on hide” chaps are made from leather processed to leave the hair on. Usually made from short haired animals, showy “woolly chaps” are often made of long-haired angora…

UPCOMING SHOW Up to 75 works Dec. 2, 2017-Jan. 6, 2018 The Plainsmen Gallery 2141 Main Street, Suite H Dunedin, FL34698 (888) 779-2240 www.plainsmen.com The annual holiday Small Works & More exhibition at the Plainsmen Gallery in Dunedin, Florida, brings together more than 75 works of art by 24 participating artists. The show will include a sampling of small scale paintings and sculptures that show the breadth of the Western art genre. The works include everything from cowboys to wildlife to Native American scenes. Krystii Melaine’s portrait Buffalo Heart depicts a “proud and fearless buffalo hunter, wrapped in a buffalo robe and wearing a buffalo fur and feather headdress,” she describes. “He seems to emerge from the red heart of the heart, fully connected to the world in which he lives.”…

Four artists representing three generations of wildlife art will be featured in a new exhibition at Pebble Hill Plantation in Thomasville, Georgia. The historic plantation, which became a winter sporting resort for Northerners in the late 19th century, is now presenting Wild in the Country, an exhibition focusing on the wildlife works of Bruno Liljefors, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Carl Rungius and Bob Kuhn. “The works will be right at home with our phenomenal sporting art collection,” says Whitney White, Main House museum manager at Pebble Hill. “Our collection does not have representation by these four artists, so they will be a great fit for us and our sporting art that largely focuses on horses, dogs and hunting scenes.” The works, on loan from the Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford,…

On view now at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, Arizona, is How the West is One: Contemporary Western Art from the Tia Collection, a new exhibition that attempts to unite “a fractured set of genres, but as one collective story of the West…” Not only will the exhibition bring together paintings and bronzes, as well as Native and non-Native artists, but also traditional and contemporary styles. The museum, long known for its more traditional collection of permanent art, has certainly dipped its toe into contemporary art before, but these works—including modern pieces by Earl Biss, Rick Bartow, R.C. Gorman, Paul Pletka and others—represent a growing trend that the museum is excited to bring to its patrons. “We’ve definitely been moving more and more toward contemporary, but not to…

Their works are incredibly different, with one producing works in leather and silver and the other making art in paint and bronze, but listen close enough and you can hear a recurring theme with the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association and the Cowboy Artists of America. As different as they are, they share a common goal: to preserve the history and traditions of the West. No better place is that more evident than at Cowboy Crossings, the two groups’ joint exhibition at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. This year’s show, which opened October 5, once again brought dozens of the most prominent Western painters, sculptors, leathersmiths and silversmiths together to show off and sell their works. The opening weekend began with a reception, followed the next…

The Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Springs, California, is now conserving William R. Leigh’s Thunder Mountain, and doing so publicly so museum visitors and patrons can watch the process unfold over several months. The museum, which received a generous grant from the Friends of Heritage Preservation to clean and treat the Leigh work, has taken what is normally a behind-thescenes process and brought it out into the museum’s Denney Wing, where painting conservator Mark Leonard will work on cleaning the painting and also host weekly question-and-answer sessions, during which time visitors can ask about the treatment process. The event is titled Mysteries of the Mesa: the Restoration of William Robinson Leigh’s Thunder Mountain, and it is ongoing now through February 27, 2018. Leonard will be working on the piece…

When Alicia DeMers was in college she opened an art gallery that featured her own work, but also work she was curating from around the country. Within two months she was booking events a year in advance and running a promising business, all while still in her 20s. Later she would go to the Missoula Art Museum as the assistant director, as well as work with several major galleries. Now in her 30s, DeMers is launching a new endeavor, Ipseity Art Design in Big Sky, Montana. Ipseity—a Latin-derived word meaning self and “defining who you are,” and pronounced ip-sayit- ee—is part gallery, part design center and part art consultation. “I noticed a huge gap in the fine art spectrum. I would go to clients’ homes all the time and I…

In the final moments of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Jimmy Stewart’s noble politician, Ransom Stoddard, has just spilled the beans about who actually shot the outlaw Liberty Valance, thus revealing his entire career was held together by a myth. The newspaper reporter who’s listening to this confession eventually stands up, tears his notes to pieces and turns to Stoddard, who asks if he’s going to print the story. “No, sir,” the reporter says. “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Mark Maggiori isn’t in a John Ford movie, but he’s certainly capturing legendary Western figures in his new works, which show cowboys amid the hum of their daily lives on horseback out on the range, riding through the grassy plains and clambering…

UPCOMING SHOW Up to 12 works Dec. 27-Jan. 2, 2018 Mountain Trails Gallery 301 Main Street Park City, UT 84060 (435) 615-8748 mountaintrailsgalleries.com The Bitterroot Valley in southeast Montana, where artist Troy Collins makes his home, is host to views of rivers, forests and deeply carved canyons. Collins paints these views yearround, and his upcoming solo show at Mountain Trails Gallery in Park City, Utah, will feature scenes from the valley in all four seasons. One of Collins’ favorite paintings in the show is How He Loves Us, an autumn scene that looks across the river through to the mountain valley. It’s one of his largest pieces at 36 by 72 inches, and immerses viewers in a landscape that is very familiar to Collins, as it was painted near his…

UPCOMING GROUP SHOW Up to 200 works December 7-31, 2017 The Legacy Gallery 7178 E. Main Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85251, (480) 945-1113 www.legacygallery.com From December 7 through 31, Legacy Gallery will hold their 17th annual Holiday Small Works Show at their gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. The show features more than 200 works in a variety of subjects, including Western, landscape, figurative and wildlife. Artists include John Fawcett, Daniel Keys, David Mann, Kyle Polzin and Carrie Ballantyne, among others. In his still life Texas Legacy, Polzin emphasizes a collection of Western mementos, with a pair of leather-buckled spurs at the forefront. “The maker of the spurs, Joe Bianchi, had a blacksmith shop in my hometown of Victoria, Texas, in the early 1900s. He supplied most of the cowboys of that area…

Western art is marked by unique visions of the land and its people by famed artists such as Frederic Remington and Joseph Henry Sharp to contemporaries including Joe Beeler and Fred Fellows. Their works not only touch upon the history of the West, but also have become treasured examples of what once was and what now is. Currently on view at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona, is a comprehensive exhibition that explores the diversity of themes, images and subject matter across the genre. The show, titled Western Treasures of the Phoenix Art Museum, is also a collaboration between two of Arizona’s leading institutions in promoting Western art. Lynette Tritel, curator and collections manager at the Phippen Museum, elaborates, “It began with Mike Cohn, who is [the Phoenix Art Museum’s]…