Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018/ No.134 i Western Art Collector

Several years ago I was looking at some extraordinary Western paintings on gallery websites. Not long after, I saw them again on the walls of the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, on loan from the Tia Collection. I had known of the Tia Collection, had met the collector and its exceptional curator Laura Finley Smith, but the beginnings of a collection of the art of the West was news. News no longer, one aspect of the collection is in the exhibition New Beginnings: An American Story of Romantics and Modernists in the West. It opens October 16 and continues through September 22, 2019, at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West. One of the joys of viewing a comprehensive collection is not only seeing masterpieces by familiar artists,…

The reason symbols are so effective is how much they say with so little. Consider the cattle brand: it’s a length of iron with a tip that, when heated up red-hot, stamps a simple little icon into a cow’s flank. The mark—sometimes just an abstract arrangement of shapes or even two crossed letters or numbers—signifies ownership, but the brand means so much more to the people who ride under it. There is a pride that comes with those marks, and a valuable sense of accomplishment to see it spread out on hundreds of cattle on a range. In that brand is a great history, and also a dream of the future. The Cowboy Artists of America has its iconic “CA,” which often works like a brand: it shows a form…

The Brinton Museum is located on the historic Quarter Circle A Ranch in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains. First homesteaded in 1880, the property was sold to William Moncreiffe, who established the Quarter Circle A Ranch and built the Ranch House in 1892. In 1923, Moncreiffe sold the 640-acre Quarter Circle A Ranch headquarters to Bradford Brinton. An avid collector of fine art, American Indian artifacts, firearms and books, Bradford Brinton filled his home with fine and beautiful items. He was personal friends with many artists, such as Ed Borein, Hans Kleiber and Bill Gollings, and he collected works by Frederic Remington, C. M. Russell and John James Audubon. In 1936, Bradford Brinton died from complications after surgery. His will left the Quarter Circle A Ranch property to his…

Housed in the iconic First National Bank/Rehder Building (1905/1920) on the National Registry of Historic Places, Steamboat Art Museum is located in the heart of Steamboat’s Creative District. Established in 2006, the museum has developed a strong reputation presenting original artwork by living masters whose work is relevant to the culture and heritage of the West. The recent 5,000-square-foot rehabilitation pays tribute to the building’s rich history with exposed beams, stained glass and refurbished locally quarried stone walls. This provides an exquisite setting for its rotating exhibitions, including retrospective exhibitions and group shows, such as the recently completed Oil Painters of America 27th National Exhibition. “With our newly renovated and highly acclaimed expansion, we have established an exciting and relevant cultural center in the heart of Steamboat Springs. Our 2019 roster…

The Museum of the Big Bend began with a lone arrowhead in 1921 and has grown to over 100,000 artifacts. Located in the historic Texas Centennial Memorial Museum building, the museum has in its collection works by acclaimed early Texas artists such as Julius Woeltz, Xavier Gonzalez, Elizabeth Keefer Boatright, an extensive retablo collection and the Yana and Marty Davis Map Collection which chronicles the mapping of Texas, Oklahoma and the Indian Territories. The museum has recently added work by Anna Keener to the collection along with maps and atlases and supporting documents to the Yana and Marty Davis Map Collection. Major Upcoming Exhibitions Erin Hanson: Impressions of Big Bend Country Through December 16, 2018 Richard Orton: The Upshaws of County Line: An American Family Jan.18-March 25, 2019 33rd Trappings of…

The C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana, is now showing a large grouping of artwork from the Leroy Strand Collection, which was acquired as a gift in 2016 from the Leroy Strand Foundation. The acquisition totaled 376 objects, including 280 sculptures and 96 paintings and drawings. Many of those works are on view now, with more planned to be rotated in as part of the Leroy Strand Collection. Strand, who lived and worked around horses and cattle in Montana from 1944 until 1998, was an avid art collector, as well as a philanthropist who donated generously to the C.M. Museum and to communities throughout Montana. Strand was also a World War II veteran, who experienced heavy combat in the Pacific. He died in 2016, the same year his foundation…

On July 28, the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction returned to Reno, Nevada, to offer top-quality works in one of the biggest Western art sales in the country. The sale didn’t disappoint, realizing more than $13.3 million and creating a handful of new artist world records. Turnout in the room, as well as on the phones and online, was high and bids were consistent as 311 lots, made up of both historic and contemporary works, were offered to bidders. In the end more than 91 percent of the works sold. “The crowd was great, and we even had to add chairs as the auction was about to begin. And the phone bidding was up, as was the internet bidding,” auction partner Mike Overby says. “But the thing we really liked to…

A new photography exhibition at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, celebrates 150 years since the meeting of two trains at Promontory Point, Utah, effectively linking the West Coast with the East Coast by rail. The Race to Promontory: The Transcontinental Railroad and the American West is a traveling exhibition that recognizes the importance of the momentous event and celebrates what it signified for the country. The exhibition, which opens at Joslyn Art Museum on October 6, is a partnership between the museum, Union Pacific and also the Union Pacific Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The show will present photographs and stereographs of Andrew Joseph Russell and Alfred A. Hart drawn exclusively from the Union Pacific Historic Collection. The images represent the largest collection in the world of original…

Famously, Frederic Remington’s epitaph reads, “He Knew the Horse.” That epitaph provides us with a powerful clue to Remington the man and Remington the artist. Think about it. For Remington the man, life—real life—was lived in the saddle, on horseback; for Remington the artist, art—all his art, at any rate—begins with the horse. You see this everywhere in his art, from wash drawings to oil paintings to bronzes, this feeling that the horse, in Remington’s mind, is what connects native to pioneer, cowboy to vaquero, Buffalo Soldier to Dog Soldier. Treasures from the Frederic Remington Art Museum & Beyond, the new exhibition at the Booth Western Art Museum, reveals the horse as the catalyst that gives rise to Frederic Remington’s American West. In elevating the horse, Remington casts his lot…

Before the creation of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association, founding member Scott Hardy found himself concerned with the potential pitfalls of a group like the TCAA. As he and saddlemaker Chuck Stormes drove down to what would become the first meeting of the group, the two artists discussed with each other what they wanted in a group. And what they didn’t. “We both agreed that if it was about self-promotion we weren’t interested. That was not something we had any interest in,” Hardy says. “When we got down there we found a dozen or so guys and they were all on the same page. We all had the same reasoning: we wanted to improve these disciplines, to improve and preserve the culture, and to move what we were doing from…

The C.M. Russell Museum is one of the nation’s finest museums of American Western art and the home of the most complete collection of Russell art and memorabilia in the world. The permanent collection of more than 12,000 objects also includes the works of such well-known artists as O.C. Seltzer, Winold Reiss, Joseph Henry Sharp, E.E. Heikka, Eanger Irving Couse, Olaf Wieghorst, Henry Farny and Frank Tenney Johnson. The Bison: American Icon, Heart of Plains Indian Culture and Charles M. Russell: The Legacy of America’s Cowboy Artist round out the museum’s outstanding offerings. “2019 will be a transformative year for the C.M. Russell Museum. The much-anticipated reopening of the Russell Home and Studio in March will kick off an exciting summer honoring the 100th anniversary of Russell’s show at the Victory…

Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West tells the multi-faceted stories of the West through paintings and sculptures by historical and contemporary artists ranging from Frederic Remington to John Coleman in an award-winning, two-story building with an interior sculpture courtyard. Since opening in January 2015, the museum has acquired a collection of Hopi pottery masterworks; one of the world’s largest collections of Western film graphic arts; and Old West artifacts representing cowboys, rodeos and Wild West shows. The museum also features the presentation-style pipe tomahawk of Meriwether Lewis, rare buffalo robes, photographs by Edward S. Curtis and more. The museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate and is a highly rated TripAdvisor attraction. “Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West is proud and gratified to be featuring in the 2018-19 season three…

The Thomas Gilcrease Institute of America History and Art, commonly known as Gilcrease Museum, has a collection of American art and artifacts as vast as the American experience itself, including an unparalleled collection of Native American art and material. The Helmerich Center for American Research on the museum’s campus houses a vast archival collection of material related to the history of North America Located five minutes from downtown Tulsa, the Gilcrease Museum is nestled on 460 acres in the Osage Hills and includes 23 acres of themed gardens open to the public for tours. With the 400,000-item collection, traveling exhibitions, programs and education studios, there is something for everyone. Major Upcoming Exhibitions T.C. Cannon: At the Edge of America Through October 7, 2018 Blake Little: Photographs from the Gay Rodeo…

The Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona, features museum-quality artwork of the American West. Named after local artist and first president of the Cowboy Artists of America, George Phippen, it presents permanent and changing exhibits throughout the year with ongoing art and heritage programming. Featured artists from Western art’s past have included Olaf Wieghorst, Will James, Marjorie Reed and Edward S. Curtis. Present-day Western artists represented include Bill Nebeker, John Coleman, Bill Anton and Ken Rowe. A recent acquisition that was especially meaningful for the museum was the procurement of a George Phippen gouache from 1954 titled Bringing ’Em Up the Muddy Bank. Major Upcoming Exhibitions Local Color Oct. 5-Feb. 24, 2019 Embrace the Struggle: Chris Navarro Dec. 2-April 7, 2019 Painters of the Desert March 2-July 21, 2019 “The Phippen…

From Bryce Canyon and Arches National Park to the many charming neighborhoods flanked by massive snow-capped mountains, Utah is a delineation of much of what makes the western United States so stunning. Rooted in the history of pioneer exploration, Utah became the 45th state in January of 1896 and has grown to become one of the most vibrant Southwestern states on both natural and urban grounds. The state capital of Salt Lake City has a thriving local music scene, numerous amateur and professional theatre venues and a variety of art and historical museums. Southeast of downtown Salt Lake City is the historic mining town of Park City, which is home to one of the top skiing destinations in the country, Park City Mountain Resort, nestled high in the Wasatch Mountains.…

Natalie Featherston has been working on a series of paintings on and off for 15 years. It first began when the Trompe l’Oeil artist was inspired by her young niece’s crayon drawings and wanted to represent them through her own oil paintings. “I’m trying to keep the feeling of a child doing them,” says Featherston of the ongoing series called Young Artist Shows Promise. The paintings themselves look remarkably like crayon doodles and include subject matter like cowboys, horses, sheep and cowgirls playing the guitar. While originally inspired by the artwork of her niece—who is now an adult—the drawings are now sketched by Natalie herself. She traces over the sketches with Sharpie, colors them in with crayon, and then uses those as real-life references for her paintings. Featherston will showcase…

In 2016 the Phoenix Art Museum began a series of upgrades to the fire suppression system in the art storage vaults. Because the cost of storing fine art—a whole lot of it—was so high the museum elected to store the entire collection in the American galleries temporarily while construction was completed. Work is now done and the American galleries were re-opened September 15 with five brand new thematic installations, two of which are landscape themed: Philip C. Curtis and the Landscapes of Arizona and Sublime Landscapes. Both are now on view at the Phoenix museum, which will also be presenting the entire collection of Western work purchased by the Western Art Associates. Philip C. Curtis and the Landscapes will focus on works by the Arizona-based artist, who first came to…

On November 11, the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, will host its Booth Photography Guild Annual Exhibition. The juried show will feature works from the museum’s Photography Guild, whose members represent a wide range of skill levels and backgrounds who are united in their love of photography. The exhibition, which will take place in the museum’s Borderlands Gallery, will present a variety of subjects, including many Western themes. The show will add to the museum’s growing lineup of photography shows, which in recent months and years has also featured exhibitions for Arizona photographer Jay Dusard and Tlingit Alaskan Native Zoë Marieh Urness. The exhibition will present new photography works to museumgoers, and it will also bring attention to the Booth Photography Guild, which aims to “pursue, develop and…

OCTOBER Oct. 2 SOTHEBY’S American Art New York, NY – (212) 606-7000 www.sothebys.com Oct. 4-6 NATIONAL COWBOY & WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM Cowboy Crossings Oklahoma City, OK – (405) 478-2250 www.nationalcowboymuseum.org Oct. 5 MOUNTAIN TRAILS GALLERIES SEDONA Gregory Stocks: Finding Light Sedona, AZ – (928) 282-3224 www.mountaintrailssedona.com Oct. 5-Feb. 24, 2019 PHIPPEN MUSEUM Local Color Prescott, AZ – (928) 778-1285 www.phippenartmusuem.org Oct. 10-Jan. 6, 2019 JOSLYN ART MUSEUM The Race to Promontory: The Transcontinental Railroad and the American West Omaha, NE – (402) 342-3300 www.joslyn.org October 6-20 ED MELL GALLERY Ed Mell: Works on Paper Phoenix, AZ – (602) 359-7333 www.edmellgallery.com Through Oct. 7 BOOTH WESTERN ART MUSEUM The Wildlife Art of Guy Coheleach Cartersville, GA – (770) 387-1300 www.boothmuseum.org Through Oct. 7 PASADENA MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA ART Grafton Tyler Brown:…

Phoenix is known for its sun and heat, which makes the reason for a reconfigured wing at the Phoenix Art Museum so much more amusing—blame the upgrades to the fire suppression system. While work was being done on the vital system in the museum’s storage vault, it was deemed cheaper and more logistically sound to simply move the bulk of stored items to the North Wing for storage. Of course, this meant the North Wing, home to some of the collection’s great American and Western works, would be closed for months while improvements were made to the vault. Now, with work complete, the North Wing will be returned to museum guests, and with five new exhibitions to boot. One of the five exhibitions will be a celebration of one of…

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is one of America’s premier institutions of Western history, art and culture. Founded in 1955, the museum, located in Oklahoma City, collects, preserves, and exhibits an internationally renowned collection of Western art and artifacts while sponsoring dynamic educational programs to stimulate interest in the enduring legacy of the American West. More than 10 million visitors from around the world have sought out this unique museum to gain better understanding of the West. “The quality and diversity of perspectives showcased in Cowboy Crossings is indicative of how vast and relevant the West is to everyone today. Western art is at the foundation of the National Cowboy Museum’s mission, and the combination of art styles represented in this show, such as saddles and spurs along…

The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art opened in April 2018 and transports visitors through the rich and diverse heritage of the American West. Its more than 500 works of art evoke the spirit of a wide-open frontier and the beauty of life in the wild. The museum engages the community through a variety of programs and educational opportunities that bring our history and culture to life. Museum co-founders Tom and Mary James have created a vast artistic legacy, and in building this splendid home for a part of their vast personal collection of Western and wildlife art, Tom and Mary have succeeded in their aim to share their vision and devotion to art. Major Upcoming Exhibitions James Michaels: An American Pop Life Nov. 17-March 3, 2019 A Highlighted…

Rick Stevens paints either among the aspens at 10,000 feet in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains or at the lower elevation of his studio in Santa Fe. Inspired by the natural, spiritual energy of the landscape, he often lets his impressions flow into abstraction allowing an inner light to emanate from his paintings, rather than trying to capture the effects of sunlight on a particular scene. In Quaking Yellow, however, he paints the spiritual reality of fall aspen groves, sunlight shining through and off the leaves shown against the dark evergreen mountain behind. Speaking of his plein air work he says, “The southwest landscape is irresistibly picturesque. More than just an exercise, for me it is dipping back into the well. I feel great respect for traditional approaches to landscapes,…

The phrase “go big or go home” was seemingly invented for bronze artists, particularly ones who like to complicate their life with ambitious projects many years in the making. It’s certainly an idea Richard Loffler likely felt when he undertook a massive new exhibition opening October 19 at InSight Gallery in Frederickburg, Texas. “I’ve been planning this one for close to five years,” the Canadian sculptor says. “It’s always a good idea for an artist to be self-focused in the arena with a show like this. I just really want to show people what I’ve been working on, and show them how I’m experimenting with different textures and growing to be the best artist I can be.” Loffler’s show, titled Wild Treasures, features nine brand-new bronzes, as well as nine…