Western Art Collector February 2023/ No. 186

Welcome to the February issue of Western Art Collector! This issue of Western Art Collector celebrates our State of the Art: California guide to collecting. Hollywood and Westerns started in the Golden State. With our base in Arizona, we cherish our historic connection to Western film and television—Tombstone and the O.K. Corral come to mind. But it was the backlots of Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures that shaped our view of the West and made many of us collectors. As we talk to gallery owners and collectors we hear about the influences of Frederic Remington and Charles force on what Western movies would soon look like, from the landscapes to the horses to the action. Look up Remington’s The Apaches! or A Dash for the Timber. Or You will see…

In this month’s issue, we have a feature on the popular Tucson rodeo that takes place in February in Tucson, Arizona. To complement the opening of the rodeo, Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery is presenting a new group exhibition with rodeo as the core theme of the show. Talking with Mark and painter Howard Post, both Tucson residents, it becomes obvious that the rodeo, now in its 98th year, is very special to many people in the city. Schools and businesses close, there is a festive parade and the whole city celebrates as the horses and cattle, the team ropers and bull riders, and all the other rodeo festivities descend into Southern Arizona. I was surprised to hear that the rodeo is so beloved. I grew up, and still reside,…

FEBRUARY 11-MARCH 26: Masters of the American West Art Exhibition and Sale AUTRY MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN WEST | Los Angeles, CA – (323) 667-2000 | www.theautry.org January OPENS LATE JANUARY WOOLAROC MUSEUM AND WILDLIFE PRESERVE Pickens Gallery Bartlesville, OK – (918) 336-0307 www.woolaroc.org JANUARY 28 MARK SUBLETTE MEDICINE MAN GALLERY Legendary Patania Jewelry: In the Tradition of the Southwest Tucson, AZ – (520) 490-5999 www.medicinemangallery.com February FEBRUARY 2, 2023-FEBRUARY 25, 2024 TUCSON MUSEUM OF ART Enduring Legacies: The James T. Bialac Indigenous Art Collection Tucson, AZ – (520) 624-2333 www.tucsonmuseumofart.org FEBRUARY 3-MARCH 3 MARK SUBLETTE MEDICINE MAN GALLERY Rodeo de Tucson Tucson, AZ – (520) 490-5999 www.medicinemangallery.com THROUGH FEBRUARY 4 MAXWELL ALEXANDER GALLERY Eric Merrell Los Angeles, CA – (213) 275-1060 www.maxwellalexandergallery.com THROUGH FEBRUARY 4 CARLSBAD MUSEUM Gary Niblett:…

ON VIEW NOW C.M. RUSSELL MUSEUM Greetings from Charlie Great Falls, MT – (406) 727-8787 www.cmrussell.org THROUGH MARCH 5 ARIZONA-SONORA DESERT MUSEUM ART INSTITUTE IRONWOOD GALLERY Desert Senses: Visions from the West Tucson, AZ – (520) 883-3024 www.desertmuseumarts.com THROUGH MARCH 12 BONE CREEK MUSEUM OF AGRARIAN ART Tour the West David City, NE – (402) 367-4488 www.bonecreek.org THROUGH MARCH 15 PHIPPEN MUSEUM Western Focus: A Fine Art Photography Exhibition & Sale Prescott, AZ – (928) 778-1385 www.phippenartmuseum.org THROUGH MARCH 19 TUCSON MUSEUM OF ART More Than: Expanding Artist Identities from the American West Tucson, AZ – (520) 624-2333 www.tucsonmuseumofart.org THROUGH MARCH 26 THE BOOTH WESTERN ART MUSEUM Conserving America’s Wildlands Cartersville, GA – (770) 387-1300 www.boothmuseum.org THROUGH APRIL 30 WESTERN SPIRIT: SCOTTSDALE’S MUSEUM OF THE WEST Light and Legacy: The…

MARCH 16-18, 2023 March in Montana Coeur d’Alene, ID – (208) 664-2091 MARCH 16-18, 2023 Out West Art Show & Sale Great Falls, MT – (406) 590-1961 MARCH 24-25, 2023 Briscoe Western Art Museum Night of Artists San Antonio, TX – (210) 299-4499 MARCH 31-APRIL 2, 2023 Cowgirl Up! Wickenburg, AZ – (928) 684-2272 APRIL 14-15, 2023 Scottsdale Art Auction Scottsdale, AZ – (480) 945-0225 MAY 2023 (DATES TBA) Christie’s American Art Sale New York, NY – (212) 636-2000 MAY 2023 (DATES TBA) Sotheby’s American Art Sale New York, NY – (212) 606-7000 MAY 2023 (DATES TBA) Bonham’s American Art Sale New York, NY – (212) 644-9001 MAY 2022 (DATES TBA) Heritage American Art Sale Dallas, TX – (214) 528-3500 JUNE 2-AUGUST 6, 2023 Prix de West Oklahoma City, OK…

An important and once-missing work from painter Dale Nichols is now in the collection of the Bone Creek Museum Agrarian Art in David City, Nebraska. Sanley Farm was painted in 1933 and after being exhibited for a short time in New York, the work disappeared into the art world. It would pop up again 80 years later and would catch the eye of Dan Sanley, who had been looking for the piece for many years. Sanley’s family had lived next door to the farm where the painting originated. After the piece’s rediscovery, the Sanley family was able to bid on the work with the help of numerous members of the David City community. It was promptly donated to the museum after it was purchased. Nichols, who was related to the…