Painting of the Day, December 18, 2011

By Donna Poulton

Maynard Dixon, The Enemy’s Country, 1942. Credit: Booksandvines.com

"My object has always been to get as close to the real thing as possible- people animals and country. The melodramatic Wild West idea is not for me the big possibility. The more lasting qualities are in the quiet and more broadly human aspects of Western life." - Maynard Dixon

Maynard Dixon, War-Talk, 1942. Credit: Booksandvines.com

In 1943 a limited edition of 1500 copies of Francis Parkman’s (1823-1893) The Oregon Tail was released. It was illustrated by Maynard Dixon (1875-1946) who chose to depict a three-week period during the summer of 1846 when Parkman spent time hunting buffalo with the Oglala Sioux. The illustrations were painted during Dixon’s mature period where he flattened the paint and worked with more minimal compositions.

Maynard Dixon, Running Buffalo, 1942. Credit: Booksandvines.com

For more information on Illustrators of The Oregon Trail you might be interested in this post:

Painting of the Day, December 16, 2011

- Part 3 of Illustrators of The Oregon Trail

By Donna Poulton

"I've heard people complain of the monotony, the weariness, the oppressiveness of the plains. For me the great plains have a releasing effect. They make me want to run and shout at the top of my voice. I like their endlessness. I like the way they make human beings appear as the little bugs they really are. I like the way they make thought seem futile and ideas but the silly vapors of the physically disordered. To think out on the great plains, under the immense rolling skies and before the equally immense roll of the earth, becomes a presumptuous absurdity." — Thomas Hart Benton

Perhaps the most important Regionalist painter of the 1930s, Thomas Hart Benton’s stylized works are as easily recognized as his subjects. He depicted themes that were uniquely American: farmers, floods, miners, politics and the heroic figures of the west. Benton’s contributions to the centennial edition of Parkman’s Oregon Trail were ideally suited to the narrative he enjoyed illustrating.

Cover illustration by Thomas Hart Benton. Credit: graydogsbooks

Frontispiece by Thomas Hart Benton. Credit: etsy.com

Sunflower and Buffalo by Thomas Hart Benton. Credit: monet.unk.edu

For more information on Illustrators of The Oregon Trail and Thomas Hart Benton you might be interested in these posts:

Impressions of the West: Thomas Hart Benton

Painting of the Day, The Oregon Trail, Frederic Remington

Painting of the Day, The Oregon Trail, N.C. Wyeth

Painting of the Day, December 15, 2011

- Part 2 of Illustrators of The Oregon Trail

By Donna Poulton

"Riding in advance, we passed over one of these great plains; we looked back and saw the line of scattered horsemen stretching for a mile or more; and far in the rear against the horizon, the white wagons creeping slowly along." - Francis Parkman

Credit: ebay

N. C. Wyeth (1892 -1945) who was first inspired by Remington, became one of America’s most important illustrators. He illustrated countless books including, Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, The Last of the Mohicans and The Oregon Trail.  He painted nearly four-thousand illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post alone.

Indian War Party by N.C. Wyeth. Illustration for The Oregon Trail. Credit: mzd216.tumblr.com

For more information on Illustrators of The Oregon Trail you might be interested in this post: 

Image of the Day, December 14, 2011

By Donna Poulton

Not only is The Oregon Trail one of the classic page-turners in American western literature, the book was also beautifully illustrated in successive editions by such notable artists as Frederic Remington, N.C. Wyeth, Thomas Hart Benton, and Maynard Dixon. Not shabby.  At age 23 and recently graduated from Harvard Law School, Francis Parkman travelled the Oregon Trail through Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado. During his 1846 trip, he kept a journal, which was initially serialized in Knickerbocker’s Magazine between 1847 and 1849.  Herman Melville favorably reviewed the book, citing its “true wild-game flavor.”

After numerous editions and millions of books sold, The Oregon Trail “computer game” has succeeded original book sales with a staggering 65 million copies sold. But I doubt that it can compare to the beauty of the illustrations in the hardcover book, or the pure pleasure of reading it under a warm blanket on the couch.

Today’s image of the day is by Frederic Remington whose numerous small sketches dot the pages Parkman’s book. In all there are nine tinted plates, sixty-seven black and white head-tail pieces, and numerous text illustrations.

Image of the Day, December 13, 2011

By Donna Poulton

“It’s more like I’m discovering the personality of the horse that I’m working on. I can’t really preconceive what it is that will work, and so it’s just trying to see as many things as you can and to incorporate them.” - Deborah Butterfield

Private collection. Credit:  My-West.com archives ©

Deborah Butterfield likes to explain her passion for horses by recounting that she was born on the 75^th year of the running of the Kentucky Derby.  In grade school she remembers sketching horses and when she went to college at the University of California at Davis, her sustained interest in images of horses continued, even in her conceptual classes. Using found objects and driftwood, she creates large-scale abstract sculptures. In a more complicated series of steps, the model is then cast in bronze. Butterfield’s work is in over 50 museums, including the Whitney and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is found in numerous private collections.  She lives and works in Bozeman, Montana.

Private collection. Credit:  My-West.com archives ©