Painting of the Day, December 4, 2011

By Donna Poulton

Credit: Heritage Auctions.com

William D. Koerner (1878-1938), Shoveling Out, [Saturday Evening Post story illustration] 1924, oil on canvas, 26 x 36 in.

William Koerner painted during the end of the “Golden Years of Western Illustration.”  His considerable talent as a draftsman landed him jobs with Harper’s, Good Housekeeping, Colliers and Saturday Evening Post during the 1920s and 30s. And like other illustrators working to fuel the media craze for pictures of the West, his images came to represent western life for Americans in the East and for many Europeans who were fascinated with West. 

For more information on Koerner you might be interested in this post about another of his paintings:

Painting of the Day, December 3, 2011

By Donna Poulton

Credit: Cohga.net

Today’s painting of the day is titled “Vetting Cattle.” It is a large painting, perhaps 4 ft. high and 6 ft. long. The painting is being featured today because it keeps showing up in My-West posts.  It first appeared in our post on Elizabeth Taylor and Giant and now in today’s post on the Menger Hotel in San Antonio. The artist is F.L. Vaness and I can’t find any reference to him, please let me know if you know of him or his work.

Credit: examiner.com

Credit: On the set of “Giant.”  Image by © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis, courtesy of The Selvedge Yard

Painting of the Day, December, 2, 1911

By Donna Poulton

“Arizona’s picturesque setting provide in my mind the greatest possible opportunity for pictorial beauty…the people themselves are naturally artistic…” - Gerald C. Delano

Gerald Curtis Delano studied with Harvey Dunn and N. C. Wyeth and became a successful illustrator before he moved to Colorado to work on a ranch and later homesteaded. His painting “Navajo” sold for $1,247,000 in 2008.

Credit: Coeur D’Alene Auction, 7/26/08

Gerard Curtis Delano (1890-1972) Navajo, n.d., oil on canvas, 36 x 46 in.

Painting of the Day, November 30, 2011

By Donna Poulton

"I paint barns and rural life, not because it may have been or is in vogue, but because my twenty years as a farmer provide me with an essential and intimate knowledge of my subject matter...." –Dale Nichols

Dale Nichols is often thought of as the fourth Regionalist artist after the triumvirate of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry.  He was raised in Nebraska and spent much of his life painting the rural agrarian life he was familiar with.   His work has received renewed attention with a traveling exhibition organized by the Bone Creek Museum in David City, Nebraska, Nichols home town.

Credit: Coeur D’Alene Auction

Dale W. Nichols (1904-1995), Trail Drive, 1950, oil on board, 20 x 30 in.

Painting of the Day, November 29, 2011

By Donna Poulton

George Catlin (1796-1872) was among the first artists to paint the Plains Indians.  He travelled WITH General William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame) for two years among the Iowa, Sioux and other tribes.  Later he painted the Blackfoot and Crow on the upper Missouri River.  He took over 600 of his paintings on exhibition throughout Europe to great acclaim. His study Buffalo Chase, A Surround by the Hidatsa will be selling at Sotheby’s Auction for between $800,000 and $1,200,000 dollars on December 1^st.

Credit: Sotheby’s, 1 December 2011 Auction

Sotheby’s New York, Buffalo Chase, A Surround by the Hidatsa, 1830-32, 22 x 27 in. oil on canvas