Art Smarts - Western Art

The battered face peered over the sights of the long barrel rifle while a ragged dog sat patiently beside his master waiting for the prey, not yet visable on the horizon.

Western Art has a way of reminding us of our lack of respect for modern conveniences like grocery stores, indoor toilets, microwave ovens, and even something as simple as a safety pin. It also tells us what a miracle it is that we managed to build our chrome and glass mega cities in spite of outlaws, and greedy land barrons.

Many of us are the products of those determined men and women that paid dearly for every step taken across our great western lands. Our present civilization may look like a raw frontier to a creature from Outer Space, but to the Western artist of today it definitely lacks inspiration, compared to the days of Sitting Bull and Isa-tal (Coyote Droppings).

Somehow, the painting of a man changing a flat tire on a new Jag, parked on the shoulder of a busy expressway, does not compare to the painting of a stranded wagon with a broken wheel in the middle of Indian country. Can you imagine a painting of two homeless cowboys sitting in a food stamp office, instead of around a campfire? Imagine what food stamps would have done to the image of the ole west. There would have been no need to worry about food shortages from dust bowls, or buffalo hunters. Everyone would have been happy to stay in their own back 40, collecting their monthly allotments of food, eliminating the need for wagon masters and wagon trains. Obviously Western Art would have died on the vine.

Compared to the courageous artist of a hundred years ago, today's artist would feel it necessary to apply for a private or government grant to accomplish what Western Artist, George Catlin achieved in 1830, without any financial backing. George Catlin, a Pennsylvania born portraitist set out to preserve a memory of the customs and character of "the noble races of red men, melting away at the approach of civilization." During his six year wetern journey he visited 146 tribes and painted the protraits of scores of chiefs.