Make Room for Western Art!

Art is not in pictures alone. Its place is in everything, as much in one thing as another. It is up to the community as a whole, in conduct, business, government and play. We will never have an art in America until this is understood and when this idea is really understood it will bring us about as near the millennium as we can hope to get.

People around the world are becoming increasingly fascinated with the history and romantic appeal of the American West. The real life story of the Old West is, without question, one of the most exciting, dramatic, and, occasionally, incredible chapters in this nation's history. Exaggerated at times, perhaps, but for the most part it is real and actual. Many of the lusty and glorious chapters are not yet so distant from our generation that we cannot understand and appreciate them. Perhaps that is why we so much enjoyed this United Press International news item, datelined Dallas, June 27, 1976: Oklahoma rancher Bob Sabinske shelled out $33,000 Saturday for half-interest in a 3-year-old, 1245 lb. red Santa Gertrudis bull at a bizarre auction in the ballroom of the elegant 64 year old Hotel Adolphus. Thirty-four head of Santa Gertrudis, the first breed of cattle developed in the United States, were auctioned off. Sold alternately with the cattle were paintings and pieces of sculpture by contemporary Western artists. A painting by artist Joe Beeler of Sedona, Arizona, depicting a cowpuncher staring wistfully through a fence at a prize bull brought $8500. Austin, Texas artist G. Harvey, sold a painting of two mounted cowboys crossing a stream for $6000.

The Texas auction was attended by nearly 600 invited guests, about 400 of them being millionaires. And that, even by modest Texas standards, is a heap of little ol' millionaires! In Phoenix, the act will pretty much follow the script, when on Friday evening, October 22, several hundred Western art aficionados, a bunch of Arizona, California, and New Mexico millionaires, plus some little ol' millionaires from Texas and points east, will engage in another classic "anything goes" joust. They will be wrangling for the right to be first to put $20.000 or so on the line for a John Clymer or Melvin Warren award-winning Western painting. About 60 minutes later, after $400,000 in Western art has been sold, the happy crowd will relax with their cocktails and pick

WESTERN ART

up the conversation where it left off last year on how these art shows should really be run.

The Dallas and Phoenix auctions are examples of "the art game," Western style. As a rule, Westerners are a rather easy-going, live-and-let-live breed of Americans. But tamper with their fun, women, cattle, and taste for art, and they're something else; no sensible person dares tell a true Westerner how to spend his money where such things are conConcerned. The Westerner will give it to you fast and straight: It's his life, his money, and he damnwell ain't about to trade the best in heaven for the privilege of going to hell his way! Yes, it's a different way, but it works for Westerners and the West.

Of course, the obvious and principal reason for the astounding acceptance of Western art is found within the art itself, where all the isms in the art vocabulary are reduced to one: realism.

The Westerner's respect for realism is as American as hot dogs on the 4th of July. It is natural to see things as they are, and to accept life for what it is. As it's said today, "Tell it like it is," and "Let it all hang out." Never have artists had a more romantic, ever-changing and sweeping theme than that of the winning and the development of the American West.

Westerners can no longer be defined by geographic limits or native character; the Western way must, instead, be defined by a certain attitude. Mainly, that attitude which reflects a love of nature, a rever-ence for the wide-open spaces, and a sense of candor, freedom, and friendli-ness. People with true Western attitude and temperament live and work in such places as Kansas City, Cincinnati, New York, and in lands beyond the seas. You will never meet a friendlier, more likeable and more knowledgeable Westerner than our friend Mr. Pete Kriendler, boss-man of New York City's swank "21" Club. We think you will find the following from the March 1972 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS very interesting:belongs to the owners of the posh "21" Club restaurant in New York where over the years a Remington art collection in the outer lounge has been as much a fix-ture of the club as is the platoon of antique hitching post jockeys that guard the outside entranceway.

The collection includes 26 oils, watercolors, bronzes, and gouaches (opaque water-based paints), most of which were obtained during the 30s and early 40s by the club's founder, the late John Carl "Jack" Kriendler, who, as might any protagonist in the now familiar New York Lower East Side rags-to-riches story, fell in love with the wide-open spaces the first time he saw them, and he returned often. A dude in the best sense of the word, and an avid buff of all things West-ern, he collected guns, rifles, saddles, gear, and, of course, Remingtons, paying for them at the time as little as $1000 each.

When Jack Kriendler died a number of years ago, the job of managing the Remington collection fell to his brother Pete Kriendler, one of the major owners of the "21" Club and perhaps the man now most familiarly associated with its operation and management. . . [Pete] handles the collection with the apparent same cool expertise that he shows in handling impossible last-minute reservations for visiting heads of state. The most recent addition to the Remington collection is "Home For Christmas" ("Howdy Pard"), a jubilant scene of cowboys arriving home from the trail. Appraised recently at $75,000, it was acquired five years ago for considerably less. Star of the collection is "Order Number Six Went Through," the vision of a beautified Indian maiden appearing before a trail-worn, weatherbeaten rider. One well-heeled dinner guest offered to buy it right off the wall one night for $80,000. Although the painting was purchased years ago at a quarter of that price, the offer was refused. It's Kriendler's favorite painting....

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Riding shotgun on the "21" Club's Remington collection is James Graham, a recognized authority on Western art. . . Graham, who re-appraises the collection every few years, set its current value less than 18 months ago at $1,200,000. Like most dealers working with American masters, Graham has strong confidence in the Western surge.

In the great universe of American art, East is East, West is West and Middle West is something else. Region determines the Establishment. The Establishment dictates the tastes and standards for the arts, culture, mores, and customs. But we hold fast on the ground that regardiess of Establishment or other categorical subdivisions, art falls basically into two major classifications, "good art" and "bad art." Beyond that, time alone will determine what "good art" from any region will comprise the overall representative collection of the national art of the United States of America.

It is hard to believe that 25 years ago Western art wasn't really welcome in the living room, although it was extremely popular in saloons, clubs, and barbershops. Yes, it has taken a long time and a great measure of dedicated application to break ground for the art structure of the Western Establishment. The main reason, of course, is obvious. The Old West had no native artists. And although the movement of American art has followed the western flow of our civilization, it is true, nonetheless, that the first American art was produced by European-born or European-trained artists. It took a while for American artists to come home and to come West.

Western art wasn't really welcome in the living room, although it was extremely popular in saloons, clubs, and barbershops. Yes, it has taken a long time and a great measure of dedicated application to break ground for the art structure of the Western Establishment. The main reason, of course, is obvious. The Old West had no native artists. And although the movement of American art has followed the western flow of our civilization, it is true, nonetheless, that the first American art was produced by European-born or European-trained artists. It took a while for American artists to come home and to come West.

Art books about the Old West bear graphic testimony to the hundreds of pioneer explorer and historian artists who came West from points east. Best known, of course, are Bodmer, Catlin, Bierstadt, Russell, and Remington. No history of the evolution of art in the West can deny the influence of those artists who made Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, an artist's paradise. It started when John Mix Stanley, prolific painter of the West, joined with Kearny in Santa Fe in 1846. Stanley was the first of many artists to appreciate the beauty and character of Indians and the environment. Frederic Remington visited the area in the 1880s and 90s, as did Thomas Moran and Joseph Henry Sharp. From then until after World War II, Taos and Santa Fe attracted more artists of major stature representing various schools than any other single Western locale.

The Santa Fe Taos group, like other artists who have since come to Arizona and become part of its historical and cultural pattern, for the most part remained aloof from the social environment of the area. They did not involve themselves with social conditions; instead, they reacted to the exotic quality of the Indians and the environment of the land and have left colorful (and rather gilded), romantic versions of this small facet of the American West.

The three greats of Middle West art (Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Stewart Curry) returned to America from Europe or came back West from New York. They returned to the heartland of America to settle down and paint the earthy people doing real things. Grant Wood, disenchanted with Paris, concluded that his best ideas came when milking a cow. Thomas Hart Benton's contributions to American art have been very much part of his own full and adventurous life in Missouri. He attests, "The mule is a damn dramatic animal." Pigs are something more than just pigs to John Stewart Curry. He recalled from childhood experience a small boy's perspective-- close up, violent, and convincing - and painted a masterpiece, "Hogs Killing a Rattlesnake."

Since the turn of the century many notables of the art world have come to Arizona for one reason or another. Some to visit, others to stay. Some came for their health, others to seek inspiration from our climate, our scenery, and our life-style. Maynard Dixon, Ross Santee, James Swinnerton, George Elbert Burr, and Walter Bohl, to name a few. Carl Oscar Borg from Sweden was perhaps the most distinguished European to paint Navajo and Hopi Indians, cowboys, landscapes and historical landmarks. In 1936 the Fine Arts Press of Santa Ana, California, published a book of Borg's poetry and drypoint etchings, The Great Southwest Etchings (now out of print). It was devoted primarily to the Navajo and Hopi Indians. Tubac, a small and historic community in the southern part of our state, has attracted many talented and successful artists. Mortimer Wilson, Francis Beaugureau, and Hugh Cabot, from this area, are among the major contributors to Arizona's treasury, of art and artists.

The red rock country around Sedona has attracted artists from the art capitals Of the world. Max Ernst came from a school-of-art worlds apart from that of the cowboy West. The internationally famous Dada-surrealist master, moved to Sedona in 1946 after his internment during World War II as an enemy alien. It is increasingly evident that Phoenix is evolving into a "center for action" in Western art. Alonzo Megargee and Marjorie Thomas were perhaps the first Phoenicians to fall within our guidelines as leaders of this evolution. "Lon" Megargee is known throughout the West for his A-1 Beer series, reproduced in poster form and distributed to every saloon, club, and barbershop of the day. The Megargee painting done for the Stetson Hat Company (this month's front cover) was equally renowned. It, too, was reproduced in poster form and distributed nationally.

Marjorie Thomas was not as well known, though she painted horses and cattle better than most people of her day. The Thomases came to Arizona and homesteaded "out Scottsdale way," along the eastern slope of Mummy Mountain. The artist, just turned 90, was recently honored with a retrospective show at the Scottsdale Civic and Cultural Center.

Mrs. Thomas is quick to recall the happy days she shared with another noted Arizonan, Zane Grey. Charlie Dye, George Phippen, and Joe Beeler were among the first major Western cowboy artists. In 1965, these three plus John Hampton (Arizonans all) founded the Cowboy Artists of America. Originally intended as a social organization, the CAA emblem has become the symbol of an elite group of Western artists with membership restricted to approximately mately 30 painters and sculptors who share common interests in cowboy tradition and activities. Although Olaf Wieghorst and other top hands in the cowboy Western art field are not members, the Cowboy Artists of America nevertheless form à dominant factor in the emergence of Arizona as the cowboy art center of the West. There are several other reasons, of course, but in the main it is the increasing numbers of active Western artists who live and work here that cannot be denied.

Another related reason is the growing success of the annual Cowboy Artists of America exhibition and sale at the Phoenix Art Museum.

The form of art glorification in any

region is determined in large measure by the character and actions of art patrons and a strong art public that appreciates it. No art movement can be strong without a strong art public. Arizona is indeed blessed with having the environment that it takes to attract talented artists. On the other hand, the artists are equally lucky to live among people who appreciate them and their art.

In Arizona, as in most of the civilized world, art patrons are usually community leaders involved with the development and improvement of a region's social and cultural conditions. In the Phoenix metropolitan area we are especially blessed with a cosmopolitan representation of art patrons and civic leaders who seem to have an extraordinary talent for gathering a concentration of talent into a brilliant projection that illuminates far beyond the horizons of our state. One cannot live in Arizona long without realizing that this is a most propitious period, under extraordinary circumstances favorable to success in the promotion and development of "the good life," commensurate with the high standards of living for our society. Yet salubrious climate, blue skies, and wide-open spaces are not enough to guarantee serenity in our pursuit of happiness. And that is where art enters in. In a poetic sense, art is a dream. A dream to be shared, to be exchanged for legal tender, or whatever it takes to transform dreams into reality.Art is big business in Arizona. On the commercial side, Arizona's art structure has a strong base of knowledgeable people and a comfortable atmosphere of cooperation between artist and merchant, who thrive in a symbiosis that brings art and people together.

There is no way to evaluate and estimate the wealth represented by the art contained in the private collections of Arizona. Our leading collectors, for the most part, are transplants from other areas who brought valuable Western art treasures with them. We are constantly amazed at the number and quality of Western Americana contained in newlyarrived collections.

The West is inner peace and serenity. The West is freedom from the collective congestion of the Big City. The West can emancipate and emphasize us as individuals. The West is someplace very special, but don't let the vast expanses of wide-open spaces fool you. Some day the qualities, attitudes, and the ways of the Old West, or even today's West, will pass. It is something worth remembering. Something worth dreaming about. And through art, tomorrow's generations can, in some way at least, relive the Old West of our time.