Olaf Weighorst

On December 31, 1918, a rusty, smoke-streaked Danish steamer was tugged slowly into the port of New York and tied up at an isolated waterfront pier in Hoboken. Quietly, a muscular nineteen-year-old Danish boy slipped down to the dock, and walked quickly away. Most of his possessions remained aboard ship. Although he had but $1.25 in his pocket and spoke no English, he was undeterred. For better or for worse, Olaf Wieghorst had come to America to stay.

From a modest beginning which saw his paintings being traded for almost anything of value on one occasion for a year's supply of turkeys - Olaf Wieghorst in the 1960s vaulted into prominence as the foremost painter of the great American West.

It didn't happen by accident. Wieghorst knows his subject, perhaps as well as any man living. Erstwhile trick rider, horse-cavalryman, cowboy, mounted policeman, he has lived and worked with horses since the turn of the century. An uncompromising realist, he is dedicated to the task of preserving the heritage of the West, as he knows it from personal experience and careful research. His scenes depict the sounds, smells, sweat, dust and beauty of cattle country so well that one old "cowboy critic" was prompted to state emphatically that "an old cowpoke can tell the breeding of the horses, the brand of the cattle, and the location of the spread!" There can be little doubt that Olaf Wieghorst's philosophy on art is a direct product of his honest and forthright philosophy of life.

In his own words: "In picking subject matter, a painter would have a hard time finding a more picturesque subject, or a more worthy subject, than the horse and the passing American West. For drama, color, and man's struggle for conquest, it has no equal. My aim is to try to recreate for posterity the West as it really was. Like some painters, I was blessed with a certain amount of talent. Like some, I have never received any formal art training: that is, I never went to an art school or belonged to an art league. To say that I never had any lessons is not exactly true. I have had thousands and thousands of lessons in my life. As long as I can remember, my time has been spent around horses, and the horse has been my greatest teacher.

"But he was not alone. The rolling prairies, the snow-capped mountains, the desert, the cow-camps, the break-ing-corrals, the bawling calf, running iron, and the dusty trail of a cattle drive have all been of help to me. I have received valuable lessons from a blow-ing, sweated-up cutting horse and from a good many rodeo bucking horses. I have sat on the rim of some canyons for hours at a time, watching rolling thunderclouds, clear summer skies, arid desert, and blue-green mountain coun-try. I've watched herds of cattle drift across the wide prairie, heard the echo of hoof beats as a band of horses came down some box canyon for water.

"I have often felt that my goal is an impossible one. But if I can succeed in putting a tiny fraction of nature's wonders on canvas and into people's homes, whether they be mud huts or mansions; if my paintings add some enjoyment and pleasure to people, and dignity and warmth to their homes, then I will be content that my effort has not been in vain.

"When the time comes for me to put away my palette and unsaddle my pony for the last time, I hope that my canvases will in some small measure add to the historical recording of an era - the cowpony, the cowboy, and the Great American West."

As a by-product of this philosophy, fame has come to Olaf Wieghorst. Although somewhat embarrassed by the suddenness of it all, Olaf is not surprised. For he has accepted his talent with the same candor with which he accepts his strength.

"I agree with Charlie Russell, that a man can't be blamed for the talent he is born with. He sure is to blame, however, if he doesn't work with that talent. God gave the farmer the earth, the sun and the rain. It is up to the farmer to seed and harvest the crop. That takes work; lots of it! It's been a rewarding life."

Wieghorst sat back and began to reminisce about that life...

To Karl and Anna Wieghorst on April 30, 1899, in the village of Viborg, Jutland, Denmark, there was born a son. Karl Wieghorst was delighted. Much as he loved his young daughter, there were many things a man could not share with a girl. Karl beamed at his wife. "He is a strong boy, Anna. I will name him Olaf. I will teach him many things."

Karl believed that, next to art, one of the most important things in life was to keep physically fit. Accordingly, by the time Olaf was three years old his father began training him intensively in such acrobatic feats as handstands and the use of trapeze-rings. Since Karl had become friendly with the instructors at a nearby army cavalry garrison, he also introduced Olaf to horses the biggest thrill of all! Olaf never forgot the day his father took him for a ride on a big Danish Dragoon horse. It was love at first sight and it was a love which would last a lifetime.

At first Olaf painted scenes from postcards; occasionally he added a horse or two, "just as a point of interest." It was a proud day for the young artist when, at twelve years of age, he ran home to inform his parents that he had just sold his first painting for two Danish crowns - the equivalent of some forty American cents!

During the latter part of 1917 and throughout 1918, Olaf had been trying to obtain a passport to come to America.

Time and again he applied for employment as a seaman aboard ships bound for America; if he couldn't get permission to travel as a tourist, he would work his way across and then "jump" ship. When Karl was sent to Germany to work with the UFA Film Company in 1918 Olaf applied for special permission to work for six months on the Danish steamer, United States. Permission finally came through and on December 14, 1918, he set sail from Copenhagen for the first port of call - New York City.

Olaf counted the money in his pocket - he had exactly $1.25. It was New Year's Eve, 1918, and New York was in a party mood. To the young Danish newcomer it was exciting indeed, but also very confusing. He had the address of his mother's sister, Aunt Olga, but how could he go about asking directions when he couldn't speak English?

"Finally I found a soldier who spoke Danish. He drew me a map and wrote out an explanation in Danish.

Aunt Olga introduced him to a young girl named Mabel Walters. Olaf was smitten with her immediately. The two became friends and Mabel undertook to teach him English. Olaf told her of his dreams of going West and working as a cowboy, or in any other capacity as long as horses were involved.

On a movie date with Mabel, the course of Olaf's life abruptly changed. Watching a newsreel of the United States Cavalry chasing Pancho Villa across the Mexican border, he decided this was the answer. He would join the Cavalry! He persuaded Uncle Oscar to accompany him to the recruiting station the following day, to act as interpreter.

Two weeks later, he and a group of some one hundred fifty rookies were ferried over to New Jersey, hustled aboard a train, and sped on their way to Fort Bliss, Texas, where they were to receive basic cavalry training.

Fort Bliss was a large, well-established military post which, besides its many other functions, had served as a Cavalry training camp for many years. Olaf, because of his size and strength, was immediately picked for assignment to a machine-gun troop.

On September 25, 1919, Olaf's unit - the machine-gun troop - was ordered to proceed to the border and relieve the garrison at Presidio, Texas. The first night's camp was at Childer's Tanks, the second was spent near the little silver-mining town of Shafter, and on the third day, near exhaustion, the troops reached the outpost at Presidio - their home for the next seventeen months.

On June 29, 1922, Olaf was mustered out.

In mid-July, 1922, he headed north, across the Pedregosa Mountains of southern Arizona.

Somewhere near Springerville, Arizona, he turned east. A few days later he pitched camp on the San Francisco River, near the little town of Alma, New Mexico. He was just getting ready to eat when this man rode up on a big sorrel horse. He introduced himself as Elton Cunningham, owner of the Quarter Circle 2C Ranch over on Whiteriver Creek.

Cunningham told Olaf he was short-handed at his place; he could use some help.

As time passed, Olaf began to develop into a first-rate cowhand. He had worked with horses all his life, but now he was learning something about cattle.

Olaf enjoyed the life of a cowboy. He did not, furthermore, neglect his art during that period. He drew pencil sketches of horses, cattle, corrals, barns and the old ranch house. When he could not find adequate pencil and paper with which to work, he burned pictures of horses on the sides of the barn with a hot running-iron.

Finally, however, the tension between Olaf and Cunningham reached the breaking point. "We were cutting alfalfa, and he was pitching hay up to me. I was driving the team of horses with one hand, and trying to stack hay with the other. He got angry about something or other, and began to yell at me. Suddenly I had had it. I threw the reins at him, jumped off the hay wagon and stalked back to the bunk-house. I gathered all my belongings, saddled my horse and rode off. I was fed up with the old man."

For the next few weeks he drifted from town to town, doing a little sight-seeing, and finally wound up in Clovis, New Mexico. There, for twenty dollars, he took a job as a "cattle guard" on a train headed for Chicago. Then he bought a ticket on a passenger train from Chicago to New York.

When Olaf stepped off the train in New York, he was still wearing his cowboy clothes, a black cowboy hat, and his six-gun.

In the summer of 1924 Olaf met Arthur Loew, whose uncle was chief of detectives for the New York Police Department. He approached Olaf one day at the local streetcorner hangout. "I'm going down to put in an applicaTuition for work with the police department, Olaf; why don't you come along?" The two men went down to fill out the necessary applications. In the fall of 1924, he received word that he had been accepted.

Olaf was called to active police duty on December 6, and assigned to the Police Academy for training. He immediately applied for mounted duty but after graduating from the academy in March, 1925 he was first assigned to foot patrol in Brooklyn. This wasn't to his liking at all, for he was eager to "get in the saddle." Before being accepted into the Mounted Division, however, it was necessary that applicants demonstrate that they could ride a horse. This was accomplished during a 30-day course of instruction at the School of Equitation. It was quickly evident to the school instructors that Patrolman Wieghorst could ride a horse. In fact, he was graduated within one week and immediately assigned to the Police Show Team.

Although he had always had a keen eye for a good horse, Olaf now began to systematically train himself to observe those details which any artist who would presume to paint a horse well must know as he knows the back of his hand. And, he began to paint. In his spare time he frequented museums and art galleries, where he studied carefully the composition, color, and brush techniques of the masters.

Around 1940 Al Simpkin, an artist for the American Artist Company of New York, saw some of Olaf's paintings and convinced Olaf that he should let him take a few to the American Artist Company for possible resale. "I thought nothing about it, but about two weeks later I got a check for two hundred and fifty dollars. I couldn't believe my eyes! Then I got busy and really started painting. Mostly it was calendar art, but it sold well. For the next few years, the American Artist Company sold my paintings to the Toronto Star Weekly, Shaw-Barton Company, Murphy Company, Art Calendar, and as illustrations for Western magazine publications. I realized that I hadn't made my 'second career' decision any too soon. For the first time in my life I was beginning to realize some significant income from my paintings; although I was approaching retirement eligibility from the police force, I now had the confidence that I could make it as an artist."

Olaf received additional encouragement as the result of numerous private commissions he was given to do portraits and bronzes of horses belonging to influential and well-known persons.

This led to a meeting with Paul Whiteman, who in turn introduced him to other wealthy horse owners. He did a special portrait of a stallion belonging to Tom Morgan, of the Sperry Gyro-scope Corporation, for which he received his highest fee to that time five hundred dollars! Things were indeed looking up for this emerging Western artist.

In December, 1944, Olaf retired from the New York City Police Department with an annual pension of $1,500.00. From his meager savings he bought a used house trailer for $850.00.

After spending Christmas with the family in New York, Olaf, Mabel, and Roy-now fourteen-headed westward. They sallied forth with high hopes on New Year's Eve, 1944. It was twenty-six years to the day since Olaf Wieghorst had come to America with a determination that he would "find the country of Frederic Remington," and once more he was headed west. This time to stay.

By the middle of October, 1945, Olaf had settled his family in a trailer court just east of El Cajon, and enrolled Roy in high school. Now it was time to go to work. Again, he set up a makeshift studio just outside the trailer and began to spend long days at the easel. He was still sending paintings back to the Grand Central Art Gallery and the American Artist Company in New York, but he was eager to establish a few local outlets and do some exhibits in the South-west. In this he was aided by Jack Schrade one of the first persons he met in El Cajon, and later to become a California state senator. In 1945, Jack Schrade owned and operated a small Western shop in El Cajon, where he sold such items as Western clothing, saddles and other horse equipment.

By 1947 he had begun to give a few showings locally, and in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Scottsdale, Arizona, and he was turning out a considerable volume of paintings. It was time to expand his operation.

In 1952 the Wieghorsts took their second trip to Europe. After visiting in Denmark they traveled by car throughout the Continent, visiting the Louvre in Paris, and galleries in Rome, Germany, and Switzerland. Olaf studied the works of the "Masters," sketching and making notes wherever he went.

The next ten years were golden ones for Olaf Wieghorst. An exhibition at Castle Hot Springs, Arizona, exposed his paintings to collectors such as J. P. Morgan, Acton Griscomb, and K. C. Li, who in turn introduced him to many other private collectors. By 1955 his paintings were in such demand that he had a waiting list of buyers. President Eisenhower admired Olaf's painting Field Branding (owned by the Gris-combs, and hung in the President's suite during a Palm Springs vacation), so Olaf sent him a painting entitled The Roundup, which the President hung in the White House office. President Eisenhower later acquired other "Wieg-horsts," and he and Olaf corresponded frequently.

There were few one-man shows or exhibitions after 1956. Original "Wieg-horsts" were becoming very scarce and very expensive. Private collectors such as Clint Murchison, Leonard Fire-stone, Barry Goldwater, Earl Adams, Sam Campbell, Jack Goodman, Read Mullan, C. R. Smith, Bruce Gelker, Fred Utter, and many, many others, were buying his canvases faster than he could paint them.

The "New Olaf Wieghorst Style" has changed little since 1944, except in terms of maturity. Warm in tonality, composition and color, his later paintings impart breathtaking realism, but at the same time emulate the Impressionistic effect of leaving something to the imagina-tion of the viewer.

"One of the hardest things for a painter to learn," Olaf says, "is when to stop. It is most important to know what to bring out and what to leave alone, so that the viewer can 'finish' the painting himself. Otherwise, you might as well use a camera.

There was no doubt that Olaf Wieg-horst had developed into one of the outstanding artists in the country. But there were other reasons less tangible but significant for his sudden popu-larity. Like a young giant rousing from slumber after a hard-fought battle, America was beginning to look around for a chronicler of its deeds.

"I'm particularly sensitive when it comes to painting horses," the artist said during a long conversation in his studio. "A lot of people believe, like Joe Paulio, that a 'horse is a horse.' That just isn't so! Horses are just as different as people. Before I do a portrait of a horse I study that particular animal. At the El Chico Ranch, outside of Fort Worth, Texas, I spent three weeks painting Mr. Whittaker's palomino stallion, Monte. Before I ever touched a brush to canvas I observed that horse for days to learn his peculiarities, personality, and character. I did the same with Roy Rogers' Trigger, Gene Autry's Champion, and Tom Morgan's stallion; not because they are outstanding horses owned by famous persons, but because each is an individual.

"People can look at a thing and not see it. I try to paint the little natural things that the inexperienced observer isn't aware of; the way a horse turns his tail to the wind on cold nights; the way he flattens his ears in the rain; the white of his eyes; position of his ears, and the configuration of his nostrils when he is frightened or angry. It's just as important, for example, for an artist to know something about such things as seasonal changes in the coat of a horse, and the psychology of his behavior, as it is to know the precise structure of his anatomy. Some artists actually use an anatomy chart as a guide when painting a horse! They highlight the static muscle structure, making the animal look slick and unreal.

"Although a range horse can be slick coated in the summertime," Olaf continued, "he still has a certain amount of hair to absorb the sunlight and to subtly disguise his muscle structure. In the winter he looks altogether different often with a shaggy, dull coating of hair which has a distinctive textural quality of its own. Yet, how many paintings have you seen of slick-coated 'summertime' horses pulling a stagecoach through drifts of snow?"

He continued, "I've been observing horses for so many years that I guess I've begun to think like one. That's what I mean when I say that the horse has been my greatest teacher. Horses have been my companions under nearly all possible conditions. I have frozen with them at night in sub-zero weather; ridden across the desert during some of the hottest days on record; starved with them and hunted water with them longer than I care to remember. I have nailed shoes onto hundreds of them; been kicked, bitten, squeezed, bucked off, stepped on by them, and fallen from them, but in spite of all the hurt and broken bones, I have no regrets. Any measure of success that I now enjoy, I owe to them. Horses have been my life!"

The preceding story has been condensed from the book OLAF WIEGHORST, published by Northland Press of Flagstaff. Awarded Best Western Art Book of the Year by the Western Heritage Center, National Cowboy Hall of Fame, this book traces the life of the foremost contemporary Western artist. It also received the Publisher's Silver Medal as "an outstanding contribution to our Western traditions." Text is by historian William Reed, foreword by Senator Barry Goldwater, 194 pages, 33 full-color reproductions of Wieghorst paintings. $30.00, at most bookstores

Olaf Wieghorst Mr. and Mrs. Samuel J. Campbell Collection

Olaf Wieghorst Private Collection

Personal Reflections BY MARILYN L. MURRAY

November 15, 1974, was a very special day in the never-dull life of Olaf Wieghorst. On that date, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City recognized Olaf's outstanding contribution to our national heritage by honoring him with the first major retrospective show ever given by the Hall to a living artist, with full banquet honors, including awarding him the distinctive Trustees Gold Medal presented by board chairman Joel McCrea. It was a rare experience for the artist to see 75 of his most important works forming a stunning display along with choice memorabilia, including a marvelous oil landscape of an old Danish farm house done at age ten! Hundreds of Wieghorst devotees were in attendance, as delighted to see Olaf and Mae as to view his work. Olaf, who has the unusual talent of making people feel as if each one is one of his closest friends, spent the evening being warm, interested, and responsive.

Because of our long-standing gallery association with Olaf, I was privileged to be the coordinator of his show and consequently spent many weekends at the Wieghorst home. Music was always a very important part of our life style there. One of the regrets of Olaf's life is that he was never given music lessons as a child. Every Danish family loves good classical music and he remembers this with great pleasure. He is hardly ever without music around him; his tape deck is always playing whenever he is in his car, and the first thing he does upon entering his home is turn on the phonograph. His favorites range from the classics and light opera, to old ballads, and especially the country-western stylings of Roy Clark. He loves the San Diego Starlight Opera and is still great friends with many of its performers. Because of his admiration for the skill of stringed instrumentalists, both he and Mae undertook to learn to play the mandolin and guitar at the ages of 72 and 73, respectively. What an inspiration to me, who at half their age was struggling with guitar lessons also. While working on the retrospective show, our mutual friend, Kay Carl, often accompanied me to the Wieghorst home. We would take our guitars, along with reams of music, prepared for a grand time. The mornings were spent sorting through boxes and scrapbooks filled with photos of marvelous Weighorst paintings, facing the prodigious task of choosing the special ones to be in the show. After one of Mae's great Danish lunches, Olaf would relax by bringing out his mandolin and playing us his latest song which he had committed to memory. Soon we would all be joining in, playing and laughing for hours. Sometimes Olaf would bring out the tape recorder and after hearing ourselves we would all swear never to sing or play again! But, dinner would arrive and afterwards . . . more music. Often other friends would join us for a genuine musicale. I am sure this is Olaf's idea of a perfect evening, surrounded by good friends, five guitars, a mandolin, two accordions, and a piano. His great sense of humor is always apparent, he loves to tell the multitude of delightful experiences that have made up his fascinating life. I've heard them many times over but still ask him to tell them again and again. His acceptance speech the night of the banquet at the hall, done in his own distinctive, inimitable way, was the highlight of the evening. Fortunately an excellent film was made of the event and will be included in the soon-to-bereleased hour-long television documentary on Olaf's life. At last, not just his friends, but multitudes will be able to share in his story.

The Weighorsts' son, Roy, who is an excellent photographer, and his wife, Barbara, have devoted untold hours to filming, editing, and writing the documentary. My husband, Troy, assisted them with the filming on several different occasions, retracing Olaf's travels in the West as a young man. They visited Olaf's old friend, Bud Jones, in Payson, Arizona, where he reminisced with Olaf about their days together in the 5th Cavalry. As a young Danish immigrant, serving along the Mexican border from 1918-1922, Olaf could neither read nor write English, so Bud wrote Olaf's love letters for him to a young girl waiting for him in New York. When Olaf and Bud mustered out of the Cavalry they traveled to Arizona and New Mexico, working as cowboys while these states were stil considered new frontiers. Arizona has always been special to Olaf and he chose to film the Super-stition Mountains for the opening scene of the documentary. One of his favorite Arizona areas is the vast Navajo reservation. There they were welcomed by Indian artist, Jim Cody, and his family, who helped to make this filming segment one of the most outstanding of the trip.

THE SPINNER... BULLDOGGING ... CALF ROPING Etchings from a rare Rodeo Suite... by Olaf Wieghorst Courtesy Mr. & Mrs. Troy Murray

WEIGHORST continued from page 23

They proceeded on to the old Cunningham 2C ranch in New Mexico and the now deserted ghost town of Mogollon. Troy related what a treat it was to see two large Olaf Wieghorst original oils, that were painted on the walls of the old Blue Front saloon in Glenwood, New Mexico, but now have been removed and properly preserved and displayed in the Allred family's local general store. They also visited and filmed the places to which Olaf has referred so many times; the old cabin that he built by hand on the Bucket L ranch at Alma Mesa: the salt licks high in the New Mexican hills, the old box canyon at White Water Creek, each a formative part that helped in the construction of the edu-

Education

Educational building that was to be Olaf's school of reference.

"The finished documentary," says Roy, "will not only depict my father's life, but it will have educational value as well. We show the actual development of a painting through the use of time-lapse photography to compress time. This was a particularly difficult scene to film as we had to rig up a camera in my father's studio and, because of the registration problems, it was necessary to nail both the easel and the camera in place so they would not move. We then had my father paint an entire painting and filmed the progress every two or three minutes from the start to the completion, total time, five weeks. As you can well imagine, this was a very trying, difficult project. I have looked at the work prints of the film and I think it will be a very interesting portion of the finished film, as the painting gradually unfolds on the screen showing the various adjustments and changes an artist makes during the process of creating a painting. (The painting is entitled "Partners" and is included in this issue.) The early portion of my father's life in Europe and the period when he was in the cavalry and working on cattle ranches have been depicted in the film by using old photographs of him. Of course, this took many hours of perusing all the scrapbooks and shoe boxes that my mother has filled with pictures. When we decided on the photos to be used, they had to be copied, enlarged, and sepia-toned so that they could be filmed for the movie."

While he greatly admires his son's skill at photography, Olaf has personally shunned the aid of a camera in any of his work. As a young man in the U.S. Cavalry, cowboying, or for the 20 years he spent as a member of "New York's finest", the Mounted Police Force, he was always working with his first love, horses. He developed a rare ability to memorize how a man and a horse looked in every phase of working together. When Olaf returned home after many hours on horseback he would sketch the scene from memory checking and re-checking to constantly improve and master the accuracy of his subjects. Consequently, after years of this exercise he has developed a nearly photographic memory for a man and a horse.

One warm June day Olaf and I were watching an artist sketching a cowboy on an excellent quarter horse. As time passed and the morning grew hotter, I asked Olaf, "How would you go about sketching that horse?" Olaf's answer typifies his humor as well as his perceptive ability. "Well, I'd stand here and look at that horse for about 10 minutes and then I'd go inside where it's cool and sit down and draw him!" Then to demonstrate his capacity to retain the horse's image he turned his back to the animal and proceeded to describe it in the most minute detail, right down to the tiny white coronet band above one of the hooves!

Today, at 78, Olaf Wieghorst is the last living Western artist who is painting the Old West as he actually lived it. In the award-winning book, Olaf Wieghorst, now in its third printing by Northland Press, Olaf says, "I don't like to paint by guess and approximation. That isn't fair to the serious student of history. All the information the future generations will get of the passing of the West must surely come from the pen of the author and the brush of the artist. I base all of my canvases on personal experience, observation, and careful research."

When ARIZONA HIGHWAYS honored Olaf in its March, 1971, issue, editor Raymond Carlson commented, "An artist, to paint well must know his subject thoroughly. This knowledge, coming from study, observation, and insight, guides the brush unerringly. The added touch, however, which makes a painting memorable, requires from the artist an emotional approach to the subject warmer than mere knowledge. This approach is tempered with love of subject and a reverential appreciation of all phases of the subject's personality." This truly applies in every way to Olaf Wieghorst... his work is the sum of his experiences.

Olaf is handsome, charming, generous and totally dedicated to his lovely and vivacious companion of 53 years. Olaf and Mae have been gracious hosts to hundreds and are an inspiration to all who are fortunate enough to be called their friends. Olaf is, in every facet, a unique individual who envisioned a dream while, as a child working in a circus in Copenhagen, seeing for the first time a real American cowboy and setting his goal to never rest until he came to the United States and made his mark on the new world from astride a horse. Little did that child know that he would enable millions to know this West he loved so much, and that forever people would not only remember this marvelous Dane as a cavalry man, cowboy, policeman, dedicated American, but as the contemporary "Dean of Western Art." Continued on page 31

From the Editor... NO COLOR CLASSICS

In accordance with our established policy covering the reproduction and duplication of original art to protect artists' copyrights, COLOR CLASSICS will not be included in this month's edition.

NEXT MONTH

Arizona is a fascinating land from any viewpoint. In November we look at Arizona from the airborne photographers' eagle's-eye viewpoint. Flying opens a new optical code to earthborn man. The earthly things we take for granted. The physical character of the earth takes on new moods and new visual impacts, especially from low and medium flying heights. For example, see Robert Campbell's stunning photograph of Monument Valley reproduced on page 48, where the elements of nature and the photographer's reflexes and expertise capture the enchanted moment forever. New films, cameras and daring camera artists encourage the new training in observation and recreate a new world evolving from the "world as it was."

MOST BEAUTIFUL ART BOOK

The story of Martha Mood first appeared in ARIZONA HIGHWAYS magazine, September, 1973. Martha Mood was one of America's great native artists. A native of San Francisco, Martha Mood was a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and attended California School of Fine Arts and Crafts. For many years she excelled in photography, sculpture, ceramics and painting. In 1959 she began making stitcheries, using textured textiles and various other materials. Design, color and texture were her only criteria. To complement the basic applique she used all types of yarns, domestic and imported braids, threads and twine.

From a beginning of pure exquisite craftsmanship, Martha Mood's works soon became masterpieces of fine art in the ancient medium of cloth and yarn applique. Her original works have been acquired by many of the foremost American collections. Martha Mood's works have been exhibited in more than 30 cities from Florida to California.

Lester Kierstead Henderson, of Monterey, California, a noted photographer and art collector, was a close friend of Martha Mood, whose original stitcheries were part of his personal collection. Visitors to his gallery and friends sought in vain to purchase, whatever the price, Mr. Henderson's Martha Mood stitcheries. So great was the pressure put upon the collector that he journeyed to Portugal for the counsel of his friend Guy Fino, international textile authority and technical genius. The Mood patterns and colors were ideal for reproduction by the age old art of woven tapestries. Thus, the now rare cloth and yarn masterpieces became exquisite weavings, sought by discerning collectors at prices represented by four and five numerals, up to $25,000 for "Hemisfair," representing the San Antonio, Texas, International Exhibition of 1968.

Two years ago, Lester Henderson, overwhelmed by the interest of thousands being exposed to Mood's work in a national museum tour, decided to publish a book depicting the story of Martha Mood and her stitchery art. The finished book will be available for release in December of 1977.This, however, is no ordinary book. The Sublime Heritage of Martha Mood will be a valued possession of collectors and libraries and is recommended "required reading" for art lovers, students, weavers and other fiber artists. This book cannot be for everyone. There will be only one limited edition of 5,000 copies printed, cloth bound, numbered and slip-cased. Approximate book size, 12-in. x 131/2-in. From hundreds of original Mood works, Mr. Henderson has painstakingly selected and photographed 157 for full color reproduction, many full page, some double page, with many enlarged to show the meticulously executed detail. A bonus folio of 10 special plates for framing will be included for pre-publication purchasers whose names will be individually inscribed in a special Sponsors' edition.

From advance signature sheets of the color pages we honestly feel that this will be one of the beautiful art books of the time. Authored by Shirley Koploy, national magazine writer on the arts, edited by Joseph Stacey, former editor of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, with a special introduction by Mr. Stacey, the book is an authoritative compilation of Martha Mood and her world through recollections of friends, family and members of the arts who recall Mood's early sources, and the spiritual and creative aspects of this very wonderful artist. Supplementing the art-biography is a special chapter about the tapestry weavers of Portalegre, Portugal, who are among the finest weavers in the world. The photographic illustrations are by Lester K. Henderson, pioneer in the field of natural color photography. The book is designed by Francis Ho, national award winning designer. Printing is by Meriden Gravure, Meriden, Connecticut, acknowledged in art circles to be an international leader in art reproduction.

Pre-publication price for The Sublime Heritage of Martha Mood is $150.00, and will be available only from Lester K. Kierstead, 712 Hawthorne Street, Monterey, California 93940.

Phoenix Hosts 12th Annual CowboyArtists Show

Preparations are well underway for the Twelfth Anniversary Exhibition Opening of the Cowboy Artists of America which will be held at the Phoenix Art Museum on Friday and Saturday, October 21 and 22, 1977.The Cowboy Artists show was first hosted by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. In 1973 the Men's Art Council, the Western Art Associates, and the Phoenix Art Museum invited the Cowboy Artists to Arizona for their first Arizona sale and show. The 1977 show marks the fifth successive season for the CAA show under the Men's Art Council-Phoenix Art Museum direction. Financially the event has proven a very successful venture for all parties. In 1976 attendance easily surpassed that of 1975. Before the 1976 weekend was over more than 1400 persons viewed the opening show. Total sales were $338,000. The financial returns to the Museum have been significant approximately $125,000 in benefits from CAA commissions on art sales and other related items over the past four years.

This year's CAA Exhibition will again feature a seminar series designed to increase the insight and enjoyment of patrons of Western Art. The seminars will begin at 9:30 a.m., Friday, Oct. 21 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Topics of discussion will be: "Researching the Old West: Techniques, Inspiration and Accuracy," Speaker, John Clymer, CA.

John Clymer is famous for his annual expeditions across the American West to research, experience, sketch and collect material for his work. Ever wonder why he does it, how he does it and from whence his inspiration comes?

"The Art Business and Collecting," Speaker, Forrest Fenn, owner, Forrest Fenn Gallery, Santa Fe, N.M.

After 20 years as a fighter pilot, Forrest Fenn decided to keep his feet on the ground and became the owner of a bronze-casting foundry. Fenn discovered that "a foundry has 50 times as many problems per square foot as an art gallery" and that "producing for the satisfaction of the artistic temperament definitely put me behind the power curve," he left the foundry business to pursue his fascination for collecting old American art. Out of this experience grew the renowned Fenn Gallery. Fenn has both a businessman's and a collector's knowledge of Western Art, values and economics that will fascinate even the most experienced collector.

"Silent Movies of the 1977 CAA Annual Trail Ride," filmed on location at the Chilicote Ranch. Narration by Tom Watson.

The Chilicote Ranch lies 160 miles down the Rio Grande from El Paso and 15 miles south of Valentine, Texas. As business manager of the CAA, big Tom Watson has unique insights and observations to share with you on each and every one of the talented men who call themselves the Cowboy Artists of America.

The Hyatt Regency Hotel, architectural landmark in downtown Phoenix, will once again be the headquarters for the Twelfth Annual CAA Exhibition.

The 26-story hotel is located in the midst of the financial and business center of the city and is 10 minutes away from the Phoenix Art Museum, where the CAA exhibit will be held. The hotel also is only steps away from the Civic Plaza, the Convention Center and Symphony Hall.

The Hyatt offers its guests some of the most incomparable facilities in the southwest. Each room affords a spacious view of the surrounding city, desert and mountains. In addition to fine restaurants, guests will find a variety of boutiques, gift shops and an entertaining night club. A unique feature of the hotel is Compass, a circular lounge on the top floor. A glass enclosed elevator takes visitors up through the eight-story indoor garden and up another 18 stories to the revolving lounge, which offers a panoramic view of the city and the Valley below. It's the perfect spot to enjoy cocktails while viewing spectacular desert sunsets, which have become a trade-mark of the Southwest.

The hotel will arrange to hold half of its 734 rooms for CAA guests. Some 48 suites, including double-decker VIP suites, will also be available. Toll free reservations may be made by calling: 800-228-9000.

The CAA seminars on Friday, Oct. 21 will be held at the Hyatt as will the awards banquet on Saturday evening. Shuttles will be available between the hotel and the Museum for the sale on Friday.

Registration for the 1977 CAA show will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, October ber 21, at the Hyatt Regency. As in previous years attendance for the opening night show and sales and the awards banquet will be by invitation only. Ticket price, $50.00 per person.

Familiar faces will be much in evidence during the 1977 CAA Show and two of the most popular belong to Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater and Bill Heywood, morning disc jockey at ΚΟΥ Radio. This engaging duo will share the podium with John B. Connally, former governor of Texas, who will enliven Saturday's annual awards banquet as main speaker of the evening.

Brought back by popular demand by the Cowboys and the Men's Arts Council, the team of Goldwater and Heywood, repeat stars of the 1975 banquet, will match wits with Governor Connally, a long-time friend of Western Art. A former secretary of the treasury, Connally is a senior partner in the Texas law firm of Benson and Elkins.

Senator Goldwater will be the honored guest of the evening. The senior senator from Arizona, an honorary member of the CAA, has been a devoted fan of Western Art since his youth.

Heywood, the featured personality, promises to match his wit against Master of Ceremonies Senator Goldwater and the Cowboys. The 40-year-old disc jockey, who writes and produces most of his own radio material, was Billboard Magazine's Grand International Air Personality of the Year in 1975 and was a runner-up in last year's competition.

Western Art patrons interested in attending the Twelfth Annual Cowboy Artists of America exhibition and activities may write for complete information and invitations to: Men's Art Council, c/o Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85004. The Cowboy Artists Exhibition will continue through November 20, 1977, at the Phoenix Art Museum.

In 1970 Olaf Wieghorst was selected the Best Western Art Book of the Year by the Western Heritage Center of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The trophy which accompanies this award, a replica of Charles Russell's famous bronze The Wrangler, was presented to Mr. Wieghorst, author William Reed, and publisher Paul Weaver. The book also received a special Publisher's Silver Medal as an outstanding contribution to America's Western tradition.

In March, 1971, Arizona Highways magazine published a special dedicatory edition featuring a condensation of the material contained in this book. In October, 1974, Arizona Highways again featured Wieghorst in an article which praised his contribution to Western art and heritage, and announced the Olaf Wieghorst Retrospective, a million dollar exhibition which was displayed at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame from November 15, 1974, through January 19, 1975. At this same ceremony Olaf Wieghorst was presented the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Trustee's Gold Medal.

During the Gold Medal presentation ceremonies Dean Krakel, managing director of the Hall, noted that “Olaf doesn't need any more explaining . . . The Hall has three of his oils in its permanent collection . . . few contemporary artists can boast of that. We have acknowledged his capabilities by having him on the Board of Trustees of the National Academy of Western Art, in which he was elected to the first life membership . . . .” An excellent 16mm film of the Olaf Wieghorst Retrospective event was produced by Olaf's son Roy, who is curator-

HIS OUTFIT . . . Olaf Wieghorst

currently working with a professional group in Hollywood to produce a feature-length film documentary on Wieghorst: The Man and the Artist.

“Framed Investments,” an article by Merry Wilkins which appeared in the May, 1976, issue of PSA California Magazine, contains a list of some fifty artists of the caliber of Thomas Moran, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent whose works are considered among the best current art investments in the world. This list includes the name of only one living artist: Olaf Wieghorst.

Olaf reflected in the fall of 1976 that “I owe an awful lot to many people and things over a long period of time. I can't begin to repay debts that I owe to the cowboy, the mustang and the cow pony . . . to the example of Remington, Russell, and other great painters of the American West . . . but I have been thinking a great deal lately about trying to do something on canvas to show my deep affection for, and cherished memories of, the officers and men of the U.S. Cavalry, with whom I rode in the early years of this century, and to that inseparable friend and companion to those of us who were privileged to serve in that great service, the incomparable Cavalry mount.” Wieghorst, now 78 years old, is still painting and leading an active life. He and his wife maintain a residence in Florida some few months each year, as well as the “homestead” in El Cajon, California. Not long ago he accepted an invitation to join the prestigious Salmagundi Art Club. The subject of numerous exhibitions throughout the country in past years, Wieghorst and his art were most recently honored by a special show of his work at the San Diego Art Museum in July, 1976.

East is East. For Westerners West is Best. BY JOSEPH STACEY

On February 18, 1977, Maggie Wilson's Album, an honored and respected feature in the Women's Forum section of the morning newspaper, The Arizona Republic, carried the startling boldface headline, "Eastern Art Dealer Proclaims 'Western Art Stinks.'" The dealer, Andre Emmerich, Mrs. Wilson reported, was a New York art dealer, collector, journalist, author and an expert on Pre-Columbian art. Mr. Emmerich was in Phoenix as a guest lecturer at the Phoenix Art Museum; his topic, "The Contemporary Art Market." In his interview with Mrs. Wilson, Mr. Emmerich emphatically declared, "Western art stinks not that it stinks so much... it stinks because it is not authentic... contemporary Western artists are imitators of Remington and Russell, who were the only 'authentics.'" Also, Mr. Emmerich added, "Westerners including devotees of representative Western art, will soon acquire a taste for abstract art. Taste is acquired," he said, "like the taste of avocados and dry martinis." He concluded, "Western art no... abstract and pre-Columbian art, si." Maybe so... however... the history of taste, which is part of the history of art, is a continuing process of discarding established values and rediscovering neglected ones. Thus, by applying the Emmerich theory and logic in reverse we hold that Easterners, including the devotees of Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollack representations of art, may eventually acquire a taste for the Western variety of American contemporary art. As a transplanted Easterner I have painlessly and serenely removed my "taste process" from the blown-up cans of Campbell's soups and monster canvases of ulcered intestines, and now enjoy being part of the Western scene of whiteface cattle, enchanted horizons, and endless expanses of earth and sky. We cannot buy Mr. Emmerich's premise that lasting art needs to be "authentic." We find no evidence that da Vinci, Michelangelo, or Botticelli had personally been to heaven or hell, which they depicted so faithfully in their masterpieces.

"There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom. If one could but recall his vision by some sort of sign. It was in this hope that the arts were invented. Sign posts on the way to what may be. Sign posts toward greater knowledge!"

It has been more than 35 years since Arizona Highways reproduced its first Western Art. At times we have reproduced works of an impressionistic character by artists who have lived and worked in Arizona. But long before the days of computerized data and consumer polls, we learned from our readers that they preferred the traditional expressions of Western art by almost a 90 to 10 ratio. Our grand count indicates that the works of Ted De Grazia, Brownell McGrew and Olaf Wieghorst were appreciated by more Arizona Highways' readers than all other artists combined. Obviously, then, this October issue is a picture book, featuring the three artists selected by the all-time consensus of this magazine's readers. Arizona has a magnetic allure for artists. Raymond Carlson once remarked, "It seems there is an artist behind every bush." There are those who stick to their "palette" and follow only the marked trail. There are the trail cutters who enter the wilderness and wait with cunning and patience, ready to exploit the lucky break which will lead them to a promising situation. Each one is by nature an individualist, talks a different language that melds into a vast conglomerate of expressions we call pictures. Millions of pictures are exercises by people who at best will never be more than "Saturday and Sunday shopping center painters." Our three artists are typical of the very few artists who have risen from zero status and have rocketed to heights of fame and fortune in a safe orbit far out of range of critics and academicians. Each of our three artists is typical of the American artists who have gotten their reward more from the masses than from the critics, dealers and establishmentarians who compete for the power to influence the dollars and cents marketplace action. For our artists there has been no more "real thing" than the adventure of living, expressing and reacting to the exclaim, acclaim and at times disdain of the public during their time. By our public we mean those one million or more readers of Arizona Highways magazine.

Gift is to see the beauty in everything, and his purpose is to make others see it. All art is valid and has every reason under the sun to be done and to be exposed to view. The viewer should question: Not why is it art, but why is it good art. Deciding what is art, and evaluating a work of art are separate problems. It is impossible to measure the merits of works of art as a scientist measures distances. Evaluating art is about as troublesome as evaluating a human being. The definition of art is universal and simple. To express, to realize, to perfect, to produce. This is Art. Our three artists are mainly painters, with a secondary involvement in sculpture. Our American Heritage Dictionary defines their kind of art: "The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, color, forms, movements or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty; specifically, the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium. Our three artists have succeeded and continue in high repute because the qualities in their work are seen and appreciated by people who see and feel the beauty the artist has painted. And that is the secret of each artist's success ... to equate with the taste and approval of his particular part of the public audience.

Two legends met one night in a dingy eatery on the Navajo reservation, and because I was lucky enough to be there, the sparks from their conversation fired what eventually became in me a deeply burning urge to paint (not to record) the magnificent Indian of the West and his glorious homeland.

My legends were Shine Smith, fabled friend of the Indian, and Jimmy Swinnerton, the brilliant Hearst cartoonist, who added to this career a later eminence as the first and foremost painter of the desert, Jimmy and I had sketched together for some years on the California desert, and his tales of the Indian country had led naturally to expeditions there, on one of which this foregathering with his old friend Shine occurred. Subsequently, I wrote Shine a 23-page letter containing roughly 760 questions regarding a project of painting Indians with his assistance. In answer I got a grubby sheet of paper on which was scrawled, "O.K. Shine."

So it began . . .

The California researcher and the man of the Navajo were talking together, but they weren't communicating. Question after question was parried by the Indian courteously, with the hooded reserve characteristic of his kind. Finally the researcher tried the subject of art. "Are you familiar with the Indian paintings of Brownell McGrew?" The reserve melted; the Navajo answered, "You mean the man who paints the old? My grandfather says he is the only white man who paints the Indians as they really were."

Collectors all over the country, many who have never seen a living Indian, respond in the same way as this Navajo's grandfather, instinctively recognizing that McGrew's paintings show the Indians "as they really were." This sort of dual acceptance has always characterized McGrew's career. In many exhibitions he has received both the popular prize by vote of the viewers and the critics and judges award. His paintings hang in some of the finest collections