The Douglas Art Collection

Indian wars and roundup dust, cow-boys and outlaws— Arizonan Lewis Douglas, (1894-1974) grew up in and fell deeply in love with the wild frontier. During his full and colorful life, Douglas was ambassador to Great Britain in the late '40's, a congressman, and chair-man of Tucson's Southern Arizona Bank in the early '50's. Later, as a collector of Western art, he and his son James were able to re-capture the spirit of that deathless Old West saga through the works of great artist story-tellers like Remington, Russell, Schoonover, Wieghorst, and Wyeth. Today the Douglas collection, which features both paintings and bronze sculptures, is on exhibit at the Old West Gallery, in the First National Bank in Tucson. The largest bulk of the paintings are the twelve works by Newell Convers "N.C." Wyeth, from Needham, Massa-chusetts, who as father of Andrew Wyeth and grandfather of James Wyeth, founded an American dynasty of artists. The individual works tell the fasci-nating saga of the frontier, from the be-ginning when the homesteaders headed West, to Hopalong's latest shoot-out, and the stories behind the art are as interesting as the works themselves.

As you come down the red-tiled corri-dor of the bank and enter the first room of the exhibition, you get a glimpse of what awaits in the next. Is that a men-acing twosome in Wyeth's The Pay Stage, or just two fellows guarding the pay wagon by the light of the moon? Here you'll see the widest Western sky anywhere, in Hank Richter's Early Start, and Olaf Wieghorst's cowboy sits amidst a straw-textured range, cast-ing a shadow under a light blue sky in Roundup Dust. Wieghorst, one of the big Western art guns, is a Denmark native who served in the U. S. Cavalry before Ari-zona became a state. A self-taught artist and a cowboy, he portrayed the ro-mance of the West. Meetin' Up, by Victor Clyde Forsythe, is the Western desert painted in luminous and pearly pastels, where a lonesome cowpoke greets his friend. Lone Wolf's Long Hard Winter, one of the smallest paintings in the show, pits rider against the elements, and is one of the most elegant in the collection.

During the golden years of illustration in this country, from the mid-1870s through the first decade of this century, many creative talents found their way into print. Two of the best known are Frederic Remington and N. C. Wyeth. Remington's work as a Western illustrator for all the leading periodicals of the day, including Collier's Weekly, is without parallel. He traveled to the West as a young man, and then again each year, to soak up the Western scene.

It was only after Remington spent many years as a painter and illustrator, that he began to sculpt. His The Cheyenne and Trooper of the Plains show his sureness and love of depicting horses.

Frank Schoonover's Brady at the Stake, spins the tale of the hapless Brady waiting his fate. The fire burns higher, but the Indian Chief, with arms folded, seems to be saying, “no reprieve.” Schoonover, also a talented and wellknown illustrator, was a contemporary of Wyeth. They both attended the famous Howard Pyle School of Art in Wilmington, Delaware, and he too traveled to the West to see for himself the people and places he had heard about. There are six Schoonover paintings in the show. The room which contains the Wyeth paintings is deceivingly quiet. For the early days are still being lived right here. You'll see buffalo running, bandits fleeing, Indians giving chase, and lots of active waiting for the human prey.

Yet, even with the active surroundings and the Indian beating his drum, there is a feeling of solitude in Ernest Berke's Evening War Prayer. N. C. Wyeth's Prospector makes an elegant figure as he pauses to pose against the golden Western hills, in contrast to The Outlaw, next to him, where a desperado holds his rifle poised, ready to strike again, as he stands in front of the same radiant background. Charles Russell is represented here with three small bronzes. Russell, a cattle wrangler in Montana, later lived with Indians in Canada and then returned to Montana where he began to re-create the West he felt was gone.His replicas are highly prized. Muddy Creek Crossing by Jasper D'Ambrosi, is a very detailed bronze piece, approximately three-feet long, AHM 41