Friends called her Beck or Becky. She dressed in traditional Western garb — denim breeches, boots, and kerchiefs — and topped her mane of prematurely silver hair with felt hats. An ever-present cigarette dangled from her lips. Her face, sometimes embellished with bright red lipstick,...
You’d think the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” would be especially appropriate when describing photographer Edward S. Curtis [1868–1952]. After all, the portfolio that comprises his life’s work, The North American Indian, includes hundreds of images of Indigenous Americans. These photographs have...
WA&A publisher and art critic Tim Newton breaks down an iconic Western work Gunnar Widforss’s portrayals of the Grand Canyon are second to none. He was meticulous in his technique and brilliant with his compositions. This view of the Grand Canyon from Hopi Point is one...
When Texas-based artists and twin brothers Stuart and Scott Gentling were asked why they never tried to extend their art presence and collector base beyond their home state, they always responded, “Because we don’t need to.” And it was true. Wealthy collectors and patrons in...
It was the day of Louisa McElwain’s annual studio tour. Organized each summer by Evoke Contemporary, the event would see invited collectors and friends gather for a barbecue, painting demonstration, and tour of the artist’s studio and small ranch just north of Santa Fe. The...
Born in 1925 and raised on the Gulf Coast in the small oil town of Port Arthur, Texas, Robert Rauschenberg matured into an internationally influential artist and a citizen of the globe. Known to his friends as Bob, he may never have visited the Denver...
As one of her first jobs after college, Shan Goshorn was hired by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Indian Arts and Crafts Board to visually document traditional Cherokee basket weaving patterns. Raised in Baltimore, Maryland, but having spent summers with Eastern Band Cherokee relatives...
The last time Mara Williams, Chief Curator of the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, saw Emily Mason, it was about a week before the artist’s death in December 2019. At the time, Mason was in rural Vermont where, for more than 50 years, she spent...
His face was that of a Renaissance prince. His dark hair framed it, his piercing eyes glared, and a crooked nose — broken in childhood — looked permanently out of joint. Though often dressed in overalls and a T-shirt, he wore a trim mustache that...
In the years following World War II and into the Cold War era, an edge of existential uncertainty clouded the collective American mind in a way that it hadn’t before. Then along came a sprightly, witty, self-assured but humble old lady who painted cheerful scenes...