Eubanks, Harvey, Rungius and more in Western Art Auction at Heritage Auctions, Dec. 16 Artists from Texas lead eclectic mix offered in American West and Texas Art Auction in Dallas
News-Antique.com - Dec 09,2009 - DALLAS, TX -- While rooted as firmly in the South as any state can be, Texas is also largely considered a Western state. Its epic landscapes, larger-than-life personality and iconoclastic status all lend to this perception. Besides in its people, this unique spirit is best displayed in the great Western art to have come out of the state, and that talent will be on display, and up for bid, in Heritage Auctions' Signature® Art of the American West & Texas Auction, Dec. 16, live, in-person and online at www.HA.com.
"It's a unique tribute to the homegrown talent of this state that its best artists so easily cross classifications," said Michael Duty, Director of Art of the American West at Heritage Auctions. "This is evidenced by the great demand for the best examples of Western canvases by Texans, and by the sublime quality of the art itself."
Perhaps the best example of a Texan creating an important piece of art that straddles the Texas/Western line is Tony Eubanks' 1981 oil painting Dallas County Courthouse, a work of great artistic merit and exhaustive scholarly research. It is estimated at $15,000-$20,000.
Dallas County Courthouse is a glimpse into Dallas at the turn of the 20th century. Eubanks shows the bustling life around the courthouse as Dallas is transitioning to the modern era. Cowboys ride down a muddy street; the setting sun highlights the red stone of the newly constructed courthouse, illuminated by early electric lights. Decades later the courthouse would become known locally as "Old Red," due to the color of the stones.
"To create a historically accurate scene, Eubanks drew on period photographs and research as well as first hand observation," said Duty. "He also had the advantage of stories his grandfather, who helped build the courthouse, told him about the construction of the building. Eubanks painted the building as it was at the turn of the century, not as it was when the painting was completed in 1981. The clock tower, which is a prominent feature of the painting, was removed from the structure in the 1920s after being so severely damaged in a wind storm that city fathers feared it would topple into the street."
A large grouping of paintings by G. Harvey is also superbly representative of the broad reach of Texas brushstrokes into the Western realm. Harvey, one of the most successful living artists in the nation, hails originally from San Antonio. He internalized the stories of his grandfather, a cowboy who drove longhorn cattle along trails toward the Kansas railway, and his subsequent art training at North Texas State University drew upon these tales, resulting in early paintings of cowboys in the Hill Country.
"A brief teaching post at the University of Texas led Harvey to a full-time painting career in the 1960s," said Duty, "whereupon he added cityscapes – moody, nostalgic scenes with streetcars, horse-drawn buggies, glowing street lamps, and pedestrians – to his cowboy repertoire."
Almost all Harvey's paintings, whether urban or western, include horses,
