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,..n Oklahoma City, the National Cowboy
.,"' & Western
Heritage Museum will soon
host its annual Prix de West invitational, on view to the public ]une l3-August 3. Historically, this
exhibition's opening weekend (June 13-14) is among the liveliest and best attended in Western art, with all eyes focused on the fixed-price of its more than 300 paintings and sculptures, made by the field's leading artists. The commercial failure of the Hollywood remake of The Lone Ranger (2013) exemplifies younger Americans' rapidly dissipating interest in "cowboys and Indians," once the most popular markers of the fascinatingly complex evolution of the American West. The public's gradual shift in focus to different Western themes will 'surely be evident through the sheer diversity of subjects in this summer's exhibition: they will range from the customary rodeos and reservations to landscapes, wildlife, figures, and historical scenes both epic and intimate. Moreover, these will be depicted in a surprisingly broad array of sryles and media; it is revealing that, last year, the prestigious Prix de West award entailing the museum's purchase of the winning artwork went to Steve Kestrel's stone sculpture of a snake writhing against a landscape. (Not surprisingly, the list of artists who have won prizes here reads like a whot who in Western art.) Founded in 1955 as a Cowboy Hall of Fame, the renamed National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum has evolved into aworldaware institution that preserves, exhibits, and interprets its rich collections ofart, artifacts, and archir.al materials. Regularly on view in its galleries and grounds are works of historical and contemporary art made by both Natives and non-Natives as well as books, photographs, firearms, and experiential displays devoted to frontier life, cattle towns, and the rodeo. sale
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Steve Kestrel (b. 1948)
Vanishin!
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2014, Granophyric obsidian and sandstone,
t3l/2x13x9 t/4in. 0n view at the 2014 Prix de West
The sawiestvisitors knowto visit the museum's Sam Noble Special Events Center, which contains an efiraordinary decorative scheme executed by the painter Wilson Hurley (1924FineArtconnoisseulcom
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Scott Burdick (b. 1967) Navajo Mother and Daughter 2014, Oil on linen,30 x 30 in. 0n view at the 2074 Prix de West
Former 0klahoma Governor
Frank Keating with his wife, Cathy, attending last year's Prix de West opening celebration
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Len Chmiel
Jeremy Lipking (b. 1975)
2U4,On on linen, 58 x 36
(b.1942)
A Congregation of Murmurs, Taylor River
Silence and Sagebrusfi
2U4,On on linen,40 x 54 in. 0n view at the 2014 Prix de West
in.
0n view at the 2014 Prix de West
2008) between 1991 and 1996. Wndows to the Wesf is a group of five "suites" (actually triptychs measuring 16 feet high) evoking the confluence of slgz and land at sunset in New Mexico, California, Arizona, Utah, and \t/yoming.
Hurley's journey to this very permanent honor was unusual. Born in Tulsa to the man who would become President Herbert Hoover's secretary of war, Hurley succeeded as a lawyer in Albuquerque and flew fighter jets in Vietnam before teaching himsell to paint. Though his father disinherited him and his wife divorced him, he followed through on his
hour, and season on our perception of these sublime vistas. Although a similarly huge Hurley cycle hangs at the Oklahoma State Capitol, this set is especially appropriate in viett of the Prix de West award he won here in 1984, only two decades after he took the plunge into fine art. "I'm not a Western artist, reai11.," Hurley once said. "I just live in the \Alest." His words
must be heard by those who *'ould still marginalize art from the West. It's American art first, and the best of it deserves attention nationalll,, no less than the best art from any other region.
dream of pursuing art full-time at the age of 41,
and ultimately found success with luminous and atmospheric scenes of nature inspired by such l9th-century masters as Bierstadt and
Information: Advance reservatiotls are required for the
Moran, who had also painted the West. Unlike his forerunners, Hurley drew upon his visual experience as a pilot to capture the effects of light hitting cloud formations and cliffs, as well as the ever-changing impact of weather,
sale. 1700 NE 63rd Street, Oklahottrl Cit)', OK 73111,
opening x,eekend o/ Prix de \\'est, r'fuich itrcltLdes seminars, receptions, the awards baluluet, 405. 47 8, 22 50, nationalcowb o),
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Kelly Compton is a contributing \rriter to Fine Art
Prx de West Committee Chairman Greg Simon with Board Director Greg Braddock at last year's opening celebration
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