Joe Beeler's West

“JOE BEELER’S WEST” EXHIBITION & SALE JULY 1st- JULY 21st.

CLAGGETT / REY GALLERY 970•476•9350

In early December of 2019 Bill Rey asked Don Hedgpeth if he would write an essay for a show they were going to put together in 2020 of about 40 works by JOE BEELER (1931-2006). Don and Joe were close friends and Don had written several books and many essays on Joe including, “JOE BEELER, Life of a Cowboy Artist” 2004 published by Claggett/Rey Gallery under the name of Diamond Tail Press, which recieved the Western Heritage Award for Best Art Book. Don was excited to help bring Joe Beeler again to the forefront of the western art world and eagerly agreed to write a short essay, which he did. With the emergence of Covid-19 in 2020 the gallery pulled back on the show idea. In July of 2020, Don Hedgpeth (1949-2020) passed away in San Antonio battling a re-occurring health challenge. With one of his son’s Clint at his side, as they listened to Don’s requested version of Willie Nelson’s ‘Pancho & Lefty’, then Don was gone.

Like Joe Beeler who passed away in April of 2006, one of western art’s hero’s, selfishly for us left much too soon. The Claggett/Rey Gallery was a force in the world of Joe Beeler. For the last 16 years of his life, the gallery sold about 80% of everything Joe created, and they continue to beat the drum for Joe every day.

The enthusiasm for the show has grown as has the collection to be offered through this exhibition. “Joe Beeler’s West” will be the largest collection of Beeler’s work offered for sale since his passing and possibly in perpetuity. Over 70 works of art; paintings, drawings and sculptures will be available to view and add to collections from July 1st- 21, 2021.

This is an excerpt of the essay by Don Hedgpeth…. ”I turned 77 years old awhile back and there just doesn’t seem to be much that gets me excited anymore. But then I heard Claggett/Rey Gallery was putting together a major retrospective show and sale of art by my old pal Joe Beeler… And I am excited again, like a kid on Christmas morning. I first saw and was excited by Joe’s art in a small show at the San Antonio Livestock and Rodeo in January, 1967. It was my first art show and I liked what I saw, Particularly Joe’s paintings of cowboys. You could tell he knew what he was talking about, even back then before the Cowboy Artists of America burst upon the scene and the contemporary western art boom began. Joe went on to define western art for an entire generation, as important and elemental in his time as Charlie Russell was in his own. Joe has been gone more than a dozen years now and scarcely a day goes by when I don’t think about him, about his art, and about how much he meant to those who were his friends”.

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“Those who really know Joe well are convinced that his name would have been known even if he had not been an artist. There has always been somehting special about his presence and personality that draws others to him and makes them feel good in his company. There is much about Joe that is remarkably reminiscent of Will Rogers. They were, after all, both boys of the Borderlands, with a shared bond of Indian blood, and each was endowned with a strong sense of humor, a capacity for compassion, and gilt edged credentials as cowboys--seemingly ordinary men of extradordinary substance whos names will not be forgotten.”

Don Hedgpeth - “Life of a Cowboy Artist”

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“Joe Beeler’s West”

page details:

Cover • “Cowboy Comforts” • 14 x 20 inches • Oil • $19,500 Page 4. (a) “Buffalo Hunter” • 18 x 14 inches • Oil • $21,500 (b) “Buffalo Hunter” • 14 x 8 x 7 inches • Bronze • $2,500 5. “Buffalo Hunter” (detail) • Oil 6. (a) “Lightin Up” • 17 x 8 x 7 • Bronze • $5,500 (b) ”Branding” • 9 x 13 inches • Pen & Ink • $1,900 6. (c) “Monday Morning” • 9 x 6 inches • Watercolor • $3,500 7. “Bare Necessities” • 18 x 24 inches • Oil • $24,000 8. “Buffalo Hunters” • 15 x 24 inches • Oil • $24,000 9. “Calling the Mountain Spirits” • 16 x 20 inches • $21,500 • (detail on page 10) 13. “Self Portrait with Rio” • 16 x 20 inches • Oil • $25,000 14. (a) “ Mountain Cow Camp” • 9 x 12 inches • Oil • $12,500 (b) “For No Reason” • 19 x 14 x 7 inches • Bronze • $6,500 15. (a) “The Survivor” • 27 x 11 x 8 inches • Bronze • $15,000 (b) “Montana Cowboy” • 18 x 14 inches • Oil • $14,500 16–17. “On the Canyon Rim” • 30 x 30 inches • Oil • $54,000 18. “Peace Talk” • 13 x 17 inches • Watercolor • $6,500 19–21. “Rustlers Roost” (full and detail images) • 26 x 34 inches • Oil • $56,000 21. (a) “The Camp” • 10 x 18 inches • Pen & Ink • $1,900 (b) “The Top Hand” • 11 x 9 inches • Watercolor • $3,900 22. “First Family” Bookends • 11 x 7 x 6 inches • Bronze • $3,600 23. (a) “Navajo with Green Bedroll” • 12 x 9 inches • $1,400 (b) “The Coup Stick” • 11 x 8 x 3 inches • Bronze • $1,800 24-25. “Sacred Mountain” • 16 x 20 inches • Oil • $21,500 26. “Fall Morning” • 20 x 30 inches • Oil • $24,000 27. “Feelin’ His Oats” • 17 x 10 x 6 inches • Bronze • $4,500 28. (a) “Brandin” Time” • 20 x 16 inches • Oil • $19,500 (b) “Sugar for the Trail” • 18 x 13 x 10 inches • Bronze • $9,500 29. “Campfire Serenade” • 18 x 24 inches • Oil • $12,500 30. (a) “Feelin’ His Oats” (painted) • 17 x 10 x 6 inches • $6,500 (b) “Draggin’ to the Fire” • 13 x 16 inches • Pen & ink • cont. $1,900 (Silhouette behind sculptures) 31. “Buster and Choc” • 8 x 7 x 3.5 inches • Bronze • $1,600 32. “Winter Morning” • 18 x 24 inches • Oil • $25,000 33. (a) “The Buckaroo” • 16 x 7 x 6 inches • Bronze • $3,600 (b) “Top Hand or Buckaroo” • 14 x 9 inches • Watercolor • $4,600 34-35 (a)“Sure Shot” • 18 x 15 x 8 inches • Bronze • $7,500 (b)“Gathering the Rough Country” (detail) 35. cont. (c) “Practice Makes Perfect” • 16 x 16 x 7 inches • Bronze • $3,600 36. “Gathering the Rough Country” • 26 x 36 inches • Oil • $46,000 37. “Wild Cow Hunters” • 20 x 30 inches • Oil • $21,000 38-39. “High Mountain Cow Camp” (detail) 40. “High Mountain Cow Camp” • 16 x 24 inches • Oil • $24,000 42. (a) “Vaquero” • 13 x 11 inches • Watercolor • $3,500 (b) “The Mystic” • 13 x 10 inches • Pen & Ink • $1,900 cont. (c) “Tools of the Trade” • 7 x 5 inches • Oil • $2,400

“Joe Beeler’s West” page detail cont: 43. (a) “Battle Tested” • 20 x 15 inches • Mixed Media • $4,500 (b) “El Jefe” • 15 x 12.5 x 5 inches • Bronze • $5,500 44. (a) “Dog Soldier” • 24 x 14 inches • Oil • $19,500 45. “The Mystic” •15 x 6 x 8 inches • Bronze • $5,500 46-47. (a) “Sundance Chief ” • 21 x 9 x 9 inches • Bronze • $8,500 (b) “The Dog Soldiers” • 30 x 48 inches • Oil • $95,000 (c) “Wind in His Hair” • 17 x 7 x 7 inches • Bronze • $5,500 48-49 “The Dog Soldiers” • Oil (Detail) 50-51. “The Dog Soldiers” • 21 x 32 x 11 inches • Bronze • $14,500 52. “Vengeance” (detail) 53. “Rocky Mountain Nomads” • 14 x 24 inches • Oil • $26,000 54. “Vengeance” • 30 x 35 x 13 inches • Bronze • $28,000 • #28/35 55. (a) “Navajo Head Study” • 6 x 4.5 inches • Oil • $2,400 (b) “Indian Portrait” • 6 x 4.5 inches • Oil • $2,400 56. “High Plains Warrior” • 12 x 9 inches • Oil • $8,000 57. “The Healer” • 50 x 53 x 34 inches • Bronze • $95,000 58. “Whiskey Guard” • 24 x 24 x 12 inches • Bronze • $8,500 59. (a) “The Patriot” • 21 x 15 inches • Pastel • $3,800 (b) “Renegade” • 16 x 10 x 10 inches • Bronze • $4,800 60-61. (a) “The Mountain Chief ” • 20 x 8 x 8 inches • Bronze • $6,500 (b) “The Night Guard” • 22 x 6 inches • Oil • $12,500 (c) “Speaker of the House” • 20 x 12 x 10 inches • Bronze • $7,500 62-63. (a) “The Proud One” • 14 x 6 x 6 inches • Bronze • $3,600 (b) “When Thunder Roared” • 19 x 21 x 15 inches • Bronze • cont. $18,500 (c) “Buffalo Hunter Bust” • 6 x 11 x 11 • Bronze • $5,500 64. “If It Itches, Scratch It” • 24 x 30 x 10 • Bronze • $9,500 (Study also available) 65. “No Chance” (detail) • 22 x 36 inches • Oil • $17,500 66. “Into the North Wind” • 22 x 14 x 8 inches • Bronze • $5,800 67. “Winter Cow Camp” • 16 x 12 inches • Oil • $12,500 68-69 (a) “Oak Creek Tavern” • 10 x 13 inches • Pen & Ink • $5,500 (b)“The Horse Trader” • 15 x 5 x 5 inches • Bronze • cont. $2,400 (c) “Moving the Herd” • 7 x 12 inches • Pen & Ink • $1,900 70. “Man & Horse with Spyglass” • 13 x 16 inches • Pen & Ink • $1,900 71. (a) “Ready to Ride” • 28 x 11 x 8 inches • Bronze • $18,500 (b) “Rio” • 16 x 12 inches • Oil • $12,000 72. “Never Walk When You Can Ride” • 12 x 20 x 8 inches • Bronze • $6,000 73. “Rio” (detail)

Thanks for the ride Joe. Claggett / Rey Gallery www.claggettrey.com Phone: 970•476•9350