2 minute read
CARL OSCAR BORG
1879–1947
Carl Oscar Borg was born in Sweden and showed an affinity for art at a young age. At the age of twenty he embarked on a journey that would eventually lead him to arrive in America in 1903. After traveling around the west coast and in Central America, Borg was fortunate to be introduced to Phoebe Hearst, mother of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, whose patronage would allow him to return to Europe to study and paint. By 1916 he was back in the United States and through Hearst gained the opportunity to travel to the Indian lands of the Southwest on behalf of the University of California’s Department of Ethnology and the US Department of the Interior. In the 1920s in California Borg taught art courses and worked as an art director for the film industry. By 1930 he returned to the Southwest and to the subjects he was most drawn.
“The Prospector” depicts a man on horseback making his way through a desert landscape. Behind him stretches a river and mountainous landscape. Once gold was discovered out west, numerous prospectors would make their way to unknown lands to try their hand at uncovering riches. The subject of the present painting appears confident and unwavering in his search as he makes his way to the next location in which he hopes to stake his claim.
