Will James: Cowboy Artist and Author by Santa Barbara Historical Museum

NOTICIAS Quarterly Magazine Of The Santa Barbara Historical Society Vol. XLVn, No. 3

Aucumn 2001

L- aea-

1 ●>

Will Tames V

Cowboy Artist and Author

MONG the pantheon ofartists ofthe American West, illustrious names such as Frederic Epnington, Charles E^issell, and Edward Borein, may abo befound the name ofWillJames. James was something ofa cowboy renabsance man. During hb varied career he was a cow hand,a rodeo performer,a V.S.Army scout,a stuntman in mome westerns,an artist, an author,even a cattle rustler. He drew upon hb experiences on the plains ofthe western V.S.and Canada to produce worh^ oforiginality and impact. TVb onecan gaz^ upon aJames drawing orread one ofhb noveb orshort stories without knowing these works are based upon intimate knowledge ofthe subject. James’renderings ofaction scenes,the interplay between man and animal,are recognized assome ofthefinest everexecuted. \

In thb bsue o/Noticias, A.P. Hays examines the life and career ofWillJames. The major authority on James, Hays traces how James’experiences on horsebackinfiuenced hb work,and he documenb James’ contributions as both artist and writer. Thb quarterly accompanies the exhibit ofthe A.P. Hays Collection. Will James: Cowboy Artist and Author,at the Santa Barbara Hbtorical Society,September 6, 2001-January 31,2002. Then Stephen Zimmer,afounder ofthe WillJames Society,dbcusses the early days ofthat organization. The WillJames Society will hold its 2001 annual meeting in Santa Barbara. The front cover photograph is probably the most-famous James painting, an oilfrom Smoky, The Cowhorse, hbpriz^-winningnovel. Scribner’s chose itfor the coverof the 1929 Illustrated Classic Edi tion and, beginning in 193Z, abo as the dustjacketfor all reprints since then. In seventy-five years, the book has never been out ofprint."The back cover drawing by James appeared on the title page ofthe ig26 edition o/Smoky, The Cowhorse. All illustrations courtesy of the A.P. Hays Collection. THE AUTHOR.- A.P.(Abe)Hays b the ownerofone ofthe largest collections ofmateriab devoted to WillJames. He has been instrumentalin reviving interest in thb cowboy artbt/author. In a careerspan ning over twenty-five years,Abe Hays has curated exhibitions ofWestem artists across the country and has betured extensively in thefield. He organized thefirst touring exhibition ofWillJames’workin the early igSos,and the Hays Collection was exhibited at the Autry Museum ofWestem Heritage in Los Angelesfivm October iggy to January iggS.He b thefounderand chairman ofArizona West Qalleries in Scottsdab. He lives with hb wife,Lalla,in Paradbe Valby,Arizona. PHOTO OPPOSITE: WillJames at workon theMoirPqnch in Saskatchewan,Canada,during the winter ofigio-igii,the earliest known photograph ofJames as a working cowboy. INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS: NOTICIAS is a quarterly journal devoted to the study of the history of Santa Barbara County. Contributions of articles are welcome. Tliose authors whose articles are accepted for publication will receive ten gratis copies of the issue in which their article appears. Further copies are available to the contributor at cost. The authority in matters of style is the University ofChicago ManualofStyle, iqth edition. The Publications Com mittee reserves the right to return submitted manuscripts for required changes. Statements and opinions expressed in articles are the sole responsibility of the author.

Michael Redmon, Editor Judy Sutcliffe, Designer ® 2001 The Santa Barbara Historical Society 136 E. De la Guerra Street, Santa Barbara, California 93101 ● Telephone: 805/966-1601 Single copies $10.00 ISSN 0581-5916

*»

. r \

\ ● v<p S' -'●. j

Cowboy Artist and Author TV

A. P (Abe) Hays 53

■?v

NOTICIAS

As a 15-year'old in 1907, Wi ames (1892-1942) began experiencing Western life when he left his Montreal home and headed by train to Saskatchewan. Despite the misgivings of the Dufaults, his FrenchCanadian parents, he had been dreaming of life as a cowboy for as long as his fam ily could remember. His many drawings of horses and cowboys, inspired by pulp magazines and periodicals of the day. at tested to his determination. Will James entered cow country dur ing its major expansion years of the early 1900s to the late 1920s, when small ranches began to spread across the land, Wild West shows and rodeos were plentiful, big sad dleries sprung up in the major towns, and stockmen's groups flourished. To a degree,James would follow in the footsteps of Frederic Remington (18611909)and Charles M.Russell(1864-1926). All three artists rejected their Eastern ways as teenagers, left formal schooling in their teens, and found adventure and fame in the West. Ironically, however, none of them went to the West to become a painter or a writer. In the 1880s, Russell became a horse wrangler in Montana cow camps and Remington went into sheep ranching in Kansas. After 1900, James became a cop hand on cattle outfits from Canada to Mexico. All three men became successful artists and writers, although Russell's lit erary efforts came lace and were mostly regional. Each of them drank to excess, was eccentric at times, and became a celebrity in his own right. Remington, Russell, and James influ enced enormously ocher artists in their time and still do today. Tliey were unique in that

they totally dominated their eras by cap turing public awareness and adulation. They literally shaped public taste. Their like has not been seen since. Will James would not have matched, in his time, their fame were it not for his many books and their reprints in the U.S. and abroad. His overseas editions were pub lished in Danish,Swedish, Dutch, Russian. Japanese, and other languages. James alone had motion pictures produced from his books: five to date. He also had a wider personal following among youth than ci ther Russell or Remington and was more widely known than either of them during his lifetime. While his writing coupled with his art brought James wide public acclaim, it was his art that opened doors and provided sus tenance when riding injuries forced him to quit working as a cowboy at age twentyseven in 1919.

A Golden Age of Publishing James’ art production during his profes sional career, compared to that of Remington and Russell, was slight. He fin ished about 1,350 pieces and several hun dred unpublished works from 1920 to 1942. He made hundreds of drawings, perhaps more than two thousand, and mostly in pencil, while working as a cowboy from 1907 to 1919. Few of these survived. He finished roughly eighty to one hundred works in oil or watercolor. The balance of his estimated 1.250 published pieces were in pencil, crayon, or ink. It is for the draw ings that his art should be most respected. James worked in a "golden age" of American book publishing, competing with the Brandywine School and a virtual re naissance of other outstanding artists in the 1920s and 1930s. During this period, his work was praised and his books were suc-

WILL JAMES

WillJames made hisfirst sale ofartwork inigig when he was still a cowboy.A F^no promoterpaid him fifty dollarsfor two drawings,onefor the cover and the otherfor the centerfold ofa rodeo program.

NOTICIAS

56 cessful. He achieved his ranking despite being completely unresponsive to the ma jor emphasis placed by most other artists and writers (often at the insistence of edi tors) on the more popular and commercial themes of shoot-'em-ups. He totally shunned gunlights, barroom brawls or range wars. He felt they distorted and marred one's perception of the West and the cowboy. Wliile man was often a par ticipant, he was most generally subordi nate to the action. James liked to direct at tention to the range animal and its reac tion to the circumstances. In this percep tion he was aided by his love for, and knowledge and understanding of, animals, particularly horses.

He drew them mcessandy Russell said ofJames,"You know horses every way from the Ace,” Ross Santee (1889-1965) wrote that James drew the range horse better than anyone else. The TVeiv %rk.Times insisted that James did the best bucking horses. My study of his work, and that of the best of the others in the Western genre over the course of fifty years, leads me to conclude that in draw ing James did action best and had superior knowledge and understanding when it in volved cowboys and their horses. James’ love affair with the horse and cowboy life lasted from the time he went west at fifteen until his death at fifty. He caught, broke, trained, herded, rode, and nearly was killed by horses. He drew them incessantly in hundreds of pictures and he wrote hundreds of thousands of words about them, often from direct experience, during a professional career of nearly twenty-three years. He once matter-of-factly reported to a Montana newspaper that he probably had broken a thousand wild horses during his

roving years on the range.^ 'Tve been near death many times and in many ways, while riding a bad horse, while swimming rivers on one, or while driving through blizzards with a herd.”2 "For years I've felt the con fidence that I could ride or scratch [spur] any horse I ever saw,” he wrote in 1924. "That was a great feeling while it lasted, but too many rough ones gradually shook that confidence out of me.”^ "It's been about ten years since I quit hard riding.” he explained in 1929, "and if I walk the streets of a town today I'm still apt to shy when a piece of paper or anything flics up that would scare a horse. I at least always think about it."4 He liked to point out that he was on horseback wherever he went—throughout the cow country of the Western states, in western Canada, and northern Mexico (1907-1919), while serving time in prison for cattle rustling in Nevada(1914-1916), while competing in rodeos in the U.S. and Canada(1910-1919), as a Hollywood film rider and stuntman (1916), with the U. S, Army as a scout on the Mexican border (1918-1919), and, finally, while courting his wife in Reno (1920).5 As a result of his abiding association with horses, James developed enormous knowledge of their movements, manners, and moods. This knowledge, coupled with broad experience as a working cowboy, provided him with insight and understand ing of cowboy life unmatched by his peers, past or present. Even today, sixty years after his death, it is doubtful chat any art ist of merit would come forward to claim parity with James' credentials as a cowbov. Since the turn of the century artists have gone to wonderful lengths to prove CO the public their "cowboy ways” and, thus, their qualifications and territorial rights for the job of "cowboy artist."Some

WILL JAMES

On the open range this coupokc and his horse get in the way of a wild and mean longhorn steer. A igz^ ilhistrationforoneofjames’early shortstoriesfor Scribner’s,it later appeared in hisfirst booft, Cowboys North and South. Knownfor his uni^jue abilityfor action drazvings,James was quite "loose’’and spon taneous in his early inkivork..

established their credentials by daily affect ing Western dress, by much-photographed trips to Wyoming's Eaton or HF Bar dude ranches, by cramming their studios with cowboy garb and relics, or, as James once wryly noted, simply "going thru the coun try on a Pullman,”

The special flavor and feel of James' depictions of the cowboy and his horses originated from his deep comprehension of and respect lor the subject matter. His re flective sense, developed in part by long hours spent at lonely line camps gentling wild horses, gave him a unique ability lor

NOTICIAS

■

■4 ^

'■

●●'.A

V/»ll JPlHtS' —

*2« -

Ihe i p20S was James' best period for pencil drawings, the majority of ivhich appeared in his jirst five Scribner’s books. Printed at the end of the decade, Sand isjidl oj energetic and insightfid scenes ofcow boy life. Here cowboys rope saddle mountsfrom the ranch remuda.

WILL JAMES descripcion and interpretation. His insight developed mainly from participation and not from observation. Interviewed once by a Montana newspaper about the value of rodeo performances as inspiration for pro viding details for bucking horse drawings. James stated, "I draw from the real experi ence of straddling a bucker and not from observation. Years in the saddle teach you something about the actions of a[bucking horse] . . . that you can’t get from seeing them,”6

Never sketched from life In Lone Cowboy he provided additional insight into his arc technique, "People ask me how I . . . catch horses in action, or how I get my models for my drawings and paintings. I’ve never sketched from life and never watched any animal with intentions of sketching it. ’’^ Walt Reed, In his authoritative book. The Illustrator in America, igoo-ig6o, un derstood the exceptional talent James ex pressed in his horse drawings, "No one could dramatize the explosive, twisting action of horses better chan James who learned his subject from the saddle. ’’^ Harry Jackson (b.l924), for forty years a renowned Western artist, cold this writer in 1984, "Will James is one of our greatest action draftsmen of all time." He also noted, "Every real life cowboy I have known over half a century, men that know what the hurricane deck of a hard bucking horse feels like, always put James at the cop of the list.’’9 Robert Scrivner (1914-1999), an ad mired Western sculptor and a Cowboy Artist of America member, remarked to me once, Wlien I was getting started and. with many other artists crying to break into the arc Held, all of us cried to draw horses like Will James and not Charlie

59 Russell. Scrivner was selected to sculpt a towering bronze monument of Russell at the entrance of the C, M, Russell Mu seum in Great Falls. Montana. Joe Dc Yong (1894-1975), who lived with Russell during the last ten years of the latter’s life and was his only protege, reflected on the best cowboy artists in the late 1960s, De Yong, in noting his own as sociation with "outstandingly successful artists, writers, and actors over a period of better than fifty years,’’ expressed the opin ion, "The list boils down to who drew ac tion best, with construction of anatomy and color, a sense of composition, to say nothing of originality of ideas, . . Judged soley on the foregoing qualities and ex pressed as impersonally as possible, Charlie was the first of his kind, and still—over forty years after his death—unquestionably the all-around best in his special field. With Will James in his drawing of the cowboys ol his time and their horses in action,some times at his best crowding on close behind. ■11 At least that is one man's opinion.

Master of drawing horses A Wyoming school textbook in 1947 observed." Will James ’ drawings of horses and cowboys made his books on western life invaluable. He was a master of the tech nique of drawing horses in all poses, stances, and action. ”12 Anthony Amaral, a keen observer, show judge, and writer about horses him self, perhaps summed it up best in 1967 in his highly personalized and at times bit terly denunciatory book about James: As an illustrator, particularly ofthe horse, James is supreme. The horse, as the land itself, was always a surging emotion jor him and, unlike his feelings for the land, he could ex¬ press the p<nver, symmetry, and beauty of the

NOTICIAS

60 horse.By agleam in its eye,position ojan ear, or the dilation of the nostrils, James vividly showed a horse’sfear,rage, alertness, and,no less powerfid, a horse in peaceful repose. A horse could not contort itselfinto any position that James was unable to photograph in his mind and reprvduce that image on paper.^^

U.S., he sent his package to Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York City. Four editors immediately rejected his prose. An art editor, J. H, Chapin, liked the freshness and quality of the drawings and prevailed upon Charles Scribner II to try the article over the objections of the editors. It ran in the March 1923 issue of

After some early success in 1920-1921 with Sunset magazine in San Francisco and small success in the East with a few pulp publications. James decided in late 1922 to try his hand at serious writing. In the dia lectical conversational style ol cowboys at a campfire, James wrote a roughly 3.000word narrative story he called, "Bucking Horses and Bucking Horse Riders." With it he included eight pen-and-ink drawings, seven of which were action pieces. Aiming at the foremost publishing house in the

the monthly magazine with excellent re action from both critics and public. James began writing and drawing pro fusely for Scribner’s and several other magazines which had taken note of the acclaim, including Vie Saturday Evening Post. Scribner’s introduced James’ first book, Coivboys North and South, a com pilation ol eight short stories and fiftyseven drawings, in 1924. Reviews were outstanding. The Neiv Yorf{ Herald Tri bune called it:

This pencil drawing ofa cutting horse scene was donefor the novel.Sand.James noted that a good cutting horse in his day was worth more than a small cattle ranch. Cattle need to he cut out ofa herd to be branded and medicated.

8 r.ti/ ●.

WILL JAMES

r, Jamesproducedfew oilpaintings and,in this regard, he was much life Ed Borein. Both handled gestural art—too difficultfor most artists—os well as anyone in Western art history, j^either, however, appears to have completed more thanfifty worfs in oil. This action oil was thefrontispiecefor the Illustrated Clas sic Edition ofJames’best-selling, Boof-of-the-7^onth Clidi selection, Lone Cowboy: My Life Story. A gorgeous and almost unbeLieveable

best reminiscences that have ever come offthe

book, ■ ■ ■ vivid, intensely human, amazingly

ranges Each ojthe...pictures with which the volume is enriched is brilliant and asfilled

graphic ... Ele achieved a dignity and sim plicityfar beyond the reach ofnine out often

with violent action as an exploding dynamite

professionalwriters and gave to the world the

stick- Forthefirst time in our literary recollec-

NOTICIAS

62 tion, the range-riderfights his way up through the mass ojsentimental misinterpretation that was burying him, volume by volume, and speaksfor himself. What he says is worth listening to. What he draws is even more gor geous.Wtr.James has done a magnificent bookdhe 'limes of London observed that the James drawings "had nothing to fear from comparisons with the work of Frederic Remington or any other artist of the plains.”15 A second book of illustrated short sto ries was published the following year by Scribner’s. "Die Drifting Coivboy carried fifty-seven drawings to accompany James’ seven short narratives, none of which had appeared in Scribner’s weekly or monthly issues, but had appeared in four other prominent magazines. Critical and public acceptance again were widespread. These early successes were not lost on one of the great book editors in American literature. Maxwell E. Perkins at Scribner’s. In a letter to James in December 1924, he suggested James write a novel, a sort of Huckleberry Finn of the plains.16 James ac cepted the challenge, but adopted the ap proach ol having a talc by a horse rather than one by a cowboy. For an unforgotten range partner. James titled it, Smoky-A 0ne-?4an Horse. Scribner’s introduced it as a lengthy four-part serial in the monthly magazine from April to July 1926. The first issue featured a James watercolor of Smoky and his rider on the cover. The book came out in September with a briefer title. Smoky, The Cowhorse. Every one liked James’ story and his forty-six il lustrations. The New TorkTimes reviewer enthused, "Will James has done the BlackBeauty of the cow country . . . The book is gorgeous, the whole 310 pages of it, and the .. . illus trations by this man who taught himself

to draw bucking horses better than any other living artist, do much to enhance the value of a beautiful, vivid, charming book.”17 Within a year. Smoky would be re printed eleven times, win the lofty Newbery Award for the most distinguished children’s literature of the year by the American Library Association, and have six foreign language editions. In 1929, the book became one of Scribner’s Illustrated Classic Editions, for which James created nine oil paintings. Smoky would later be adapted for motion pictures in 1934, 1945, and 1966.

Like a cowboy at Ladies Aid Ed Ainsworth in his benchmark book, The Cowboy in Art, wrote of this period in American life,"... Will James came riding like a cowboy into a Ladies Aid meeting. The impact of his arrival was all the more dramatic because it was so unexpected. The same generation that had been brought up on the pap of BlackBeauty. a steed so gen teel he presumably used cologne, suddenly was confronted wth Smoky,an honcst-toGod range horse with guts and a hell of a lot of earthly character. Smoky captivated America.”!-^ It also established James as the new au thority on cowboy life in both words and pictures. He continues to hold this posi tion today among those readers old enough to have seen his Scribner’s books or later reprints by Scribner or A. L. Burt, Grosser and Dunlop. World Publishing, and Sun Dial Press. There has also devek^ped a gen erally young group of cowboy-oriented admirers who have read reprints in recent years of several of his books by the Uni versity of Nebraska Press. In 1995, Mountain Press Publishing Company of Missoula began rcintroduc-

4ii ABOVE:Pa-haps James’Jinest lar^e pencil drawing ofa Imcking horse, this work,was oivned by the IIF Bar R.anch ofSaddlestring, Wyoming.'Ihe drawing was most likely intended jor thefirst Smoky Ixiokin 1926, but was sold cis afavor by James and thus never appeared in anyojhis books.Ja7nes had enormous respectJor the I ll' Bar, Eaton Dude Ranch,and others oj'their tone. CENTERSPRCAD:Thislargeoil,A Heeler in the Slack, wasiniendedforjames’classiceditiemof Smoky in igzg. Prior to being shippedfkmAlontana to AJewldrk, Clevelandindustrialist QeorgeQund spotted the painting at Snook’s art store in Billings and made a successful offer. Qund Utter said that the painting inspired him to becorne a cattle rancher in Montana and to start a Western art collection.

VL 4/

■?jvunDDV utnj} ss?j oj 'siung ^ p?jp sv ‘uoijDidap sii^j pinj'suvuojsjif jsop\{ ']]}Q /C]unj ‘m.vj}no 3ijj s]]pj puv 9uv^ mopouq :njj s?:>vj ^pavuq duvq j ●siting- 3/i^o/y; ^ SS3DDnSury]ncJoch7 ‘DU03SqU10J_ fo UOlJjpdpilOD?S ^tpMj’sHOJJV-ilSJVjJj'ijU} ?ppUJclo] p9]D9J9S sjytn s?ulv[

SVDIXON

WILL JAMES

NOTICIAS

All the excitement of the great outdoors THUNDERS ACROSS THE SCREEN! The epic story of an ootlaw mustang... an untamed girl-and th^man who mastered them both!

STARRlNd

FESS

That "Man of the West" in an excitine new role!

20tti Century-Fox presents

AN AARON ROSENBERG production WILL JAMES'

Co-starring

Produced by

Directed by

Screenplay by

Based on a screenplay by From the novel by WILL JAMES

Fess Pat\er Starred in the third version of Smoky, The Cowhorsc in ig66. Fox’sfirst version had Victor Jofjin the main role in 1934.FredMcMurray wasfeatured in thesecondmovie in 1945.Lone Cowboy was issued by Paramount in 1933 anciSand appearedin ig^g,produced by Twenfieth-Century-Fox.

WILL JAMES

'■ j

y*'\fUm

Jt ^- -A--

Z'f^f

ty.

A 1

\j^'. i: - ,

I .

For his ig40 bool{j Horses I Have Known, James drew this bucking horse and rider in pencil before adding watercolor. '[he painting ivas selectedfor both thefrontispiece and dustjacket ofthe book-

70 ing what it announced would be publica tion of all the Scribner editions of James' books. At present. Mountain Press has completed about two-thirds of the reprints. With the coming of the 1930s, James’ third novel and second best-seller. Lone Coivboy,was published and became a Bookoi-the Month Club selection. The book captured public attention to an even larger extent chan Smoky- It was a totally fresh and epic struggle of a man, rather chan a horse, in the North American wilds. "If there is anywhere a cowboy saga, we have it here,” noted the BpjietvofI{evieivs.]cimcs had copped himself. In an enormous burst of creative energy following the writing of Lone Cowboy, James undercook the drawing of 250 penand-inks for the front Hylcaf of a limited edition of the book. The imagination re quired to create at one time finished ink originals for 250 special boxed copies of the book was unique in its day. No two are alike and, most importantly, they gener ally each cell a story. They arc not simply portraits and they were strong enough to supplement later drawings completed to illustrate texts of his future books. And most were so used. For creativity, quality, and number, this teat has not been matched to this day in Western literature, James produced some forty to fifty oil paintings in the period 1920-1932, Ten of these, all action works, excel in design, draftsmanship, imagination, and color. These include three of the eight oils he pro duced for the Illustrated Classic Edition of Lone Cowboy in 1932 and two he executed for Sun Up in 1931. Four ol his works pro duced for the classic edition of Smoky ^ind one unpublished work all stand firmly with the best work in the Western action genre of their era. The remaining ten James oils from Smoky and Lone Cowboy are also imagina¬

NOTICIAS tive and are certainly more chan adequate for the purpose intended. The oil paintings for the three books were all done in the period 1928-1932, after which James liter ally ceased working in the medium. While writing sharply curtailed time for drawing or painting, his celebrity sta tus was, perhaps, nearly an equal factor in limiting his output. James was always in demand for lecture tours, autographs, book and art parties, film openings, rodeos, horse shows, parades, and ocher events. An un wavering stream of the known and un known somehow found him at his Rock ing R Ranch, nearly hidden in the low-ly ing. rolling Montana hills near Pryor. As Tom Mix so aptly remarked to James’ wife in 1928,"He doesn't belong to you, but to the public, Alice.”19

Most Prolific Period The partying increased a dependency on alcohol that began to afflict him seri ously, first in the lace 1920s and again for varying periods after 1932. Alcohol even tually ended his marriage in 1935 and his life in 1942. Through it all Will James continued CO have marvelous periods of cre ativity and productivity. In fact, his most prolific period for pen-and-ink drawings was from 1930 through 1939. James executed the majority of his wacercolors in the 1930s as well. They were as sparse as his offerings in oil. Not until 1931 with Big Enough did he use watercolor for a book. On its cover is a watercolor of a well-mounted cowboy,one of the title characters. Undoubtedly, James’ best effort in waccrcolor appeared on the dust jacket of The Three iMiistangeers in 1933. Shown in action on broncs arc the three title cowboys. The original of this paint ing is in the collection of the C.M. Russell Museum.

WILL JAMES

A year before they were married in i^eno,James drew this picture ojhimselfivith Alice Conradt. The tight pencil rendering is typical ofhis style prior to his professional delmt with Sunset magazine in igzo. Maynard Dixon, who helped him get started, called these early ivork.s, "iron drawings.”

NOTICIAS

72 Thereafter James painted watercolors for the dustjackets of ten of his last twelve books. Along with the twelve title-piece watercolors, he completed twenty simple short watercolors for Jv[y First Florse child's book he wrote for Scribner in 1940. As James’ output of watercolors was small, only thirty-three published pieces and a few unpublished ones, it is difficult to offer an evaluation of his work in this medium. He generally worked with a more delicate and subtle approach in watercolor that cither oils or drawings. His draftsman ship and composition are normally good, colors are bright, warm, and harmonious, and the effect is attractive. Not surpris ingly, roughly two-thirds of the watercolor dust jackets involve action scenes. In the 1940s. as the talent seeped from his alcohol-weakened body and his life

-k

came to a close. Will James was still try ing to accomplish with his last book, The American Cowboy, what had been a para mount purpose of his first. With both words and pictures, he had wanted to bring the public perception of cowboys back to ward the reality of their workaday exist ence and away from the false myths so popular in books, magazines, and films of his day. James tried through his own knowledge and skill to give the public a truer and more complete comprehension of the cow coun try. He wanted the world of the cowboy to be appreciated lor its realities and its values as he understood them. For millions in the United States and other nations, he awakened with his art and literature a sense of virtual participation in, rather than merely an observation of, the American West.

James loved to draw and unite about the West's early range years, paHicularly long trail drives. In this inkdrawingforhisjirst book,Cowboys North and South,1924, he shows the point rider with a'Ihcas herd being driven to Jvlontana.

■iz6i ‘AoqM03 Sun^uQ oi[j_‘s5}uoj<;uoijsjo'ijooq piioDss ^ sdvxv[ liuuf SI Sujtniup -jpu^d ‘Supfonq jsuom sitj op oj ouaiq ‘3uoiuv'ijotni ai/j §umoui?u ig ■'qjo.n ijSnoj ipns ipim p77sruju3puvn\ v

£l

Su-iSusj-jmp si iioqmoo Smsq si ssMif ppm. sipi

SHWVf niA\

NOTICIAS

HE Early Days of the Will Tames Society Stephen Zimmer IN THE FALL of 1991, three New Mexi cans met to discuss their mutual interest in the lile and works of Will James. The group included Les Davis. President of the CS

Bell. Will James: Vie Life and Works ofa Lone Cowboy;andjames Bramblcc, Videfor the High Points: Vie Real Story of Will James).

Cattle Company;Steve Zimmer,Museum Director at Philmont Scout Ranch; and

In the following months, the three con tacted several New Mexico ranchers who

western sculptor, Curtis Fort.

held James’ work along with a number of prominent James collectors outside of New Mexico including Abe Hays of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Dick and Dianne Wctzell of Reno, Nevada.

The result of their meeting was a plan to mount an exhibition of works by Will James during the summer of 1992 to cel ebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth. The exhibit was to be co-sponsored by the CS Ranch and Philmont and was to be displayed at the Scout Ranch Museum. Cimarron. New Mexico, was chosen as an appropriate site for the exhibit based on the fact that WillJames had spent the sum mer of 1921 cowboying on the CS Ranch and had received important support for his art career from several area ranchers.(For the full story, consult the three Will James biographies: Anthony Amaral. Willjames: Vie Qilt Edged Cowboy, William Gardner

Santa Barbara Meeting In recent years, the Will James Society has published a newsletter and held annual conventions, providing interest among its several hundred members. Vie Society is having its ninth annual meeting in Santa Barbara in conjunction with the exhibition ofthe Hays James Collection at the SantaBarbara Histori calSociety,September 6,2.001—January 31,2002.

The exhibit included more than thirty works, most of which had been illustra tions for various of James'books. Tlic show ran from May to October 1992, and was a highlight for visiting Philmont Scouts and their leaders. Most of them were exposed to Will James for the first time. Because 1992 was the one-hundredth anniversary of James’ birth, Davis, Fort, and Zimmer thought it would be appro priate to organize a gathering of interested people for the purpose of celebrating the artist’s life and work. Consequently, the third weekend of September 1992 was des ignated to hold lectures, relate personal experiences, and view films about Willjames. More than eighty people attended the symposium which was held at Philmont. Among the attendees were Anne Hamilton, James’ niece; Gwendolyn Clancy, who had produced a documentary film on James’life; and Jim Bramlett, the most recent James’ biographer, along with a number of inter ested collectors, ranchers, cowboys, and scholars. As a result of the success of the event, several of those in attendance proposed or-

WILL JAMES ganizing a society devoted to Will James and his art. Anne Hamilton spearheaded the effort by writing a check in the amount ol one hundred dollars as the initial contri bution to fund the organization. An organizing Board of Directors was formed including Anne Hamilton. Gwen Clancy,Jim Bramlctt, Chuck DeHaan, Les Davis, Curtis Fort, and Steve Zimmer. Tlie group held its organizational meeting in Reno, Nevada, the following November, where a mission statement and by-laws were drafted. Curtis Fort was named the first presi dent of the Will James Society with Gwen Clancy as Vice-President and Paul Stevens as the Executive Secretary. Grant Speed and Fred Fleischmann were also added to the board. Following the Reno meeting, the Board ot Directors began developing plans for the first annual meeting of the Society, which was to again be held in Cimarron during the weekend of September 24-26, 1993.

-A

in a cowboy church service. Since that first meeting, the Will James Society has met in Reno, Nevada: Billings, Montana; Scottsdale. Arizona; Los Ange les, California, at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage; Oklahoma City, Okla homa, at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame; and Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the Rodeo Hall of Fame. In 2001. the Soci ety will meet in Santa Barbara, California. Presidents of the Society have included Curtis Fort, Fred Fleischmann, Dick Wctzell, Ron Ball, Jack Wong, Steve Zimmer, and Brian Winter.

'k 'k FOOTNOTES

1. Billings Qazf:ttc,9 February 1930. 2. Will James, LoneCowboy:7^yLijeSlory{Ncw York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1930). 423. 3. Will James. Cowboys,T^orthandSouth{Ncw York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1924). viii. 4. James, Lane Cowboy, ■^i2. 5. Ibid.,382.428. 6. 7. 8,

The first annual meeting took on the character of the Philmont/CS Ranch sym posium of the year before. Several mem bers of the new society generously brought Will James art from their collections to share with the 150 people in attendance. Other activities included talks by Gwen Clancy Henry Bedford, and Jim Murphy, and an art show and banquet. On Sunday, Chuck DeHaan led the assembled members

Billings Qa^fittc, 20 August 1933. James, Lone Ccnvboy, 412-415. Walt Reed, /larold von Schmidt Draws and

Faints the OUl West (Flagstaff: Northland Press. 1972), 34. 9. Harry Jack.son, telephone conversation with author, November 1984. 10. Robert Scrivner, conversation with author, 21 March 1980. 11. C. M. R}isscU, A Legendary Man (Great Falls: C. M. Russell Museum. 1978).

n.d. 12. Velma Linford, Wyoming Frontier State

13-

14. 1516. 17 18. 19.

(Denver: The Old West Publishing Co.. 1947). 396. Anthony Amaral. Will James the Cjilt Edged Ccru;5o)> (Los Angeles: Western Lore Press, 1967), 181-182. BiWmgs Qa^tte, 9 February 1930. James, Cowboys North and Stmth, reviews quoted on dustjacket. %e Letters ofMaxwell E. Ferkins{Nc'w York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1950), 42-43. James, CmuhoysNorthandS()ulh,rcvicws. Ed Ainsworth, 7^eC(w/x>)'in Art (Cleveland: World Publishing Co.. 1968), 78, Alice James Ross, conversation with author, 1979.

7 HE LLLUSJT{ATlON by Wilt James on the jollmving page is from his bookj Smoky, the

Cowhorse,

■ c. .

( ,T ;●<

» ● ^T>--' ●-

'.■ ●^

●: V

. ,V' '^' W

.4.

The Santa Barbara Historical Society wishes to acknowledge the generous support of

Mr. & Mrs. and

Te Will Tames

ays

-A

SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2001 La Fiesta delMuseo contributors The Sanca Barbara Hiscorical Society wishes to thank and to acknowledge with pride the following individuals, businesses, and institutions for their most generous contributions to the Society’s 2001 Fiesta Party;

PATRONS Anonymous Roy & Elizabeth Edwards Larry & Astie Hammett Nancy Balch Marston General F. Michael Rogers. USAF (ret.) BENEFACTORS

Sanford Winery Santa Barbara Bank & Trust Starbuck, Tisdale &. Associates Donald & Jo Beth Van Gelderen James & Marlene Vitanza Albert & Cecily Wheelon

Fess Parker's Wine Country

Inn & Spa

Harry & Leslie Hovey Jane Rich Mueller Nett & Champion Insurance Services

Fillmore & Western Railway Four Seasons Biltmore Gainey Vineyards Ganna Walska Lotusland Foundation Gelson's Market

Santa Barbara Airport Richard & Robin Schuttc Claudia E. Taden

One on One Fitness Training Paradise Cate Patricia Goodman Interior Design Peregrine Galleries Personal Tours. Ltd. P. S- Limited Edward & Plattic Quest Radisson Hotel Ranclio San Marcos Golf Course

C- K, & Mary Williams Elizabeth S. Youkcr

Jean Smith Goodrich Grandma's Paint Chris & Dee Gronbeck

SILENT AUCTION CONTRIBUTORS

Larry & Astie Hammett Hammock. Arnold. Smith 3i

ADC-CLIO Publishing Company, Inc. Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara

Sage & Onion Company Gregg Hart, Santa Barbara City Saks Fifth Avenue San Ysidro Ranch Council Member Santa Barbara Airbus Phyllis Haskell

Bacara Resort & Spa Baroncclli Linens & Accessories

Heather House Antiques Harry & Leslie Hovey Jedlicka's John Hall Fine Furniture Kaleidoscope Flowers Kate

J.W (& Helene Beaver Best Western lYpper Tree Inn Sherry Bevan Marty Blum, Sanca Barbara City Council Member Louise Duque Brant Ca' Dario Calilornia Cleaners Carey & Carty Antiques Casa dc Sevilla CAVA

Keeper's Lighthouse La Casa Del Zorro La Purisima Golf Course Kathleen A. Lear Lc Panache Lewis & Clark

Community Arcs Music Association

Magellan's Main Antiques & Books MarBorg Industries Maureen Murphy Fine Arts Thad & Laurie MacMillan

Country House Antiques Cox Communications

Jim & Cree Mann McDonald's Restaurants

Patrick & Marilyn DeYoung

Montecito Beauty Salon Montccito Village Grocery Jane Rich Mueller Music Academy ol the West Objects

Channel City Club Cicronelle

Bill Ehelebe Emilio's Risrorance

Robert & Margaret Rau Kenneth & Mary Lou Riley Restaurant Mimosa Barbara Parker Robinson

Santa Barbara Airport Santa Barbara Athletic Club Santa Barbara Inn Santa Barbara Maritime Museum Santa Barbara Museum of Art Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens Richard & Robin Schuttc Scott Hogue Sandy Shaver Shear Design Sheridan Smith Frank & Kay Stevens Tecolotc Book Store The Bayberry Inn The Nugget The Simpson House Inn The Stationery Collection Upham Hotel W A. King Company Wells Fargo Bank Albert & Cicely Wheelon Wine Cask

TTie Santa Barbara Ilistorical Society 136 E. De la Quefra Street,Santa Barbara, California 93101

Non-Profic Organization U S. Postage PAID Santa Barbara California Permit No. 534

NOTICIAS Quarccrly Magazine of the Santa Barbara Historical Society 136 E, Dc la Guerra Street Santa Barbara, California 93101

Address Service Requested

contents Pg. v53; Will James, Cowboy Artist