As trail riders begin their annual winter trek toward Memorial Park destinations, it hales the beginnings of yet another Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the annual fair/extravaganza that beckons locals to celebrate their genuine Texas roots and live the brand!  It is always a fun and exciting occasion for all involved, and constitutes what amounts to a month-long, city-wide hoedown!  Houstonians everywhere pull out all the stops to “Go Texan”, making the high-classed bar-b-que circuits and rodeo rounds in freshly steamed Stetsons and flashy, custom-made boots.  Meanwhile, over at William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art, the little Houston art gallery that actually “Went Texan” (at least in their own art selections) long ago, a delightful new exhibition rolls out which certain to capture the fancy of darn-near every urban cowboy carousing in the Bayou City.  The subject exhibition Of A Cowboy’s Sentiment, features the illustrated letters, drawings, watercolors and paintings by Texas’ first true “cowboy artist”, the pride of Clarendon, Texas—Harold Dow Bugbee.

We first had the privilege of reintroducing the work of Harold Dow Bugbee to Texas collectors back in 2011. It was a rousing success, with patrons snapping up the works of this Panhandle artist who has been deemed the “Charlie Russell of Texas.” In this 2016 exhibition, we combine forces with the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum and Bugbee descendants to show a newly found cache of the artist’s sketches, illustrations, and paintings.

Harold Dow Bugbee came to the Texas Panhandle in 1912, settling with his family on a ranch near Clarendon.  In addition to his work on the family ranch, Bugbee served as a cowboy on Charles Goodnight’s legendary JA Ranch.  Through his relationships with Goodnight, Bugbee developed lifelong friendships with ranching legends such as Frank Collinson and others.  He was a student in architectural drawing at Texas A&M College in 1918, and later attended the Cumming School of Art in Des Moines, Iowa for formal art training.  Returning to the Texas Panhandle in 1921, Bugbee continued his work as a ranch hand, while perfecting his painting and drawings.  Beginning in 1919, he traveled regularly to the Taos colony to paint with Herbert Dunton, Bert Phillips, Leon Gaspard and others.

Bugbee was inspired by Frederic Remington and Charles Russell, painting his own brand of western subject matter and documenting the ranching heritage and culture of the Southern Plains in a manner similar to what Russell had done before him on the Northern Plains of the United States. He attained prominence as a painter, muralist and illustrator of Western publications, his work shown by galleries in Chicago, Denver, Kansas City and New York.  In 1951, Bugbee became the first curator of art at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, painting a series of murals for the museum exhibition halls that remain today.

Of A Cowboy’s Sentiment: Paintings and Drawings by Harold Bugbee will be on view March 1–April 30, 2016 at William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art with an opening reception on Saturday, April 2nd from 6-8:30pm. The following Saturday, April 9th, 2016 from 2-4pm, the gallery will host a talk with the esteemed Michael Grauer, Curator of Art and Western Heritage at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas, who will speak on the life and art of the artist.

Exhibition Dates and Special Events at Reaves | Foltz

On view March 1-April 30, 2016

-March 1-April 30—Stage 1: Illustrated Letters

-March 25-April 30, 2016—Stage 2: Drawings & Paintings

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 2, 2016, 6-8:30pm

Gallery Talk: Saturday, April 9, 2016, 2-4pm, featuring Michael Grauer, Curator of Art and Western Heritage at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

http://www.reavesart.com/Exhibit_Detail.cfm?ShowsID=151

Catalogs

Stage 1:  https://issuu.com/wrsffa/docs/bugbee_sketches_catalog

Stage 2:  https://issuu.com/wrsffa/docs/cowboy_s_sentiment_catalog_1