March 7 – July 26, 2009
Preview and Reception, March 6
As the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Phippen Museum continues, a special exhibition will open on March 7 through July 26, 2009, to honor the memory of the man whose last name was memorialized by this museum. Remembering George — Celebrating 25 Years of the Phippen Museum recognizes the impact that this self-taught founder and first president of the Cowboy Artists of America (CA) had on the contemporary members of that organization as well as other artists working in American Western Art today.
The exhibition will feature recent works of art by CA members on loan from the individual artists, as well as from private collections and new acquisitions from the Phippen Museum Permanent Collection. The Phippen Family will have a large selection of their private art on loan during this exhibition.
Well known oil paintings by George Phippen, such as The Walker Party, on loan from the City of Prescott Library, will be on view during the exhibition. One beautiful oil painting on loan from the Phippen Family collection, Caught Napping, captures the humor and storytelling talent that George demonstrated in much of his work by showing a cowboy napping during a hunting trip as his horse watches a deer passing close by.
The Museum recently had several donations from organizations and individuals in the past year that have added more Phippen paintings to the Permanent Collection. Checking The Herd Below (1953), an oil painting, and Untitled Bronco Rider (1956), a watercolor donated in memory of Edith Fee by her son, Bruce, were two new additions by George Phippen donated to the Permanent Collection this year. Widow Maker, an early undated oil painting by George Phippen, was recently given to the Museum by National Reserve Insurance Company of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
George Phippen (1915-1966) along with his Western Art contemporaries — Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye and John Hampton — met at the Oak Creek Tavern in Sedona, Arizona to create an organization that would realistically depict the life of a cowboy and ranching through their art work. George was instrumental in reviving the lost wax process of bronze casting in the late 1950s and ran a foundry in the Skull Valley area known as the Bear Paw Bronze Works. This foundry continues today under the ownership of Loren Phippen. Many local families knew the Phippens and some of them are loaning art for this special exhibition.
Born in Charles City, Iowa, George was raised on farms in Iowa and Kansas. He was fascinated at a young age with stories about cowboys driving large herds of cattle over the Chisholm Trail. As a boy, he was already sketching horses, cattle and cowboys along with making clay models and contemplating an artist’s life. Eventually, George moved to the Northwest with the Civilian Conservation Corps and married Louise. Spending the WWII years in Washington State as a cartographer for the U.S. Army, George did some illustrations for war magazines.
George used the Southwest as the backdrop for his western art career and eventually moved there in 1945. Although the prospects of earning a living as a cowboy artist were not encouraging, Phippen was intent on success and managed to raise a family of five children while learning as much as he could about cowboys and the Southwest.
George was determined to accurately portray ranching life while frequently incorporating hard action and humor. He worked as an illustrator for books and magazine covers. He was the chief Western artist in the 1950s for Brown & Bigelow calendars, which also used Norman Rockwell’s work for their calendars. Phippen and his family eventually settled in Skull Valley, Arizona, where he devoted his full-time endeavors to painting and sculpting the subjects he loved — cowboys, horses and ranching. George died of cancer in 1966 during his first year as the CA President. The family business, Bear Paw Bronze Works, continued to cast George’s editions with the help of two new apprentice sculptors, Bill Nebeker and Pat Haptonstall, who both later became award-winning CA members.
In addition to the CA founding fathers, this exhibition will feature the work of 13 active CA members including Wayne Baize CA, John Coleman CA, Tim Cox CA, Loren Entz CA, Martin Grelle CA, David Halbach CA, T.D. Kelsey CA, Mehl Lawson CA, Herb Mignery CA, Bill Nebeker CA, Gary Niblett CA, Dave Powell CA and Clark Kelley Price CA.
Caught Napping (1955) is an oil painting demonstrating the humor that George often incorporated into his work. This piece is on loan from his son, Loren Phippen, and the Phippen Family Gallery.
Bucking Horse (1949), a watercolor painting, provides an example of the many mediums that George mastered during his lifetime. Swanson Enterprises donated this piece in 2006 to the Phippen Museum Permanent Collection.
Checking The Herd Below (1953) provides another example of the subject matter that George Phippen cherished — cowboys checking the cattle herd in the valley below. This acquisition was made possible through the generous donation of Ben and Jane Andre to the Permanent Collection.
Widow Maker is an early undated oil painting by George Phippen. This subject theme was often repeated by Phippen in later works with the composition usually similar with two cowboys on either side of the wild horse. This recent addition to the Permanent Collection was donated by the Reserve National Insurance Company of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Cutting Them Out, an oil painting by Charlie Dye, is on loan from the Zelma Basha Salmeri Gallery of Western American and Native American Art, courtesy of Eddie Basha.
Apache Horse Thieves, an oil painting by Joe Beeler, is on loan from the Zelma Basha Salmeri Gallery of Western American and Native American Art, courtesy of Eddie Basha.