JOE BEELER (American, 1931-2006). Trail Driving Days. Oil on canvas. 20 x 30 inches (50.8 x 76.2 cm). Signed lower left:...

Description

JOE BEELER (American, 1931-2006)
Trail Driving Days
Oil on canvas
20 x 30 inches (50.8 x 76.2 cm)
Signed lower left: Joe Beeler
Titled on stretcher: Trail Driving Days


One of the pioneers of modern American Western Art, Joe Beeler was equally at ease with both the sculptor's clay and the painter's palette. He was also equally at ease in his studio in Sedona, Arizona, as he was mounted on his horse with lariat in hand. Like many of his contemporaries, Beeler bridged the gap between the world of the artist and that of the working cowboy. Along with John Hampton, Charlie Dye, and George Phippen, Beeler was a founder of the Cowboy Artists of America (CAA). He grew up in Oklahoma, graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from Kansas State Teacher's College, and received further artistic training at the Art Center School in Los Angeles. One of his first jobs in the art world was as an illustrator for the University of Oklahoma Press.

He was given a one-man exhibition at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1960 and has since exhibited in numerous museums, including the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, the Phoenix Art Museum, and the Montana Historical Society in Helena, Montana. He is one of only a few artists who received the top honor from the CAA in both sculpting and painting. Beeler helped guide the CAA for four decades and was an active member of the group at the time of his death in 2006. He literally died in the saddle, suffering a heart attack while roping calves on his ranch.

Beeler's work spans many facets and eras of the West, from early nineteenth century buffalo hunts to modern ranching. Rope Trouble and Trail Driving Days illustrate his ability to move between historic and modern scenes, while keeping a sense of the continuity that connects the cowboys of the 19th century and their modern day counterparts. Beeler used his first hand knowledge of a cowboy's routine activities to portray that life with accuracy and authenticity. Even though paintings like Rope Trouble and Trail Driving Days portray cowboys a century apart, Beeler is able to convey convincingly that much of the work of an historic cowboy is the same as that done by his modern counterpart. Rope Trouble is a dramatic reminder that even the most routine tasks, such as roping a steer, are fraught with danger. Trail Driving Days takes a more nostalgic look at the Old West portraying a lone cowboy at the head of a long line of steers fording a river. As the cowboy glances back over his shoulder toward the herd, he seems to be both monitoring the progress of the herd and taking a backward look at days gone by.


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