From Canvas to Screen

Welcome to the February issue of Western Art Collector! This issue of Western Art Collector celebrates our State of the Art: California guide to collecting. Hollywood and Westerns started in the Golden State. With our base in Arizona, we cherish our historic connection to Western film and television—tombstone and the O.K. Corral come to mind. But it was the backlots of Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures that shaped our view of the West and made many of us collectors.

As we talk to gallery owners and collectors we hear about the influences of Frederic Remington and Charles

M. Russell at the turn of the century. They were a dynamic force on what Western movies would soon look like, from the landscapes to the horses to the action. Look up

Remington’s The Apaches! or A Dash for the Timber. Or

Google Russell’s Smoke of a .45 or A Quiet Day in Utica.

You will see scenes from Maverick, Gunsmoke, Cheyenne

and so many others in those images. The Western frontier and the cowboy is a revered part of our legacy, including our film history, and our Western Art Collector team brings these connections to you every month.

Here we are in 2023. We have more Western frontier storytelling now than we have seen in a very long time.

Shows and films such as Yellowstone, The Harder They

Fall, 1883, Longmire, The English…the list goes on and on. In fact, we would dare to say that the West is alive and well in our historic and romantic imaginations. All of this is due to the artists that continue to painstakingly study their subjects and bring them to life on canvas and in sculpture. Whether contemporary or classic, we all know when an artist is painting or sculpting the West. And when they are, you can count on them being in the magazine. From Remington and Russell, to the many artists who have risen up in the 16 years Western Art Collector has been published, we will continue to write about the artists who are keeping the West alive in their artwork.

In addition to our California guide, we also have our returning Into the Wilderness section and our new Western Still Life section this month. We hope you find something you need to take home in one of our features!

Wendie Martin and Adolfo Castillo