A TRIBUTE TO ED MELL, ARIZONA’S GREAT MODERNIST
Phoenix painter Ed Mell was always intended to be on this list, but after his passing on February 21, it was twice as important to include him as an acknowledgment to all he has done for the Southwest. Mell is one of Western Art Collector’s six-timer cover artists, a title he shares with exceptional company: Charles M. Russell and two other Arizona artists, Howard Terpning and Bob Kuhn. First appearing on the front of Issue 7, Mell’s cover paintings included cacti (Issues 120 and 141), horses (Issue 7 and 164), an abstracted landscape (Issue 87) and the cubisminspired bucking horse image titled Every Which Way But Loose (Issue 43), which has long been a reader favorite even 13 years after its publication date.
Mell didn’t just appear on our covers; he was also a regular fixture here in our offices, where he would visit with friends and talk shop with our different teams. He was quiet and soft-spoken, but he had a big personality and loved to connect with people in the art world. He would often come in to personally guide our designers on his ads or help with the color reproduction of his work in our editorial coverage. During interviews, Mell would openly admit he wasn’t good when it came to talking about his own work. He felt that art could speak for itself, and anything he had to say about it wouldn’t be adequate to what he painted. For many years, the joke was that if you wanted Mell to open up in an interview it was best to talk about anything but his own art. That worked well because he had lots of interests, including 20th-century illustration, odd bits of Arizona history and classic cars. He knew interesting people, had fascinating stories and he was thoroughly impressed with the work of younger artists, including rising Native American artists who were blazing their own trails.
And, of course, Mell’s work was exceptional because it captured modern views of the Southwest. He was a trailblazer. This is reflected in all of his work, including the pieces that are featured on our covers. One piece that stands out now after his death is Sonoran Kings (Issue 141). The two saguaros standing tall in brilliant light were meant to represent him and his late son. The painting has all the hallmarks of a Mell painting: brilliant color, simplified forms with straight lines, glowing clouds hanging over the desert and a strong connection to Arizona, the home he loved.