#000068
The Cowboy in Art
Ed Ainsworth
The Cowboy in Art (1968) is Ed Ainsworth's lavish survey of how the American cowboy—working hand and national myth—has been portrayed in painting and sculpture, from the arrival of the Spanish to the mid-twentieth century. Ainsworth, a veteran California newspaperman, writes as an enthusiast and insider of the Western-art world, and his book doubles as a who's-who of the field, covering the giants alongside living painters and sculptors such as Olaf Wieghorst and Peter Hurd, and even a chapter on cowboy cartoonists. With 250 illustrations, sixteen pages in color, and a foreword by John Wayne, it's very much a product of its era's romance with the West. As art criticism it's affectionate rather than rigorous, but as a record of mid-century Western art and its stars, it's genuinely useful. For collectors, fans of cowboy art, or anyone drawn to the myth of the frontier, it's a handsome introduction.
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The author
Ed Ainsworth (1902–1968) was a longtime Los Angeles Times columnist and author of popular books on California and the American West. Well connected in the Western-art community, he wrote as a knowledgeable enthusiast rather than an academic art historian.
The book
Published by World Publishing in 1968 with a foreword by John Wayne, The Cowboy in Art traces depictions of the cowboy across four centuries, giving particular attention to the living Western painters and sculptors of Ainsworth's day. Some 250 illustrations, including sixteen color pages, and a chapter on cowboy cartoonists round out the survey.
How it has aged
It reads as a warm period document of the mid-century Western-art boom, more celebration than critical analysis. Its lasting value is as a reference to the artists—many of them minor or now forgotten—whom Ainsworth knew and championed.
For more context
Read alongside broader histories of Western American art and the work of Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Ed Ainsworth
- Publisher
- World Publishing
- Year
- 1968
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Art
- Location
- Maine