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Lot Essay
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work being prepared by Michael R. Grauer, Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs/Curator of Art and Western Heritage, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas.
There is an genuineness in William Herbert Dunton's depictions of the American West that comes from his personal experience as a cowboy, hunter and lifelong avid outdoorsman. As described by Michael R. Grauer, "unlike his Taos brethren, and his peers outside Taos, Dunton was an outdoorsman in the purest sense of the word. He was also one of the few American artists who was a participant in the West, rather than an observer or spectator of it, having worked periodically as a cowboy and hunter from his first trip to the West in 1896 and his first trip to Taos in 1912." (W. Herbert Dunton: A Retrospective, Canyon, Texas, 1991, p. 11)
Busting a Broncho is one such genuine portrayal of cowboys, painted circa 1909-12 when Dunton was at the peak of his career as a commercial illustrator. According to Grauer, the present work was likely used as an illustration in a catalogue or advertisement for the D.M. Ferry Seed Company of Detroit, Michigan, for which Dunton created several similar Old West images around this time. As in the present spirited composition, Julie Schimmel describes, "Many of Dunton's cowboy images...emphasized the cowboy not as a cattleman but as a man accustomed to the dangers of wild men and animals." (The Art and Life of W. Herbert Dunton, 1878-1936, Orange, Texas, 1984, p. 50)
There is an genuineness in William Herbert Dunton's depictions of the American West that comes from his personal experience as a cowboy, hunter and lifelong avid outdoorsman. As described by Michael R. Grauer, "unlike his Taos brethren, and his peers outside Taos, Dunton was an outdoorsman in the purest sense of the word. He was also one of the few American artists who was a participant in the West, rather than an observer or spectator of it, having worked periodically as a cowboy and hunter from his first trip to the West in 1896 and his first trip to Taos in 1912." (W. Herbert Dunton: A Retrospective, Canyon, Texas, 1991, p. 11)
Busting a Broncho is one such genuine portrayal of cowboys, painted circa 1909-12 when Dunton was at the peak of his career as a commercial illustrator. According to Grauer, the present work was likely used as an illustration in a catalogue or advertisement for the D.M. Ferry Seed Company of Detroit, Michigan, for which Dunton created several similar Old West images around this time. As in the present spirited composition, Julie Schimmel describes, "Many of Dunton's cowboy images...emphasized the cowboy not as a cattleman but as a man accustomed to the dangers of wild men and animals." (The Art and Life of W. Herbert Dunton, 1878-1936, Orange, Texas, 1984, p. 50)