| Olaf Wieghorst (1899-1988) was born in Viborg, Denmark, and became one of the premier interpreters of the American West. This small exhibition, featuring color lithographs from original paintings and reproductions of original pen and ink drawings, represents an impressive body of work by this Western and Danish-American artist. Wieghorst, who was self-taught, was interested in creating works of art as well as documenting the story of the Old West. Painting in the same tradition of Remington and Russell, his artwork included themes of horses, Indian peoples, the U.S. Cavalry, cowboys as well as Southwestern landscapes. He drew from his experiences as a trick rider for a circus, a member of the U.S. 5th Cavalry patrolling the Mexican border, a cowboy in Arizona and New Mexico, and a member of the New York City Mounted Police. He retired in El Cajon, California where he worked until his death in 1987, recapturing in his paintings and prints the West he had known as a trooper and cowboy. |
