Painting of the Day, January 7, 2012

By Donna Poulton

Zane Grey “had the knack of tying his characters into the land, and the land into the story. There were other Western writers who had fast and furious action, but Zane Grey was the one who could make the action not only convincing but inevitable, and somehow you got the impression that the bigness of the country generated a bigness of character.” -- Earl Stanley Gardner

Credit: ebay.comTo accompany the expansive stories of the west penned by Grey, his publisher insisted on using the best illustrators working at the time. Herbert Buck Dunton, a popular artist and illustrator, was hired to illustrate Wanderer of the Wasteland, published in 1923. The hard cover, book jacket, a frontispiece and two illustrations were included by Dunton. W. Herbert  “Buck” Dunton was a successful illustrator working for Scribner’s, Harper’s, as well as for Zane Grey. He was a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists and eventually gave up illustrating to concentrate on easel painting.

Credit: ebay.comCredit: ebay.coThe book was made into a movie by Paramount; it was their first feature length technicolor film.  This poster, by an unknown illustrator, emphasized the color and drama in both the book and the film.

Credit: moviepostershop.comYou may also want to browse through previous posts:

Painting of the Day, November 27, 2011

Painting of the Day, November 3, 2011

Zane Grey's Illustrators: Lillian Wilhelm Smith

Painting of the Day, November 27, 2011

By Donna Poulton

W. Herbert “Buck” Dunton (1878 – 1936), The Open Range, 1920s, oil on canvas.  Credit: 1ArtClub.com

W. Herbert  “Buck” Dunton was a successful illustrator working for Scribner’s, Harper’s, and for Zane Grey before settling in Taos and becoming founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. Before his work became more stylized toward the end of his career, Dunton used a softer more impressionistic approach to paint the sun-drenched landscape that surrounded him.

The value range of lights and darks can only be seen on the riders and horses.  There are no shadows because the sun seems to be directly overhead.  The abscence of value is more easily illustrated in this photo-shopped black and white image.

To see more of Herbert Buck Dunton, you might like our prior post on the painting Fall in the Foothills.

Paintings Without Color: The Grisaille

By Donna Poulton

Known as ‘dead coloring’ by the old masters, grisaille paintings are characterized by the use of monochromatic (one color) paint.  Typically the paint used is a tone of black, but artists also use indigo blue, sepia or brown.  Starting in the sixteenth century the technique was used as ‘underpainting’ to help artists define light and dark areas of the painting before adding color.

Credit: Coeur D’Alene Art Auction

Thomas Moran (1837-1926),  Avalanche in Cottonwood Canyon, c. 1895, oil on board, 14 x 11 in.

Grisaille paintings are often offered for sale by western art auctions and galleries today. Oftentimes you’ll hear viewers wondering why the artist “didn’t finish the painting.” The simple answer is the works are finished. Newspapers and magazines in the latter part of the 19^th century and early 20^th needed black and white images for their publications—especially as they tried to fill the high demand of their readership for images of the West.

Credit: Coeur D’Alene Art Auction

Frederic Remington (1861-1909), He Made his Magazine Gun Blaze…, 1900, oil on canvas, 40 x 27 in.

In order to create the truest color, with the highest sense of drama, illustrators such as Thomas Moran, Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, Maynard Dixon, Frank Tenney Johnson, Herbert Buck Dunton, and William H.D. Koerner painted their illustrations for print using the tonal variations of black and white paint.

Credit: Christie’s New York, Rockerfeller Center

Frederic Remington (1861-1909), He Was the Law (Billy the Kid), c.1901, oil on canvas, 27 x 40 in.

Credit: Christie’s Los Angeles

Maynard Dixon (1875-1846), Go Get One, 1912, oil on board, 27 x 19 in.

Credit: Bonhams & Butterfields San Francisco

Maynard Dixon (1875-1846), The Car Was at His Hip-Almost, 1913, gouache on paper, 29 x 20 in.

Credit: Christie’s Los Angeles 10.29.08

Herbert Buck Dunton (1878-1936), Follerin’ the Tracks, 1907, oil on canvas, 30 x 18 in.