James Rome

Apache Mountain Spirit Dancer

ca. 1980

Pueblo Dancer Harold Larsen Oil Painting on board 30 x 20 inches Harold “Hal” E. Larsen (1934 – ) was born in Gowen, Michigan in 1934 and moved to Santa...

Lon Megargee 1883-1960 "The War Bonnet" Wood block print Signed: original pencil signature, lower right Image size: 11 x 11 inches Frame size 22 x 22 inches Creator of Stetson's hat logo "Last Drop from his Hat" Lon Megargee 1883 - 1960 At age 13, Lon Megargee came to Phoenix in 1896 following the death of his father in Philadelphia. For several years he resided with relatives while working at an uncle’s dairy farm and at odd jobs. He returned to Philadelphia in 1898 – 1899 in order to attend drawing classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Back in Phoenix in 1899, he decided at the age of 16 to try to make his living as a cowboy. Lon moved to the cow country of Wickenburg, Arizona where he was hired by Tex Singleton’s Bull Ranch. He later joined the Three Bar R. . . and after a few years, was offered a job by Billy Cook of the T.T. Ranch near New River. By 1906, Megargee had learned his trade well enough to be made foreman of Cook’s outfit. Never shy about taking risks, Lon soon left Cook to try his own hand at ranching. He partnered with a cowpuncher buddy, Tom Cavness, to start the El Rancho Cinco Uno at New River. Unfortunately, the young partners could not foresee a three-year drought that would parch Arizona, costing them their stock and then their hard-earned ranch. Breaking with his romantic vision of cowboy life, Megargee finally turned to art full time. He again enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art and then the Los Angeles School of Art and Design during 1909 – 1910. The now well-trained student took his first trip to paint “en plein air” (outdoors) to the land of Hopi and Navajo peoples in northern Arizona. After entering paintings from this trip in the annual Territorial Fair at Phoenix, in 1911, he surprisingly sold his first oil painting to a major enterprise – the Santa Fe Railroad . . . Lon received $50 for “Navajos Watching the Santa Fe Train.” He soon sold the SFRR ten paintings over the next two years. For forty years the railroad was his most important client, purchasing its last painting from him in 1953. In a major stroke of good fortune during his early plein-air period, Megargee had the opportunity to paint with premier artist, William R. Leigh (1866 – 1955). Leigh furnished needed tutoring and counseling, and his bright, impressionistic palette served to enhance the junior artist’s sense of color and paint application. In a remarkable display of unabashed confidence and personable salesmanship, Lon Megargee, at age 30, forever linked his name with Arizona art history. Despite the possibility of competition from better known and more senior artists, he persuaded Governor George Hunt and the Legislature in 1913 to approve 15 large, historic and iconic murals for the State Capitol Building in Phoenix. After completing the murals in 1914, he was paid the then princely sum of roughly $4000. His Arizona statehood commission would launch Lon to considerable prominence at a very early point in his art career. Following a few years of art schooling in Los Angeles, and several stints as an art director with movie studios, including Paramount, Megargee turned in part to cover illustrations for popular Western story magazines in the 1920s. In the 1920s, as well, Lon began making black and white prints of Western types and of genre scenes from woodblocks. These prints he generally signed and sold singly. In 1933, he published a limited edition, signed and hard-cover book (about 250 copies and today rare)containing a group of 28 woodblock images. Titled “The Cowboy Builds a Loop,” the prints are noteworthy for strong design, excellent draftsmanship, humanistic and narrative content, and quality. Subjects include Southwest Indians and cowboys, Hispanic men and women, cattle, horses, burros, pioneers, trappers, sheepherders, horse traders, squaw men and ranch polo players. Megargee had a very advanced design sense for simplicity and boldness which he demonstrated in how he used line and form. His strengths included outstanding gestural (action) art and strong figurative work. He was superb in design, originality and drawing, as a study of his prints in the Hays collection reveals. In 1944, he published a second group of Western prints under the same title as the first. Reduced to 16 images from the original 28 subjects, and slightly smaller, Lon produced these prints in brown ink on a heavy, cream-colored stock. He designed a sturdy cardboard folio to hold each set. For the remainder of his life, Lon had success selling these portfolios to museum stores, art fairs and shows, and to the few galleries then selling Western art. Drawing on real working and life experiences, Lon Megargee had a comprehensive knowledge, understanding and sensitivity for Southwestern subject matter. Noted American modernist, Lew...

American contemporary artist of Lebanese and Greek descent, Alice Asmar's art is often inspired by her love of nature, combined with a deep respect for native American culture, her work evolved into Southwestern themes of Indian Ceremonial Dance-Dramas, Indian portraits and landscapes.In 1991, Alice Asmar was chosen for prestigious Honorary Membership in the National League of American Pen Women. Only three such honors are given each year. This recognition reaches back to her childhood, Alice Asmar was considered a child prodigy, winning awards and recognition for her artwork before the age of 10. Her education from 1946 through 1959 included a BA magna cum laude, from Lewis and Clark College, Portland; an MFA from the University of Washington, Seattle; and a one-year fellowship to study at L'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France. Born in Flint, Michigan of Lebanese and Greek descent. Her parents moved to Portland, Oregon when she was just a baby. The artwork of her early years was inspired by the splendors of nature, from the inscrutable pines and ancient sculptured rocks along the Oregon Coast to the mysterious ocean mists. She Graduated magna cum laude from Lewis and Clark College in Portland and Obtained her Master's of Fine Arts Degree at The University of Washington in Seattle. Soon after graduating she accepted a job as an engineering drafter at Boeing Aircraft in Seattle. Her Assignment was clearing top secret drawing for air-to-ground missile. Alice worked for Boeing for less than a year. They offered her an engineering scholarship but she decided to go back to the art she loved doing from she was a child. After studying and traveling throughout the Near East, France, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Turkey, The Greek Islands, Greece and Lebanon, Asmar set up studios in California, New Mexico and Oregon. A master of many media, Asmar is distinguished for her many techniques which include paintings in Oil, casein and Acrylic, drawing in ink, pencil and pastel, collage, tapestry, books,American contemporary artist of Lebanese and Greek descent, Alice Asmar's art is often inspired by her love of nature, combined with a deep respect for native American culture, her work evolved into Southwestern themes of Indian Ceremonial Dance-Dramas, Indian portraits and landscapes. Prints including lithography, etching, Engraving on metal on plexiglas, portraits, murals and banners. Her hand engraving of innovative designs for dinner and household wares for Nambe Mills in Santa Fe is recognized internationally. Alice Asmar's works are in several hundred public and private collections in the United States and Europe, including the Smithsonian Institution, Franklin Mint, Portland Art Museum, Gene Autry Hotel in Palm Springs, Security Pacific International Bank of New York, The Public Art Museum of Gabrova, Bulgaria, kaiser-Permanente, and the Dr. Nicholas Townell collection in Angus, Scotland. Studied with Edward Melcarth & Archipenko, University of Washington, MFA. Work: National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institute, Washington. Los Angeles City-Scape at sunset (Mural), Commissioned by Dr. Walter jayasinghe, 66; Painting of doves, Bangs Manufacturing Co, Burbank Exhibitions: Seattle Art Museum. Museum of Science & Industry, Los Angeles. Circle Gallery Ltd, Houston, Abbot Hall Gallery, William Temple House, Portland Oregon. Nambe Mills, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sr Eye Art Gallery, Long Beach. Descanso Gardens, La Canada Flintridge, California.Sun Cities Art Museum, Arizona. Audubon Art Exhibit, Portland Oregon.Walt Disney Art...

Apache Mountain Spirit Dancers, lithograph, black & white, Allan Houser hand pulled black and white lithograph edition printed in Santa Fe, New Mexico L...