302 Bull Dogger

SOLD
Winning Bid Undisclosed
This item SOLD at 2016 Apr 02 @ 15:42UTC-7 : PDT/MST
Category Art
Auction Currency USD
Start Price 30,000.00 USD
Estimated at 60,000.00 - 90,000.00 USD
Bull Dogger
Artist: James, WillDate of Birth: 1892-1942
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 24 x 30 inches
Signed: Signed lower right and dated '23
Verso:

Born in Quebec, Will James was a true rover and wrangler who never strayed far from pencil and brush. Accused of cattle rustling in Canada, James drifted south, where he was finally caught with his hand in the corral door near Carson City, Nevada. After serving his sentence, James moved to California where he sold sketches, did some stunts for films, and did a stint in the Army along the Mexican border. By 1922, he was selling stories he wrote and illustrated, stories that came to the attention of famed Scribner’s editor Max Perkins (who worked with Ernest Hemingway, among many others). James published his most famous work, Smoky the Cowhorse, in 1926 and won the 1927 Newberry Medal for children’s literature. Smoky would go on to be adapted for film on numerous occasions. James’s books have never been out of print. Though Will James did comparatively few works in oil, Bull Dogger is an accomplished high-octane rodeo piece. Bull Dogging (that is, leaping from a running horse and wrestling a steer to the ground) would have been a recent addition to the roster of rodeo events when James painted this, but he was evidently familiar with the practice. Despite the animal’s size and power, the cowboy uses proper form and has both leverage and the upper hand here. The horse, wisely, doesn’t trust any of this, and is looking for the exit.