Provenance: Private collection, Arizona

Literature: Saturday Evening Post, cover, November 26, 1955 Appearing on a 1955 cover of Saturday Evening Post, John Clymer’s Farm Scene arrived at a peak period for the magazine, which also saw 1955 covers by Norman Rockwell, Stevan Dohanos, Richard Sargent, John Falter and George Hughes. It was the sixth and final cover Clymer created for the magazine that year, with more than 80 in total throughout his career. The description of the painting, included on the table of contents page, speaks to the quaint charm of the publication: “So it’s off to Grandma’s for Turkey Day—oh, boy! According to old pictures and mellow memories, part of this enchantment was bundling into a sleigh and dashing away behind jingling horses in a foot of snow; but nowadays it’s a dashing motorcar, and something seems to have happened to the snow, all of which is not without charm either. If this remark brings on an old-fashioned winter, Grandpa can plow out the lane with his charming tractor. Anyway, grandparents and grandyoungsters, corn shocks, barnyards and an exquisite aroma drifting from an old kitchen—these belong to each other this thankful time of year, and the enchantment is forever new. Speaking of aroma, that’s a symbolic turkey John Clymer painted; the real one is indoors aromaing.” More than a decade after this piece was painted, Clymer moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he began his fine art career and cemented his status within the American West. This lot is accompanied by a copy of the November 26, 1955, edition of the Saturday Evening Post.