Artist: Will James
Title: Smoky and Clint
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 28 x 22 inches
Signed: Signed lower left
Framed/Base: 35 x 30 inches
This lot's overall appearance is Good. For more details please view the attached Condition Report.
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Overall Dimensions
Height: 35.00
Width: 30.00
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Provenance:
The Abe Hays Collection
Literature:
Smoky the Cowhorse, Will James, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, NY, 1926, illustrated on cover
Noticias, Quarterly Magazine of the Santa Barbara Historical Society, Volume XLVII, No. 3, Autumn 2001, illustrated on the cover
*A copy of each (above) and a Complete set of 8 lobby cards for Smoky movie starring Fred MacMurray and Anne Baxter to accompany this lot
Although Will James had already seen success in his writing career, it was Smoky the Cowhorse from 1926 that saw the artist’s work soar to new heights. James, who wrote and illustrated the book, saw the story as a work for adults, but it was discovered by children, which propelled it to win the 1927 Newbery Medal, given to the “most distinguished contributions to American literature for children.” The book was such a hit that it was adapted to film three times: a 1933 version, a 1946 version with Fred MacMurray and Anne Baxter, and a 1966 version with Davy Crockett actor Fess Parker. James’ artwork has appeared on many editions of the book, including Scribner’s first edition, which featured a drawing of Smoky at the gate of a ranch. This painting, Smoky and Clint, appeared on the first edition of the Illustrated Classics Edition, also published by Scribner’s. Both editions were released in 1926.
In an article for the American Library Association, writer Barbara Elleman dug deeper into the Newbery Medal’s award to James. She refers to James’ editor, the renowned Maxwell Perkins, who nursed such luminaries as Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings into print. “The elitist Perkins, it seems, treasured the ten-gallon hat given to him by James and found the authentic American vernacular of James’ writing highly likable,” Elleman writes. “A cowboy with a quick wit, James was amazed to find Smoky winning the Newbery, saying it had been published as a book for adults. ‘I don’t know about that medal, but it’s fine with me.’ Some librarians criticized the book as too full of ‘cowboy lingo,’ saying that boys and girls would never read it. Others (among them undoubtedly the Newbery committee) found it ‘a bit of poetry in disguise,’ full of humor, color and excitement. The story did in fact prove highly popular and continual reprints necessitated new plates in 1955.”
