Artist Profile: Byron Wolfe

Byron Wolfe

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Bio:

Byron Wolfe, Cowboy Artist of America, was not the type of artist who painted the American West because the work sold well in galleries. He would have been a Western artist even if the collectors could be counted on one hand and only sailboats were selling. Wolfe painted the Old West because he loved the drama and color of that chapter in our country's history. “I do not paint anything but Westerns,” he said. “I was once asked to paint a prize bird dog and I said I'd be glad to if I could put him on a horse.” Wolfe was born in Parson, Kansas, in 1904. As a youth, he worked on a ranch, “keeping water tanks filled, riding fence, and repairing the damage done to fences by restless bulls seeking strange pastures.” The margins of his school notebooks were filled with sketches of horses, cowboys, and Native Americans. After studying art at the University of Kansas, he worked for a publishing company as a freelance illustrator, and eventually as an art director for a Kansas City advertising agency. Wolfe's interest in the West grew when he was commissioned to do a series of Western illustrations for the Goetz Brewing Company of St. Joseph, Missouri, and cattle scenes for the American Royal Livestock, and Horse Show & Rodeo, which were published in the Kansas City Star.