REED, William. Olaf Wieghorst
Item #4448
194 p.; 4to; gilt stamped black leatherette over purple cloth also stamped in gilt with Wieghorst brand; slipcase; color portrait frontis; color reproductions; photos; sketches. Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Press, 1969. Limited Edition, Signed Wieghorst & Reed. No. 125 of 200 copies with an original sketch by the artist. With a forward by Senator Barry Goldwater. Olaf Wieghorst's interest in horses, the American "Wild West," and painting began in his native Denmark, where he was born in 1899. In 1918, working as a sailor, he jumped ship in New York and enlisted in the U.S. Cavalry for duty on the Mexican border. During this three year stint he also managed to learn rodeoing and trick riding before being mustered out in Arizona. There he found work as a ranch hand on the Quarter Circle 2C Ranch, whose brand became Wieghorst's insignia. Even when he returned to New York and attended the Police Academy he remained in the saddle by becoming a member of the NYPD Mounted Division and Police Show Team. In his spare time Wieghorst began to paint, applying his detailed and passionate knowledge of the horse to the canvas. He met with increasing success until he said goodbye to his beloved mount Spooks and retired from the force in 1944 as an artist already receiving commissions for horse portraits and bronzes, with fees up to $500.00. Eventually settling in El Cajon, California, Wieghorst continued to portray the themes he knew from experience, the horse and its riders from Indian to cowboy to cavalry in a Western setting. "I try to paint the little natural things, the way a horse turns his tail to the wind on cold nights, the way he flattens his ears in the rain, seasonal changes in the coat of a horse, and the psychology of his behavior. Horses have been my life." Fine in fine slipcase. |
