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In the last two weeks, we looked at the architecture of the James Museum and sculptures on the entrance level and the second floor. This week, we look at a few of the many paintings on the second floor. For more on the James, see the first post in this series. This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/WGGeO1fhcHE.

Billy Schenck, A Mirror Image of an Imperfect World, 2000

In a nod to Pop Art, Schenck chooses not to blend his colors in this painting of Cedar Mesa in southeastern Utah. Not surprisingly, Schenck also does serigraphs (silk-screen images), which require the same separation of colors. More of his works here.

Incidentally, one of the reasons I enjoy the artworks at the James Museum is that Tom and Mary James seem to have a fondness for the same colors and color combinations that I do: here, oranges and purples.

Curt Walters, A Sense of Time, 2006

A view of the Grand Canyon. Some of the landscapes at the James remind me of Albert Bierstadt‘s, in their sweeping views, their lighting, and their precise detail. That’s quite a compliment! Of course, Bierstadt never saw this dizzying point of view, since he didn’t have access to airplanes, drones, or even hot-air balloons. More of Walters’ paintings here.

Hermon Adams, 1st Marble Canyon Music, 2004

At the head of the Grand Canyon. Adams says the waterfalls of the area remind him of music, hence the painting’s title. More of his works here.

John Cogan, Eventide, 2014

Another Grand Canyon scene. I like the contrast between the striations of the limestone and the fluffy, swooping clouds. Like those above, this is a large painting. I’ve tried to give a sense of scale by showing the frame (you don’t put this much detail on the frame of a 6-inch painting), but these deserve to be seen in person. More works by Cogan here.

Dan Namingha, Polacca Evening, 2009

An extraordinarily vivid sunset behind the mesas of Arizona … like a Rothko that actually has content. More of his works here.

William Herbert “Buck” Dunton, Prairie Courtship, ca. 1910

One of the earlier works at the James, by an illustrator … just making the point that not all the works at the James are very recent. More of Dunton’s works here.

John Coleman, Songs of the Night, 2016

Coleman is best known as a sculptor: in the previous two posts (here and here), we’ve seen several of his bronzes based on the Catlin/Bodmer paintings of Indians. In this painting, he experiments with firelight. Quite a lot of paintings at the James are by artists who like to play with sunrise, sunset, fire, and other changes in light. Coleman’s site is here.

Robert Duncan, Hard Times for Travel, 2011

More of Duncan’s works here. As a farmer’s daughter, I tend to think in very concrete terms when someone praises the virtues of going “back to nature”. Struggling through snow on foot or horseback, wearing soaked leather … Seems to me Western civilization offers something better.

Ray Swanson, Wanna Share the Frybread?, 1994

An absolutely charming child. During the Long Walk of 1864-1866, the Navajo were forced to move several hundred miles from Arizona to New Mexico. Frybread became a staple of their diet; it was made of the white flour, processed sugar, and lard that the army issued as rations. More of Swanson’s works here.

Dan Mieduch, Prometheus’ Children, 2012

The Plains Indians set the grass on fire to drive bison to areas where they were more easily hunted. This painting made the cut for this post due to its combination of colors and light. Many of his other paintings have the same combination: see here.

Andy Thomas, Oklahoma Land Rush, 2015

I couldn’t figure out at first glance what was going on here. According to the label, at noon on April 22, 1889, almost 2 million acres of land formerly held by Indians was opened to settlement. An estimated 50,000 people competed for it, which says a great deal about the desirability of farm land and grazing land in the late 1800s. By the end of the day, Oklahoma City had been established and had 10,000 residents. More of Thomas’s works here.

Billy Schenck, Oh, You Wanted to See My Guns?, 1991

Schenck (who painted the first landscape in this post) enjoys playing on Western stereotypes. Here he celebrates the glamorous cowgirl. More of Schenck’s works here.

Next week: a few of the wildlife paintings at the James.

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