Natural Thrills

Adventure and sporting art unites the beauty, danger and mystery of nature. The viewer’s imagination fills in the rest.

By Michael Clawson

Sporting art is about moments frozen in time. The trigger that is never pulled. The arrow that is never loosed. The bear that never lunges. The bird that never falls. If only the painting could show the very next second for some resolution to the story, but it’s stuck one moment before. Sporting art is the genre that is built on cliffhangers: Did the bullet hit its mark? Did the fish get away? Did the rapids doom the boat and its crew? Did the dog get its bird?Philip R. Goodwin (1881-1935), When Opportunity Knocks, oil on canvas, 24 x 33 in.This is where the viewer fills in the rest, and the answers are not always what you’d expect. The hunters, especially the good ones with dens full of animal heads on their walls, will tell you the hunter’s aim was true and the animal was cleanly taken down. Those who don’t hunt will cheer on the animals and tell you they escaped unharmed. These are classic stories of “man versus nature,” and not everyone is cheering on man.

I saw this phenomenon firsthand after the publication of the November 2019 issue of Western Art Collector, which contained an article I had written about paintings showing bear attacks. I’ve kept no secrets about my love for these paintings—the grislier and more ridiculous the better (see the Mort Künstler image here)—so after the article came out, everyone I encountered wanted to talk about bears in Western art. What was surprising was how many people were on Team Bear. “If you allow a bear that close to you, it’s your fault, not the bear’s,” one artist told me. Others just liked seeing nature win, which proved something many viewers felt strongly about: Ultimately, nature always wins.Andy Thomas, Grizzly Mountain, oil on linen, 30 x 40 in.

The other component that readers wanted to talk about was how enjoyable nature could be. Yes, some of the bear-attack imagery is over the top, as are some of the famous Philip R. Goodwin hunting images, but those artworks tap into the raw power of nature, allowing viewers to game out their own survival scenarios. They ask themselves, “Would I survive in the wild?” To many art collectors, the answer is yes. Those who participate in these activities—hunting, fishing, canoeing, backpacking and camping, and exploring nature—they are not only hobbies but great American pastimes, and often their most unbreakable link to the natural world. A pair of friends sharing a canoe down a trout-filled river, the happy hunters with their packhorses laden with fresh trophies, the bird dog with a mouth full of pheasant—this iconic imagery conjures important memories of the great outdoors for many.

Mort Künstler, The Shy Killer, from a 1955 cover of Outdoor Life

Best of all, this a great time to enjoy the genre as it delights in a renaissance for artists, collectors and galleries. Consider auction houses, which have been handling these images for many years, with prices continuing to climb, especially among greats like Goodwin, Carl Rungius, Aiden Lassell Ripley, A.B. Frost, Ogden Pleissner, Percival Leonard Rosseau, Edmund Henry Osthaus and even Charles M. Russell, who was fond of hunting scenes with all kinds of tragic outcomes. Many of these great historic works turn up at places like Scottsdale Art Auction, Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, Jackson Hole Art Auction and this month’s Lone Star Art Auction. Copley Fine Art Auctions even hosts a dedicated sporting art sale every summer, which offers paintings and bronzes, as well as decoys and carved birds that are now frequently selling as high as $600,000. And while there are certainly hotspots for the material—Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Great Falls, Montana; and Scottsdale, Arizona—the artwork is generally available wherever Western life is located.

Charles A. Safford (1877-1957), Sleeping Goose, Newburyport, MA, ca. 1920, 24½ in. Courtesy Copley Fine Art Auctions.

Expanding the genre further are contemporary artists who are bringing sporting art and adventures outdoors into new works. These artists include Brett James Smith, Brent Cotton, Luke Frazier, John Banovich, Bill Nebeker and many others. Their subjects are fishing, hunting, pointer dogs, waterfowl and so much more. Collectors can also find new artists at two annual events that cater specifically to this genre: the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, held every February in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Waterfowl Festival, held every November in Easton, Maryland.

As you explore our inaugural Outdoor Adventure special section, we hope you grow to appreciate this exciting genre more as it takes you deep into the wilderness for a thrilling journey with nature.

Like many other creatives, artist Gary Johnson’s love of nature is his muse—treasuring the time he gets to spend in wild places collecting images, sketching and doing plein air studies. “In the studio, I refer to my field references and my memories to create my artwork,” he shares. “Throughout my artistic life, I have been inspired by artists who came before—from Dutch Old Masters to impressionistic colorists. I assimilate these influences into my painting style and technique.”

Brent Cotton, Cottonwood Dawn, oil, 40 x 20 in.; Bob Kuhn (1920-2007), Bear and Hounds, acrylic on board, 17 x 12¾ in. Courtesy Coeur d’Alene Art Auction.

Johnson also adds that the process of creating a piece of art is always exciting. “I don’t follow a formula, but instead, I let the image guide me as to how I will approach the painting,” he says. “Upon completion, the biggest reward for my efforts is to see how viewers respond to my [oil on linen creations]. When someone is literally moved to tears, I know my heartfelt love of nature has been successfully portrayed.”

Top: Phippen Museum, Hearing the Call, oil on board, 20 x 30 in., by Craig Tennant, OPAM; Gary Johnson, After the Harvest, Bob-white Quail, oil on linen, 24 x 36 in. Bottom: Gary Johnson, Casting to Glass, 18 x 38 in.

Bryan Waytula, a third-generation Cherokee artist, follows the path of his mother and grandmother who are both Cherokee National Treasures in basketry. This year, Waytula participates in the 19th annual Cherokee Art Market from October 12 to 13. His depictions of Native American figures provide learning opportunities, as his people were America’s first hunters and finest outdoor adventurers.

“I view myself as a visual storyteller—I put stories into imagery,” he says. “When I was younger, I would hear stories of family members or friends in Tahlequah, but we never had pictures of them. I always had to picture them in my head. What I hope to do as an artist is capture a moment depicting other Indigenous people and friends who I really admire. It gives people who are interested in learning about different cultures a chance to not only admire the art, but a chance to learn about these people and what they are doing now.”

Top: Gary Johnson, Packing In, 24 x 36 in.; Cherokee Art Market, The Fast Track, graphite, 20 x 16 in., by Bryan Waytula (Cherokee). Bottom: Cherokee Art Market, The Defendant, colored pencil drawing on matboard, 11 x 26 in., by Bryan Waytula (Cherokee).

A graduate of the University of Oklahoma where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts, he continued his education at Northeastern State University to teach. Waytula now works as a full time Indigenous artist, traveling the country showing his works at various markets and museums while still taking time to teach the youth.

Craig Tennant, featured in the Oil Painters of America’s 2024 Western Regional Exhibition at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona, is an accomplished artist who began his career in advertising, working for major accounts like Campbell’s Soup and Pepsi. In 1989, he shifted focus to Western oil paintings. In his show piece Hearing the Call, we see his masterful depiction of a Native American male figure perched on a fallen tree—in tune and ready for a hunt.

Cherokee Art Market, A Tale My Brother Told Me, graphite, 18 x 24 in., by Bryan Waytula (Cherokee).

Tennant’s work has been featured in prominent magazines and museums, earning numerous awards, including the OPA Master Signature Gold Medal. His paintings will appear in Ken Burns’ 2023 documentary, The American Buffalo.

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Digging Deeper

Here are some common subjects within sporting art, along with a historic and contemporary example from each.

Bill Nebeker, Home is the Hunter, bronze, 19 x 22 x 8 in.; Frank Hoffman (1888-1958), A Prize Trophy, oil on canvasboard, 15½ x 20 in. Courtesy Coeur d’Alene Art Auction.

Hunting
One of the most common themes in sporting art is hunting, which is represented in many varieties, from elk and bighorn sheep to grizzly bears and moose, which more frequently appear in historic works. Classic imagery includes hunters with gun in hand ready to fire, but more common is the conclusion of a hunt as hunters return with animals strapped to horses or canoes. These images are the bread and butter for painters like William Herbert “Buck” Dunton and Philip R. Goodwin, but also Frank Hoffman who completed a large array of hunting images. The inclusion of a bronze by Bill Nebeker was intentional—it’s not just paintings that show these subjects.

Ogden Pleissner (1905-1983), A Long Run, Curtis Pool, watercolor on paper, 19 x 25 in. Courtesy Coeur d’Alene Art Auction.; Brett James Smith, Fishing Fast Water, oil on linen, 24 x 36 in.

Fishing

The West already has a romance for fishing, particularly fly fishing, so art featuring the subject is hardly a tough sell. Some of the more prominent artists who have undertaken this subject include Ogden Pleissner, W.H.D. Koerner, Frank Schoonover and Frank Stick, who, although not as famous as others, produced a large body of fishing scenes. Although rarer today, fishing artwork still pops up occasionally on the market, with Brett James Smith being one of the more prominent artists producing in this sub-genre.

Edmund Henry Osthaus (1858-1928), On the Hunt, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in.; Luke Frazier, Texas Tapestry, oil, 30 x 36 in.

Hunting Dogs
Many artists are well known for their hunting dogs—sometimes called pointer dogs or bird dogs—but none as well as Edmund Henry Osthaus, whose top 38 auction records all have dog themes. Classic sporting artists A.B. Frost, Aiden Lassell Ripley and Percival Leonard Rosseau are often credited with bringing renewed attention to the subjects alongside Osthaus.

John Cowan (1920-2008), Pintail Wetlands, watercolor, 22 x 30 in.; John Banovich, The Blue Darter (Cooper’s Hawk and Bobwhite Quail),2020, oil on Belgian linen, 16 x 18 in.

Birds

Pheasant, quail, geese, duck, turkey and dozens of other birds are often the subjects in this corner of sporting art. Sometimes the subjects are the birds themselves, particularly their beauty within their natural habitats, but they are often the subjects of hunting scenes. These hunting scenes, although similar to works showing the hunting of larger mammals, are unique in that they often involve bird dogs, water settings and unique compositions with hunter and prey only a dozen or so feet away from each other.

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