Now within the permanent collection at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is William R. Leigh’s classic 1947 painting The Struggle for Existence.The painting shows a tightly grouped circle of horses trying to wait out a pack of wolves that has surrounded it. The piece comes from the collection of William and Joffa Kerr, the founders of the museum.
William R. Leigh (1866-1955), The Struggle for Existence, 1947, oil on canvas, 45 x 60 in. JKM Collection. National Museum of Wildlife Art.
“This painting is just one of the 1,261 artworks that the Kerrs have donated to the museum,” says associate curator of art Kennis Forte. “Their donations and long-term loans, which number an additional 193 pieces, make up the JKM Collection. This particular member of the JKM Collection arrived at the museum in 1995. Since that time, it has been a part of at least two special exhibitions: Dusk to Dawn in 2010-11 and Darwin’s Legacy in 2013/14. It has also been on permanent display in the JKM Gallery since 2017. At the end of last year, it was formally donated to the museum, and transferred from a long-term loan to become part of the permanent collection.”
Curator Tammi Hanawalt notes that the painting is an exceptional example of Leigh’s work. “The Struggle for Existence provides an excellent example of the adversities faced by settlers in the American West, a genre depicted by artists such as Charles M. Russell and Frederic Remington, who were working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” Hanawalt says. “Reminiscent of Russell’s Flying Hoofs from 1894, this painting served as a metaphor for human survival in the West and was created at the time when Western films were reaching their pinnacle. Completed later in Leigh’s career, the painting reflects the artist’s honed, mature style.” —
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