Thomas Blackshear II, Wild West Show, oil on canvas, 31 x 41 in. Autry Museum.

The exhibition, which opens February 8, will feature major pieces from past Masters shows, including top award winners and those works purchased by the museum for the permanent collection. This grouping amounts to a who’s who of Western art greats: Logan Maxwell Hagege, Howard Terpning, Ed Mell, George Carlson, Mian Situ, Kim Wiggins, Curt Walters, Bill Anton and many others. “I don’t know that we’ll have 100 percent of all the museum purchase winners, but we will certainly have the best ones from the collection,” Autry curator Amy Scott says. “Thirty-nine works will be in the show, and that will include many of the purchase-award winners, as well as the trustee-award winners that were purchased from the show as well as some of the other award winners in categories like wildlife or sculpture. It is a nice selection of work.”

Logan Maxwell Hagege, Time and Space, oil, 40 x 60 in. Autry Museum.

One piece that will surely thrill Western fans is Terpning’s The Force of Nature Humbles All Men, a work that is almost always on view at the museum due to its size and popularity. The painting, created for the 2004 Masters exhibition, is considered one of the artist’s masterpieces. “It’s just incredible,” Scott says. “It’s such a big painting, and people do know about it. They come to the museum just to see that painting.”

Bill Anton, Arizona Awakening, 2012, oil on canvas. Masters of the American West Purchase Award, 2012. Autry Museum, 2012.5.1.

Pressed on her favorites, Scott admits she leans toward the landscape pieces. “George Carlson’s works are always must-see paintings. But we also have a beautiful Len Chmiel as well,” Scott adds. “The Thomas Blackshear painting [Wild West Show] is also wonderful, as is the Mian Situ painting [The Gold Nugget, Chinese Camp, 1850]. There are some incredible highlights from the collection in the exhibition.”

Kim Wiggins, Lewis & Clark Among the Mandan, 2004, oil on canvas. Gift of the Collection of Jackie and Gene Autry. Autry Museum, 2005.24.1.

The museum hopes the exhibition will please museum visitors and Western collectors until the fate of the Masters, which is not being held in 2025, can be decided. Scott says that nothing official has been announced. “I think we’ll decide what the future looks like after this year,” she adds.

Mian Situ, The Gold Nugget, Chinese Camp, 1850, 2015, oil on canvas. Chrystina and James R. Parks Trustees’ Purchase Award, 2015. Autry Museum, 2015.4.1.

 

Len Chmiel, Gold Rush, Yuba River, 2010, oil. James R. Parks Trustees’ Purchase Award, 2011. Autry Museum, 2011.37.1.

The exhibition will also allow visitors to reflect on the role of the Masters of the American West within the Western art community. The annual spring event would routinely help establish new artists, further elevate the veteran stars and also celebrate the legends of Western art, including artists like Carlson and Terpning. Blackshear, for instance, had an especially compelling story related to the show: His first event was as a guest of Mastersregular Morgan Weistling. That year Blackshear brought a portfolio and introduced himself to guests, artists and collectors. Within just a handful of years, he returned as an invited artist to win the show’s top award. 

Curt Walters, Splendid Turmoil, 2007, oil on canvas. Trustees’ Purchase Award, 2008. Purchase made possible by Jackie Autry, the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, Barbara Carlsberg, Edward M. Carson, Saralynn and John Geraghty, Jay H. Grodin, Marilyn B. and Calvin B. Gross, Colleen and Tom Lee, Constance K. and Leon J. Level, Tally and Bill Mingst, James R. Parks, Lora and Robert U. Sandroni, and Sandra and Fausto Yturria Jr. Autry Museum, 2008.8.1

Another artist who was knighted by Masters was Hagege, a California painter who rose to prominence during important years for the show. He later won awards long given to Terpning, who had a long and distinguished association with the Masters. For many, it was a sign that Hagege was ascending to a higher level within the art world. The Masters also honored Mark Maggiori fairly early in his career—Maggiori accepted his award in a long colorful Hudson Bay-style coat that created an indelible early image of the artist—and honored Ed Mell late in his career. Mell, long established in the Southwest, was reluctant to add museum exhibitions to his schedule, but added Masters and immediately won top honors. Mell passed away in February 2024, and his work Cascading Canyon Storm will be in the exhibition. The exhibit will also encourage visitors to remember John Geraghty, an art enthusiast and former Western Art Collector columnist who organized much of Masters before his passing in 2015. 

Walter T. Matia, Golden Rule, 2012, bronze. James R. Parks Trustees’ Purchase Award, 2013. Autry Museum, 2013.4.1.

Besides the retrospective component of the exhibition, Romance Reimagined will also have a live auction portion that will take place on March 8. The ticketed event will feature small- and medium-sized works by more than 80 artists. This portion of the event is being organized by Beau Alexander, owner of Maxwell Alexander Gallery in nearby Pasadena, California. Alexander has had a long relationship with the museum and its events. 

George Carlson, In the Shadow of the Sun, 2009, oil on linen. Masters of the American West Purchase Award, 2010; Booth Western Art Museum Artists’ Choice Award, 2010. Autry Museum, 2010.10.1

“It will function like a traditional auction process. I’ve already seen some of the images for that portion of the event and it’s looking very exciting,” Scott says. “I think it’s also exciting that Masters can work together with some of these newer artists again.”