The Cold Embrace

Collectorʼs Focus: Winter Scenes

By Michael Clawson and Alyssa M. Tidwell

In 1905, during a period of increased success and celebration of his work, Joseph Henry Sharp built a cabin on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. Initially, the artist saw an opportunity to paint Montana subjects in summers when the weather was mild, and then Northern New Mexico in winters, which were less severe than Montana’s brutal season of ice and snow. It didn’t take long for Sharp to abandon the plan once he saw the winter landscape in Montana, and the flurry of activity that remained on the Crow Reservation.

Bob Kuhn (1920-2007), Midnight Serenade, acrylic on board, 9 ¾ x 12 in.

“I have…built my ‘hut’ in just this spot because I wanted to paint the winter landscape here as well as the Indians…to paint them day after day and month after month,” Sharp wrote. The artist would also utilize a special wagon for excursions deeper into Montana, where he, according to one newspaper writer, would brave temperatures 30 below zero.

Sharp, known widely for his work in Taos, New Mexico, made a sensational series of paintings of the Crow Agency and its people over many years, enough to even rival much of his work from Taos, the place that would cement his status in the Western art world. These works—Sharp referred to them as “light or atmospheric snow paintings”—are treasured today, and speak to the broader appeal of cold, wintery scenes within American art.

Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953), Winter on the Crow Reservation, 1904, oil on canvas, 18 x 27 in.

Many artists have captured winter before and since Sharp—see Bob Kuhn’s Midnight Serenade or Clark Hulings’ Lower Colonias – Sled in the Distance—and these works continue to appeal to collectors, although sometimes with no rhyme or reason. Some collectors with lodges in places with serious winters will have winter scenes to complement the views out their windows. Collectors in desert locations, where snow rarely falls, will collect snow paintings as they hope for cold weather that will never come. Both are acceptable, and encouraged.

Clark Hulings (1922-2011), Lower Colonias – Sled in the Distance, 1974, oil, 24 x 36 in.

Winter scenes, noted for their complexity and the technical skill required to make them, have been an enduring part of Western art, and will continue to excite artists and entice collectors. Continue reading for more depictions of the frigid season.

“Each winter, Denali’s park rangers set out into the wilderness with sled dogs. That year’s litter of puppies ran free alongside the adult teams during their first year,” painter and sculptor Veryl Goodnight says of her piece Lucky Puppies – The Denali Park Canine Patrol.“I met up with this team as they were crossing Wonder Lake during a March 2019 research trip. Denali [at] 20,310 feet is looming in the background.”

Veryl Goodnight, Lucky Puppies – The Denali Park Canine Patrol, oil on linen, 30 x 48 in.

Western landscape and wildlife painters Charles Fritz, Terri Kelly Moyers and Tom Browning are all represented by Legacy Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Each have painted snow.

Fritz’s paintings are an honest approach to the world around him, depicting the landscape, life and history of the Rocky Mountain region. In explaining his style, he describes himself as an outdoor artist, preferring to paint on location, a strenuous and time-honored approach to the changing moods of nature. His paintings, noted for their accuracy, are the product of comprehensive research. Subject matter, composition, design, technique and surface texture are all areas of particular interest for Fritz. His oil When Mischief Meets Metis captures a moose intruding on a winter encampment.

Legacy Gallery, When Mischief Meets Metis, 30 x 36 in., by Charles Fritz.

Legacy Gallery, Winter’s Cloak, oil, 20 x 24 in., by Terri Kelly Moyers.

A recent piece by Moyers, Winter Cloak, captures a trio of gray horses grazing in a snowy field, searching for any edible remnants they can find. The Canadian artist studied under Robert Lougheed and briefly at the Alberta College of Art.

Legacy Gallery, Winter Chill, oil, 24 x 38 in., by Tom Browning.

“I didn’t choose art as a career, it chose me,” says Browning. The artist began drawing horses, wildlife and Native Americans as a child. Today, he has been painting for more than 50 years. Browning is an emeritus member of the Cowboy Artists of America, and his work is in major collections all around the country, even the world. His oil painting Winter Chill perfectly captures the icy-blue palette of a cold winter’s day. —