They say age is just a number, and Robert Pummill makes a great case for it. The Texas artist, who is celebrating his 90th birthday in February, is proud he still spends at least 40 hours a week in his studio. “I enjoy doing it,” he says of his painting schedule, adding that he has no plans to slow down.
Blue Fields at Sunset, oil, 28 x 46 in.
Pummill, long known for his Western images, particularly images of Texas, will be the guest of honor at a show at InSight Gallery on February 6 as the gallery celebrates the painter’s 90th birthday with a massive new grouping of paintings. Among the collection of work will be some of the Pummill’s most famous subjects, including Texas bluebonnets in majestic landscape paintings. Other works include Native American subjects, prickly pear cactus, nocturnes and barns.
Day of the Hunt, oil, 36 x 54 in.
The artist, who has been part of the art world in various capacities for more than 70 years, acknowledges that his own history with Western art is a product of his environment. He relates it to the Old Masters and the frequent subjects they painted in Europe. “When you go back in history, especially during the Renaissance, what they painted on canvas or on walls, it was part of their time and place. We look back on that as the way it was during those times,” he says. “Storytelling of the West is the way it is during my time, and that is why I paint it.”
Among the Prickly Pear, oil, 28 x 36 in.
Elizabeth Harris, owner of InSight Gallery, notes that the gallery frequently has a large Pummill painting at the back of the gallery, located in Fredericksburg, Texas. People walking past the front windows can see the painting from the sidewalk and will frequently walk in so they can stand in front of that massive canvas and be transported into Pummill’s world. “They get a lot of attention,” she says.
Morning in Gillespie County, oil, 46 x 66 in.
With seven decades of art behind him, Pummill is hopeful for the future of Western art. “It will always exist. Like everything else, it will ebb and flow. There has been a resurgence in Western art because of things like Yellowstone and people running around with their cowboy hats on. That’s been interesting,” he says, adding that some people are made for the West. Others not so much. “It’s that old story about an Eastern and a Western person. When a Western person comes upon a rise and looks across 40 miles of nothing, they say, ‘God, that’s beautiful.’ When an Easterner comes upon that same location, they say, ‘God, don’t let me have a flat tire.’ As long as we don’t have to worry about flat tires, we’ll all be OK.” —
InSight Gallery 214 W. Main Street » Fredericksburg, TX 78624 » (830) 997-9920 » www.insightgallery.com
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