Fort Wayne Museum of Art | Through June 28, 2026 | Fort Wayne, IN

Leading the Pack

A traveling exhibition currently on view at Fort Wayne Museum of Art honors one of the most prominent wildlife artists working today.

By Alyssa M. Tidwell

“I believe that my imagination is unlimited. Anything I can imagine, I can create if I am willing to do the work to bring it to be,” says artist Ezra Tucker. Work was a family effort. Tucker’s parents, who were farmers, moved with their six children from the farm to the city early on, doing everything they could to build a decent life.

Defending the Legend, 2021, acrylic on board, 30 x 40 in. Collection of the artist.

Tucker began his career as a professional artist in 1976 after he graduated from the Memphis Academy of Arts with a bachelor’s degree in advertising design. “[I was] expecting to use all of the training and skills that I learned to become the artist I wanted to be since I was a young child enjoying the creative process of drawing, painting or molding whatever I could imagine. I imagined creating works of art as an architect’s process goes from concept to finished structure,” he reflects. He was recruited from the art academy to work at Hallmark Cards after graduation.

Magpie Valley, 2021, acrylic on board, 15 x 40 in. Collection of the artist.

The artist went on to have a successful and prolific career in fine art, winning dozens of prestigious awards and exhibiting in major shows across the country. Today his work is respected for its unique style and his unusually warm color palette that captures his dynamic sense of light. While he paints cowboys and historic Western figures, Tucker also paints a large number of wildlife subjects.

“I choose to work in a realistic style. My art has been very influenced throughout my career by the numerous European animal artists like Antoine-Louis Barye, Wilhelm Kuhnert and numerous early 20th century American wildlife and Western artists like W.R. Leigh, Thomas Moran, Frank Tenney Johnson, Bob Kuhn, Carl Rungius [and] Audubon,” he says. Tucker studied the Golden Age of Illustration in college and says that there are a vast number of artists from this period that have influenced his style and point of view, including Harvey Dunn, N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle and Dean Cornwell.

Splendor of the Grasslands, 2018, acrylic on board, 40 x 30 in. Collection of the artist.

A major traveling retrospective of Tucker’s work is currently on view at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The exhibition, now in its final leg of travel, presents 40 works spanning the beginning of his career in 1976 to present day.

“My style, passion and approach to art has narrowed to focus on what I personally enjoy when I view a work of art by any artist. I want to be inspired, entertained or informed when I see a work of art. This is the challenge that I have for myself when I am creating,” says the artist. “I am devoting my time to depicting imagery of the natural world and when possible, weaving this imagery into telling untold stories about historical facts that are of interest to me. I have a passion for lifelong learning about history, the natural world, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology, biology, mythology from around the world, zoology, fantasy art, science fiction, art history and architecture. There is so much that I am open to and have yet to learn and create.”