All eyes were on the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum on June 12 and 13 in Oklahoma City as the Prix de West, one of the premier Western art events in the country, kicked off its sale weekend with a bang. Not only was there a packed house with hundreds of artists, collectors and Western art enthusiasts on hand, but sales were also high with the total hitting $3.7 million, which was more than $500,000 higher than the 2025 show.
Kim Wiggins with his work How the West Was Won – Chisum at Castle Gap, which won the Ann Noble Brown Prix de West Purchase Award.
Roughly 67 percent of all the artwork sold, with an exceptionally high number of artists selling everything they brought: Carrie Ballantyne, Thomas Blackshear II, Eric Bowman, Tom Browning, Jessica L. Bryant, G. Russell Case, Sean Michael Chavez, Len Chmiel, Josh Elliott, Walt Gonske, Martin Grelle, Bruce Greene, Quang Ho, Oreland Joe, Brett Allen Johnson, Jerry Jordan, Daniel J. Keys, Ron Kingswood, Don Oelze, Kyle Polzin, Gladys Roldán-de-Moras, Kyle Sims, Curt Walters, Morgan Weistling and Kim Wiggins.
The sculptors also saw a great deal of success, with artists such as Walter Matia, Dustin Payne, Gerald Balciar, T.D. Kelsey, Tony Hochstetler and others selling numerous editions, and even selling out of all available casts of certain pieces.
Andrew Peters’ Sandhill Cranes on the Great Migration, which won the Frederic Remington Painting Award.
Prix de West award winners were Dean Mitchell, Donald Teague Memorial Award for a work on paper; Andrew Peters, Frederic Remington Painting Award; Grant Redden, Great American Cowboy Award; John Coleman, Jackie L. Coles Buyers’ Choice Award; Bruce Greene, James Earle Fraser Sculpture Award; Ron Kingswood, Major General and Mrs. Don D. Pittman Wildlife Award; Walter Matia, Robert Lougheed Memorial Award for the best body of work; and G. Russell Case, Wilson Hurley Memorial Award for Outstanding Landscape.
1. G. Russell Case’s Into Red Canyon, winner of the Wilson Hurley Memorial Award for Outstanding Landscape. 2. Western Art Collector executive editor Michael Clawson, left, with painter Jerry Jordan and publisher Adolfo Castillo. 3. Artist Gladys Roldán-de-Moras and her husband, Rafael, with painter Abigail Gutting, right. 4. Heritage Auctions’ Alissa Ford, left, with Coors Western Exhibit’s Kate Hlavin. 5. Grant Redden’s Anxiously Engaged, winner of the Great American Cowboy Award. 6. Collectors Wendie and Steve Olshan with painter Kyle Polzin. 7. John Coleman’s bronze Wedding at Crow Fair won the Jackie L. Coles Buyers’ Choice Award.
The top award, the Ann Noble Brown Prix de West Purchase Award, went to Kim Wiggins for his large cattle drive painting How the West Was Won – Chisum at Castle Gap. Wiggins, who earlier presented a discussion about Western art’s place within the canon of American art, thanked the museum in his awards speech. “I so admire this museum because I believe Western art is truly the hallmark of America,” he said. “One day, when we are no longer here, I believe it is the art of the American West that will identify us as a people. To be up here receiving this award is incredibly humbling.” —
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