The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990 Page: 79
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Review Article
beautiful book other collectors will be tempted to give their western art
collections to the University of Texas-the only place at present where
both graduate and undergraduate courses on western art are taught.
Another Texas collector whose collection is featured in a beautiful
all-color book is John F. Eulich. The collection, assembled by Eulich for
the Vantage Corporation of Dallas, is an outstanding example of corpo-
rate collecting, which has become very extensive in the United States.
The most famous example of such collecting is the acquisition in 1962
by the Northern Natural Gas Company of virtually the complete works
of the best Indian painter of all, Karl Bodmer. Offered first to Yale
University, together with Prince Maximilian's extensive diaries describ-
ing his expedition with Bodmer up the Missouri River in 1833-1834,
the eastern bastion of learning welcomed the Prince's diaries but scorned
Bodmer's masterpieces.8 It took a corporate CEO, John Merriam of the
gas company, to recognize the value of the art works, hence they are
preserved today, not in a university, but in the Joslyn Art Museum in
Omaha, Nebraska. This is a case where corporate collecting ran far
ahead of a major university's artistic judgment.
Eulich describes the John F. Eulich Collection as "the only American
Western Art Collection in America that contains almost all of the pre-
mier first and second tier artists who were active from 1830-1930."
Eulich also adds that the assembling of the collection, which hangs in
the company's offices, was an "extremely gratifying pursuit."' In addi-
tion, he gives special thanks to his sidekick, L. D. "Brink" Brinkman, a
fellow collector in the tradition of Amon Carter and Sid Richardson.
Unfortunately, the works of art are locked up in the offices and hall-
ways of the corporation and thus not available to students and scholars
in any significant way. This being the case, Rick Stewart's book, The
American West: Legendary Artists of the Frontier, published by the com-
pany, is most welcome. Divided into five chronological chapters-on
exploration and discovery, the passing of the frontier, the artists of
Taos and Santa Fe, illustrators who preserved the legend, and "artists
of the new west" (a chapter by Don Hedgepeth)-the book attempts to
present the works of art in chronological fashion, while at the same
time attempting to outline certain themes that dominated the eras.
Alas, the introductions to each of the thematic sections by Rick Stewart
are allotted far too little space to be more than superficial. The exten-
sive one-page captions to each of the paintings are, for the most part,
8As experienced by this reviewer, then of Yale University, who recommended the purchase
of the collection by Yale at a price of $950,000 Today it is worth $27,000,000 and is one of the
best sources for reconstructing the appearance and culture of the northern plains Indians.
9 Rick Stewart with Don Hedgepeth, The American West: Legendary Artists of the Frontier (Dallas:
Hawthorne Publishing Co., 1986), 2.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990, periodical, 1990; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101213/m1/105/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.