Fine Western Art Collections
West Lives On Gallery
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William H. D. Koerner
1878 - 1938 |
William
Henry Dethlef Koerner is
known as a western
illustrator,
despite the fact he
spent most of his life
in the mid-western and
eastern United
States. His
artwork has played a
significant role in the
development of American
art in
iconography. He
became a prolific
illustrator of the
eastern myth of symbols
of an earlier, less
complicated,
time.
Koerner immigrated to
Clinton, Iowa in 1880
from his birthplace of
Lunden, Germany.
At a very young age,
Koerner showed extreme artistic
talent. In 1898,
with some encouragement
from his father, Koerner
packed up and moved to
Chicago. There he
worked as an illustrator
for the Chicago
Tribune. He
also attended classes at
the Chicago Art
Institute and the
Francis Smith
School. Seven
years later Koerner
moved to New York City
and attended the Art
Students
League.
Koerner caught his big
break in 1907 when he
moved to Wilmington,
Delaware. There he
worked as an illustrator
under the instruction of
Howard Pyle, the famed
illustrator who had also
taught N. C.
Wyeth. In these
years Koerner developed
a palette that was full
and vibrant.
Koerner set up a
permanent residents and
studio in Interlake, New
Jersey in 1919. At
the same time between
1919 and 1922, the Saturday
Evening Post asked
Koerner to illustrate
two series:
'Traveling the Old
Trails' and 'The Covered
Wagon'. These
series were a turning
point in Koerner's
career as an
artist. He began
his research at the New
York Public Library and
Museum of Natural
History.
Eventually Koerner made
his first of many trips
out west. He hiked
the mountains of Montana
and sketched the culture
of the southwest.
Koerner absorbed
everything he saw used a
camera to help him
record details of
cowboy life and the
declining existence of
the Indians on their
reservations.
During Koerner's
lifetime, he received
commissions for more
than 500 paintings and
drawings for more than
200 western stories and
serials. After his
death in 1938, his widow
kept his studio intact
until 1962, when
exhibitions demonstrated
that Koerner had been an
important western
paint. His studio
is now displayed at the
Whitney Gallery of
Western Art, at the
Buffalo Bill Historical
Center in Cody, Wyoming.
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"The Squaw
Woman"
Gouache on Board
25" x 32" •
SOLD |
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finding out more information about this artist or their artwork, please see
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