Best of the West

The Post Blazes a Trail

In the early part of the 20th century, The Saturday Evening Post commissioned numerous illustrations that collectively helped define the American West for the rest of the country. One of the best known of these artists is N.C. Wyeth, appreciated for his wonderful sense of color and light as well as for being an authority on Western culture.

Cowboy in Profile
Cowboy and the Setting Sun, N.C. Wyeth, The Saturday Evening Post, November 30, 1907
© SEPS

 

Romantic Vision

A full generation of Americans owe their impression of the soulful, spiritual Native American to artists like Remington Schuyler and W.H.D. Koerner. Interestingly both artists lived, studied, and worked in the east, developing a fascination with Western culture and lore from afar, before making Western art a primary focus.

Native American sitting on a high ridge, overlooking a prairie
Indian on Ridge, Remington Schuyler, The Saturday Evening Post, April 21, 1906
© SEPS
Plains Indians riding horses
Plains Indians, W.H.D. Koerner, The Saturday Evening Post, March 3, 1934
© SEPS

 

Riders

As a young man, artist Frank Hoffman settled on a working ranch in Taos, New Mexico, using his own horses and other animals as models for his paintings.

Cowgirl riding an agitated bronco
Woman on Bucking Bronco, Frank Hoffman, The Country Gentleman, April 19, 1924
© SEPS

John Clymer painted more than 80 covers for the Post, many of them with Western themes. He’s known for his painstaking research and for the rich historic and geographic detail of his work.

A cowboy and his daughter leading horses through a shallow creek
Herding Horses, John Clymer, The Saturday Evening Post, September 13, 1952
© SEPS