The Center for Western Studies

A Texan, Thomas English earned a bachelor's degree in drawing and painting. He worked for many years as an illustrator and graphic designer. His mediums are oil and pastel, and he paints both on location and in the studio. A resident of Great Falls, Montana, he has won painting awards at the Montana State Fair and at the Western Heritage Artists Show.

"Winter on the Powder River" Oil/Board, 1999

A painter of landscape and genre scenes of the Rocky Mountains and Plains states, Charles Fritz was born and raised in Mason City, Iowa. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University.

In 1993, Fritz won the prestigious Lee M. Loeb Memorial Award for landscape painting. His work is in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, the C.M. Russell Museum, and the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.

Fritz is currently working on a large Lewis and Clark exhibition, which will tour the country during the bicentennial from 2003-2006.

"The Finishing Shot" Watercolor, 1895

Arthur Frost was born in Philadelphia, at the time when Philadelphia was the sportsman's favorite spot in the Northeast. He grew up watching and participating in many hunting experiences. He grew to love the sport and his sound draughtsmanship and intimate knowledge of nature combined to make him one of the greatest illustrators of rural America. He spent time in the art colony of Rockport, Massachusetts, and the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art.

Frost was the premier illustrator of his day. As is the case with many artists, one of his illustrations became more famous than the artist himself. Frost illustrated more than ninety books, including Tom Sawyer and Uncle Remus, and he also produced thousands of illustrations for Harper's Weekly, Scribner's, and Life magazines.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, John Gawne put aside a childhood interest in art and graduated with a degree in accounting from the University of Notre Dame. Following his graduation, he took a trip west that summer which began a life long love of the American West. In 1991, after seventeen years in business, he left his job as a trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to pursue a career as an artist.

"Winter Campfire" Pen/Ink, 1926

E.W. "Bill" Gollings was born in a mining camp in Pierce City, Idaho. When still very young, Gollings was sent from his birthplace to live with his grandmother in Michigan. From there, he was sent to Chicago for his education, which did not go past the eighth grade. As a young boy, he visited family in Lewiston, Idaho, and saw sights of the vanishing West. His young mind absorbed these scenes; visions of buffalo, Indians, and trains traveling through the open landscapes consumed his imagination. His lingering and overpowering ambition was to return to the west.

In 1896, Gollings saved enough money to buy a train ticket out of Chicago and headed west, eventually landing at his brother's ranch in Montana. For the next few years he worked odd jobs, and immersed himself in a classic western lifestyle. In 1905-1906, he returned to Chicago and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts. During his first year, he was awarded a scholarship enabling him to return for a second term the following year. Chicago no longer felt like home to the budding artist, and he craved to return to his beloved west. Finally returning to Sheridan, Wyoming, he had a studio built and made the town his home.

For Philip Goodwin, who was born in Norwich, Connecticut, sketching was a consuming childhood pastime. By the age of eleven, he had already sold his first illustration to Collier's magazine. At seventeen he was a promising student at the Brandywine School at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and later attended the Rhode Island School of Design. He was also a member of the Art Students League in New York.

Sportsmen remember Goodwin's large calendar prints, which hung in mercantile establishments across the country during the twenties and thirties. He was also commissioned to do covers for Outdoor Life and the Saturday Evening Post, and advertising posters for Remington Arms and Winchester Arms. Notable among the many books that he illustrated were Call of the Wild by Jack London and African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt.

Goodwin counted many artists as friends, including Charlie Russell. During the summers of 1907 and 1910, the two painted together in Montana. Such associations proved valuable in perfecting Goodwin's skills as an illustrator of books and magazines, later helping him with more commercial demands.

Still, fame and fortune eluded Goodwin. He never seemed to recover from the death of his mother in 1924 and loss of his friend Russell in 1926. Financially, he struggled with most Americans during the Depression in 1929, and lost his life's savings with a bank closure in 1932. In late 1935, he was found close to death in his cold, damp studio, his only companion his trusty dog. The end came prematurely for Goodwin -- he died from pneumonia at age 34.

Gerald Harvey grew up in the rugged hills north of San Antonio, Texas. His early interest in sketching and drawing slowly evolved into a passion for painting with oils. After graduating cum laude from North Texas State University, Harvey took a position with the University of Texas in Austin, but he soon realized that the weekends and nights at the easel did not satisfy his love for painting. He abandoned the security of a full-time job in 1963 and threw his total energy into a fine art career.

Harvey paints the spirit of America from its western hills and prairies to commerce of its great cities. His original paintings and bronze sculptures are in the collections of major corporations, prestigious museums, the United States government, American presidents, governors, foreign leaders, and captains of industry.

"Morning Frolic" Bronze, 1933

Born in Belt, Montana, E.E. Heikka, a hunter, trapper, and taxidermist, watched Charlie Russell work. He began modeling animals at the age of nine, and at 18 was creating masterpieces. However, very little of his work was cast during his lifetime. Heikka committed suicide at the age of 31 and left hundreds of clay and wax models behind. His models are considered to be among the best of Western works of art.