2024 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 158158 / 405 • View Catalog •
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VERSO
Label, American Illustrators Gallery, New York, New York
According to Goodwin authority Dr. Larry Len Peterson, “Along with Cruisers Making Portage (1910), An Unexpected Game is perhaps Goodwin’s finest painting of timber cruisers in the great out-of-doors. Both present two cruisers on the move and adorned in the same clothing. When a composition worked, Goodwin didn’t hesitate to explore similar ones. A timber cruiser surveyed the land that was available to log and estimated the amount of desirable timber available for the lumber company. Once the land had been cruised, lumber companies made bids to purchase either the land or the rights to cut the timber from it. Strong, courageous, and trustworthy, the timber cruiser appealed to Goodwin much like the cowboy did to Charles M. Russell. It was a subject Goodwin loved and became very familiar with.
“The North American moose (Alces alces) is known as an elk to Europeans. The majestic beast can stand from seven feet tall at the hump of the shoulders and measure eight to nine feet from nose to tail with a weight up to 1,200 pounds. The range of the Rocky Mountain moose has changed little over the centuries, extending from the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia through Idaho, Western Montana, and Wyoming all the way down to Utah and Colorado. They are also found across the forests of North America from Maine to Washington, throughout Canada, and into Alaska. In addition, they live in Europe and Russia. Moose were able to avoid the devastation brought on by the market hunters in the 19th and early 20th century.
“There were many benefits to being a timber cruiser. For instance, besides comrades working together in nature to complete a worthy job, they also didn’t hesitate to jump at the opportunity to bag a big game animal. They carried a rifle not only for protection but also if luck came their way. In this brightly colored, beautifully composed piece, two cruisers spot a trophy moose as they balance themselves on a log that serves as a bridge over a meandering stream. Taking a shot from that position is impossible. Will the bull still be in sight once they traverse the tightrope? Or, will the rifleman step back onto stable ground to take a shot? And if so, will he hit his target in the far distance? Your guess is as good as mine, and there lies the oil’s ultimate appeal.”
PROVENANCE
Cobbs Auctioneers, Peterborough, New Hampshire, 2002
Private collection, Wyoming
LITERATURE
Larry Len Peterson, Philip R. Goodwin: America’s Sporting & Wildlife Artist, Coeur d’Alene Art Auction and Settlers West Galleries, 2001, pp. 275, 280, illustrated
Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler, Howard Pyle, His Students & the Golden Age of American Illustration, The American Civilization Foundation, 2017, p. 90, illustrated