2023 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 257
257
William Herbert Dunton (1878 – 1936)
The Night Guard
oil on canvas
20 × 16 inches
26 × 22 × 2 inches (framed)
signed lower left
According to art historian Michael R. Grauer, “To be sure, Dunton’s figures are cut from the Cowboy Hero mold. They are, nevertheless, believable, and this believability separates Dunton from his illustrator peers. Generally, Dunton’s illustrations rarely contain the air of artificiality or fantasy integral to the work of most illustrators. While cleaned-up to a certain extent, he still allowed the dirt and grit of the West to seep into his pictures: Dunton’s West was not a dream, it was real! ”
PROVENANCE
Edward S. Toothe, Linden, New Jersey, ca. 1930s
Present owner, by descent
EXHIBITED
110th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1915