[br] [br] “Ode to Hoppy, Roy and Gene”, pastel on paper, self-made frame, constructed from a pair of vintage cowboy boots and belt, c1940, with applied plastic jewels and studs, 22 1/2″h x 23 1/2″w.
This drawing pays homage to the three top cowboy film stars of the late 1930′s and through the early days of TV in the 1950′s. Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.
Every kid I knew, boy and girl alike, wanted to be or play cowboys and Indians. We were all gifted with some kind of costume regalia to mimic and pretend we where them. Hats, cap gun six shooters in holsters, shirts, pants, boots, even bicycles came with saddle bags, and we had some or all. The cowboy movie of that era played in every country in the world with a projector.
The influence has been extraordinary and with my other hat on, as an antique and vintage clothing dealer, I have sold items like this shirt to people in Japan, Sweden, Australia, and Russia. One of the best Western Wear stores I have ever visited was not in the U.S.A. but on Portobello Road in Notting Hill, in London, where I lived for a short time. Yippee, cowboys and Americana are everywhere.
It is the 45th year for “Art of the Northeast U.S.A.,” a contest at the Silvermine Guild Arts Center in New Canaan that routinely attracts 1,000 or more entries and that this year offered 20 prizes. Diane Waldman, deputy director and senior curator of the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, was judge, finding for 103 artists. [br] As a prize giver, Ms. Waldman did her best work bestowing the Silvermine Tavern Award on Jay Eisenberg’s pastel of a blue Western-style shirt framed by two pairs of real cowboy boots. [br] The New York Times – By VIVIEN RAYNOR Published: June 05, 1994 – full article
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