拍品专文
William Robinson Leigh, born on a farm in West Virginia in 1866, knew struggle and adversity from his birth. After the Civil War, the once comfortable Leigh family found their plantation in ruins, their help gone, and very little money left to their name. From a young age, Leigh showed immense talent as an artist, and through the financial help of his aunt and uncle, he was able to attend the Maryland Institute in Baltimore. He excelled at the Institute and in 1883 he enrolled at the Royal Academy in Munich, where he spent the next 12 years. From his Munich years, he emerged as an artist who was a superb draftsman with a strong sense of line and composition, a vigorous brush technique and a high keyed palette--all traits that are exemplified in the masterfully executed Embarrassed (Range Pony in Town).
Leigh dreamed of the American West since his time in Munich, painting his earliest known western painting, The Gambler, in 1892 while studying there. Leigh wrote, "I have always felt that the West was the place for me. Even in Europe (as a student), I had this in my mind as my objective, and consistently worked and planned to the end that I might go there and paint." (as quoted in P.H. Hassrick, 100 Years of Western Art from Pittsburgh Collections, exhibition catalogue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1982, p. 18) Upon returning to the United States and in need of supporting himself, Leigh settled in New York in 1896 and accepted a position as an illustrator for Scribner's magazine while trying to establish himself as a professional artist. He worked for Scribner's and also for Collier's for more than a decade, often traveling to create illustrations for various stories. While Leigh found the work to be personally and artistically unsatisfying, it allowed him to survive and maintain an identity in the artistic community.
Leigh never lost his dream of the West and his opportunity finally came in 1906, when Albert Goring, a former fellow Munich student, invited the artist to visit Laguna, New Mexico. As he could not afford the fare, Leigh appealed to the manager at the Santa Fe Railroad advertising division, which was sponsoring art expeditions to the west for their calendar series. In exchange for his train ticket to Laguna, Leigh furnished the railroad with a painting that they liked so much they ordered another five. In September of that year, Leigh arrived in Laguna, and "...thoroughly enchanted declared, 'I stood alone in a strange and thrilling scene. At last I was on the land where I was to prove whether I was fit--worthy of the opportunity--able to do it justice--or just a dunderhead.' There in New Mexico, all of the pieces fell into place: the Munich training that so strongly emphasized genre subjects, his own long-standing attraction to nature, and the new idea that he had adopted from [Thomas] Moran: that of producing truly native art." (D.D. Cummins, William Robinson Leigh: Western Artist, Norman, Oklahoma, 1980, pp. 86-87)
Over the next several years, Leigh made many trips west and endeavored to make this exciting region his home. In his work, as demonstrated by Embarrassed (Range Pony in Town), he remained true to his Munich training, striving for accurate realism and highly finished compositions. In the present painting, Leigh captures the drama and spirit inherent to life in the West with keen attention to light, composition and detail. Set at dusk, the scene is composed of warm yellow, pinks and purples. The mountains in the distance allude to the expanse of the region, while the scene is set within the confines of a small town. Although the center of the action is the bucking horse and his rider's struggle to stay in the saddle, Leigh focuses equal attention on all aspects of the scene, masterfully capturing the various expressions of the spectators and details of the buildings. He uses the play of light and shadows inherent to the time of day to highlight parts of the scene and to add depth and dimension to the composition. Embarrassed (Range Pony in Town) is exemplary not only of Leigh's technical mastery, but also of his ability to capture the spirit of the West through his emphasis on detail and realistic depictions of the people and settings that he experienced on his visits.
Leigh dreamed of the American West since his time in Munich, painting his earliest known western painting, The Gambler, in 1892 while studying there. Leigh wrote, "I have always felt that the West was the place for me. Even in Europe (as a student), I had this in my mind as my objective, and consistently worked and planned to the end that I might go there and paint." (as quoted in P.H. Hassrick, 100 Years of Western Art from Pittsburgh Collections, exhibition catalogue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1982, p. 18) Upon returning to the United States and in need of supporting himself, Leigh settled in New York in 1896 and accepted a position as an illustrator for Scribner's magazine while trying to establish himself as a professional artist. He worked for Scribner's and also for Collier's for more than a decade, often traveling to create illustrations for various stories. While Leigh found the work to be personally and artistically unsatisfying, it allowed him to survive and maintain an identity in the artistic community.
Leigh never lost his dream of the West and his opportunity finally came in 1906, when Albert Goring, a former fellow Munich student, invited the artist to visit Laguna, New Mexico. As he could not afford the fare, Leigh appealed to the manager at the Santa Fe Railroad advertising division, which was sponsoring art expeditions to the west for their calendar series. In exchange for his train ticket to Laguna, Leigh furnished the railroad with a painting that they liked so much they ordered another five. In September of that year, Leigh arrived in Laguna, and "...thoroughly enchanted declared, 'I stood alone in a strange and thrilling scene. At last I was on the land where I was to prove whether I was fit--worthy of the opportunity--able to do it justice--or just a dunderhead.' There in New Mexico, all of the pieces fell into place: the Munich training that so strongly emphasized genre subjects, his own long-standing attraction to nature, and the new idea that he had adopted from [Thomas] Moran: that of producing truly native art." (D.D. Cummins, William Robinson Leigh: Western Artist, Norman, Oklahoma, 1980, pp. 86-87)
Over the next several years, Leigh made many trips west and endeavored to make this exciting region his home. In his work, as demonstrated by Embarrassed (Range Pony in Town), he remained true to his Munich training, striving for accurate realism and highly finished compositions. In the present painting, Leigh captures the drama and spirit inherent to life in the West with keen attention to light, composition and detail. Set at dusk, the scene is composed of warm yellow, pinks and purples. The mountains in the distance allude to the expanse of the region, while the scene is set within the confines of a small town. Although the center of the action is the bucking horse and his rider's struggle to stay in the saddle, Leigh focuses equal attention on all aspects of the scene, masterfully capturing the various expressions of the spectators and details of the buildings. He uses the play of light and shadows inherent to the time of day to highlight parts of the scene and to add depth and dimension to the composition. Embarrassed (Range Pony in Town) is exemplary not only of Leigh's technical mastery, but also of his ability to capture the spirit of the West through his emphasis on detail and realistic depictions of the people and settings that he experienced on his visits.