"At the Same Time Hahn Pulled His Gun and Shot Him through the Middle"

Artist N. C. Wyeth (American, 1882 - 1945)

Date1906

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions37 7/8 × 23 7/8 inches (96.2 × 60.6 cm)
Frame: 45 1/2 × 31 3/4 × 3 1/8 inches (115.6 × 80.6 × 7.9 cm)

Credit LineBequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965

Object number31.2.1

ClassificationsPaintings

Label TextWyeth painted illustrations for Stewart Edward White’s collection of short stories about the Old West, Arizona Nights. In the story “The Cattle Rustlers” the villain Hahn shoots unsuspecting cowboy Larry Eagan in the stomach. To emphasize the sudden and brutal violence, Wyeth portrayed the burst of smoke from the gun as a powerful shape and depicted the cowboy’s body recoiling dramatically. In the background a woman shields her eyes. In White’s story, the woman turned evidence against the rustlers, and therefore “Larry’s death was really the beginnin’ of law and order in the cattle business.”

Provenance(C. Bland Jamison, Santa Fe, New Mexico); purchased February 14, 1958 by H.J. Lutcher Stark [1887-1965]; bequeathed September 2, 1965 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art

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