McMullin, Guide
Artist
William Herbert Dunton
(American, 1878 - 1936)
Datec. 1934
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions60 × 56 inches (152.4 × 142.2 cm)
Frame: 63 3/8 × 59 1/2 × 2 1/2 inches (161 × 151.1 × 6.4 cm)
Frame: 63 3/8 × 59 1/2 × 2 1/2 inches (161 × 151.1 × 6.4 cm)
Credit LineBequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965
Object number31.21.222
ClassificationsPaintings
DescriptionLarge-scale oil painting depicting a man in chaps and a cowboy hat with a horn slung under his right arm, sitting on a white horse with his right hand resting on the horse's rump. The horse stands among sagebrush, with seven hunting dogs clustered around in various poses. Trees and mountains occupy the background.Label TextOn loan to "William Herbert 'Buck' Dunton (1878-1936): A Mainer Goes West" at the Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona (June 17, 2023 - June 30, 2024)
Dunton’s painting McMullin, Guide is both a portrait of a specific individual and an idealized character type. Dunton depicted the particular features of John Thomas McMullin, a wrangler and hunter that the artist knew in Taos. He also created an ideal of a noble western hunter through dramatic lighting, an elegant equestrian pose on a pure white horse, and the contrast of the lush, stylized background.
ProvenanceH.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
On View
Not on viewCollections
Frank Tenney Johnson
1918
William Herbert Dunton
c. 1890
c. 1950
Oscar Edmund Berninghaus
