The New Cattle Country

Artist William Herbert Dunton (American, 1878 - 1936)

Date1910

Mediumpencil and watercolor on paper

Dimensions4 3/4 × 8 3/4 inches (12.1 × 22.2 cm)

Credit LineBequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965

Object number31.21.303

ClassificationsPaper

DescriptionMan on a brown horse in a watercolored scene. He wears a red serape and a yellow sombrero. The setting is a forest.

Label TextDunton’s sketch portrays a Mexican vaquero, or cowboy. Mexican traditions influenced the North American cowboy’s dress, gear, and methods of work. Each culture, however, had distinct differences. Dunton’s vaquero wears a sombrero, a wide-brimmed and high-crowned hat. A serape, a brightly colored wearing blanket, wraps his torso. He rides a sure-footed mule. Dunton drew this work as an illustration that was never published. It was to accompany the essay on “The New Cattle Country” by F. Warner Robinson, published in Scribner’s magazine in 1912. Robinson lamented that the live-stock business in the States was dead. He proclaimed Mexico as “the new cattle country."

Provenancepurchased May 11, 1942 through (Joseph Sartor, Dallas, Texas) by H.J. Lutcher Stark [1887-1965]; bequeathed September 2, 1965 to Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art

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