- 162
William R. Leigh 1866-1955
Description
- William Robinson Leigh
- The Foul Rope
- signed W.R. Leigh with the artist's cypher, l.l.
- oil on canvas
- 28 by 22 in.
- (71.1 by 55.9 cm)
Provenance
Sale: Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco, California, May 1, 1991, lot 5155, illustrated in color
Private Collection, New York
J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York
Acquired from the above, 1998
Condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
After years of training, first at the Maryland Institute in Baltimore and then at the Royal Academy in Munich, William Robinson Leigh settled in New York in 1896 and began his career as an artist. To support himself, he worked as an illustrator for Scribner's magazine. In 1906, he took his first trip out West when the Santa Fe Railroad agreed to provide Leigh with a free ticket in exchange for a painting of the Grand Canyon. It was an inspiring sojourn that included visiting the villages of the Acoma and Zuni Indians, meeting Joseph H. Sharp in Taos, and ultimately traveling to the Grand Canyon. Finally, running low on funds, he was forced to return to his small apartment in New York where he later wrote, "My entire horizon had now been revamped. My field was the frontier West. From now on I knew I must return as often to that field as possible" (June Dubois, W.R. Leigh: The Definitive Illustrated Biography, 1977, p. 56). Over the course of his career, Leigh would travel out West over twenty-five times, documenting the landscape and the western way of life by making sketches wherever he went. "By 1918, Leigh was exhibiting his work in New York alongside the art of the principal Taos painters and legendary artists like Charles M. Russell" (Dr. Rick Stewart, The American West: Legendary Artists of the Frontier, 1986, p. 167).
Leigh's early experience as an illustrator honed his storytelling skills and like many of his contemporaries interested in western subjects, he was greatly influenced by Frederic Remington, Charles Schreyvogel and Charles Marion Russell. The Foul Rope is an action-packed portrayal of a cowboy astride an angry bucking bronco that has been caught in a rope attached to a nearby steer. The dramatic details of the painting - the grimace on the cowboy's face and the tension of the bronco's muscles – add intensity to the theatrics of the story. In addition, Leigh positions the bronco and rider in the center foreground of the picture plane further enhancing the excitement of this mid-air mishap.