Those Who Came Before Us: The Indian Murals of H. D. Bugbee

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Canyon, TX

806-651-2244

http://www.panhandleplains.org/

Those Who Came Before Us: The Indian Murals of H. D. Bugbee

On June 30, 2001, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum at Canyon, Texas, will begin exhibiting Those Who Came Before Us: The Indian Murals of H. D. Bugbee, which Harold Dow Bugbee painted in the early 1950s. The exhibition will include Bugbee's original thirteen murals for the Museum's then-Indian Hall, plus three Indian dance murals he added to cycle later, and sketches and studies (some made in the 1920s) for the murals. Much like Charles M. Russell, Bugbee's idol, who depicted life on the northern Great Plains in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Bugbee portrayed historic and then-contemporary Southern Plains life, including cowboys, American Indians, and flora and fauna of the region. (left: Canyon de Chelly)

At the suggestion of his cousin, cattleman T. S. Bugbee, Harold Dow Bugbee came to the Texas Panhandle from Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1914 with his parents. He studied at Texas A & M College in 1917 and the Cumming School of Art in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1920. (left: The War Dance)

Advised by cattlemen Frank Collinson and Charles Goodnight, Bugbee rendered the landscape and wildlife of the Texas panhandle, as well as nostalgic paintings of Indians and cowboys. Each fall, until the late 1930s, the artist traveled to Taos to paint with his fellow artists "Buck"Dunton, Frank B. Hoffman, Leon Gaspard, and Ralph Meyers, often packing into the mountains to paint with either Meyers or Dunton

By the mid-1920s galleries in Denver, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York handled Bugbee's work. With the Depression and decreasing picture sales, in 1933 Bugbee turned to magazine illustration, a practice he maintained for some eighteen years. He did pen-and-ink illustrations for Ranch Romances, Western Stories, Country Gentleman, and Field and Stream, among others. Additionally, Bugbee also illustrate a number of significant books on Western history including J. Evetts Haley's Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman, Willie N. Lewis's Between Sun and Sod, and S. Omar Barker's Songs of the Saddleman and others. He also continued to make easel paintings. (left: Running Buffalo)

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, Bugbee painted the first of five murals for the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum's Pioneer Hall in 1934. He later painted additional murals for the Old Tascosa Room in the Herring Hotel; Amarillo Army Air Field (which now hang at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum); and set of murals on Native American life for the Museum. (left: Moving Camp Sketch)

Bugbee exhibited at the Tri-State Fair at Amarillo annually, the Fort Worth Frontier Centennial Exposition in 1936, the Greater Texas and Pan-American Exposition at Dallas in 1937, and in the annual West Texas art exhibitions at Fort Worth. He also had numerous solo exhibitions in Texas, including 1930 venues at Amarillo and Clarendon, and exhibited at Taos. In 1952 Bugbee became the first Curator of Art at Panhandle-Plains, a position he held until his death. Over two hundred fifty Bugbee works -- drawings, paintings, and sculpture -- are part of the Society's art collection. (left: The Eagle Dancer)

The exhibition will run through September 15, 2001 in the Harrington Exhibit Gallery and reproductions of Bugbee's work will be available in the Museum Store.

Those Who Came Before Us

text by Michael Grauer, Curator, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

In 1953, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, commissioned its curator of art, H. D. Bugbee (1900-1963), to paint murals of American Indian life for its then-new Indian Hall. Over the next two years, Bugbee painted thirteen murals that were then installed above exhibit cases holding examples from the Museum's American Indian collection. Seven of the murals depict Southern Plains Indians, while the remainder highlight the Jicarilla Apache, Taos, Navajo, and Hopi tribes.

This exhibition "Those Who Came Before Us: The Indian Murals of H. D. Bugbee," includes the original thirteen Indian Hall murals, plus four Indian dance murals he added later. Also included in the exhibition are compositional sketches and studies for the murals in oil, watercolor, pencil, and charcoal for the murals Bugbee sketched in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona. Over two hundred fifty Bugbee works -- drawings, paintings, and sculpture and a reconstruction of Bugbee's studio -- are part of the Museum's art collection. (left: Pueblo Girl)

Beginning in June 2001, the Museum will begin exhibiting "Those Who Came Before Us: The Indian Murals of H. D. Bugbee," which Bugbee painted in the early 1950s. The exhibition will include Bugbee's original thirteen murals for the Museum's then-Indian Hall, plus four Indian dance murals he added to cycle later, and sketches and studies (some made in the 1920s) for the murals.

Much like Charles M. Russell, Bugbee's idol, who depicted life on the northern Great Plains in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Bugbee portrayed historic and then-contemporary Southern Plains life, including cowboys, American Indians, and flora and fauna of the region.

Each fall, until the late 1930s, the artist traveled to Taos to paint with his fellow artists "Buck" Dunton, Frank Hoffman, Leon Gaspard, and Ralph Meyers, often packing into the mountains to paint with either Meyers or Dunton. By the mid-1920s galleries in Denver, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York handled Bugbee's work. With the Depression and decreasing picture sales, in 1933 Bugbee turned to magazine and book illustration in pen-and-ink. He also continued to make easel paintings.

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, Bugbee painted the first of five murals for the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum's Pioneer Hall in 1934. He later painted additional murals for the Old Tascosa Room in the Herring Hotel and for the Amarillo Army Air Field (which now hang at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum). (left: Taos Pueblo)

In 1951 Bugbee became the Society's first Curator of Art. Two years later he began the Indian Hall mural cycle, which was then installed above the exhibit cases holding examples of ethnographic material from the Society's collection. The Museum also published a monograph on the Indian Hall cycle, Those Who Came Before Us, with a foreword by J. Evetts Haley and a description of each mural written by Bugbee.

Read more in Resource Library Magazine about the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Please click on thumbnail images bordered by a red line to see enlargements.

For further biographical information on selected artists cited above please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.

This page was originally published in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information. rev. 5/28/11

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