Herbert Dunton

Herbert “Buck” Dunton studied in Boston and New York, although he was self-taught in his youth and sold his first illustrations when he was only 14. He accompanied a bear hunter for years and worked as a cowboy. Dunton then became well-known for his paintings of Native Americans and the American Southwest, where he frequently travelled and continued to cowboy and hunt. He resided in New York from 1903, but returned to Taos, New Mexico in 1914. There, he also founded the Tao Society of Artists after focusing on painting. Dunton produced hundreds of covers and illustrated numerous books, including several of the classic cowboy stories of Zane Grey. In 1928 he was severely injured in a horse accident, but survived, only to die in 1935 from prostate cancer.

All of the three entered paintings are believed to be in oil on canvas. Details are known of The Bob Cat Hunter including its size of 63.5 x 76.2 cm. An illustration could also be found of The Start for the Hills. Mentioned in the American Art News of 1920, Hunting Party (86.4 x 106.7 cm) is “torn apart” by the critics together with other paintings by Dunton: “This artist, who appeared so promising a few years ago, does not do well, as one finds in his work such careless technique, without distinction in texture or values, flat uninteresting color, and a lack of vigor.” Hunting Party is now owned by the Stark Foundation.