Quote:
Originally Posted by Reggie Bishop
Earle's most well know work was the The Dutch Boy Painter which is the logo of Dutch Boy Paint.
I suppose we could juxtapose a Parker collector into this painting, comparing his double gun to say the modern hunter with a Benelli auto. Is newer always better? Are we moving from antiquated to new? Is the classical being replaced by the popular? Could we even go deeper and compare the conservative views of our population being replaced by the liberal? Are moral values being replaced by the amoral?
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Yikes, Reggie, those are some significant questions! And I have no answers to any of them. I've looked at Earle's work, at least what I could find of it, and he is definitely an accomplished painter. I'll bet the painting that you saw was more of an illustration than straight out art work, but who knows(?) The fact that it was turned into a lithograph for publication in a newspaper suggests that. It would be interesting to find the paper that used the reproduction to see how it was employed.
Earle was/is not part of the mainstream art historical canon, as were hundreds of artists of merit over time. That does not mean to suggest that they were not accomplished or that their works are second rate. Many of the sporting artists we (at least I) like are not part of the canon. It makes getting good information on them more difficult.
The work definitely has a message, and I think your updated questions can certainly be inferred from the painting.
Now, how about a painting of two bird hunters, one with a Damascus barreled BHE 16 (straight/splinter, two triggers, of course) and another with a BHE 20 (0 frame) with 32" barrels meeting on the prairie of Kansas to follow a couple of Gordon setters through the fields? That would be a painting worth viewing, eh? (BTW, the first half of that painting is reality...let me know when the second is also).