Fall+in+the+Foothills

Date: ca. 1933-1934
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1965/1965.18.36_1a.jpg?itok=ERRXSgGk width="324" height="265" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/fall-in-the-foothills-7628"]] || Title: **Fall in the Foothills**

Artist: **W. Herbert Dunton** Born: Augusta, Maine 1878 Died: Taos, New Mexico 1936

Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions: 34 x 42 in. (86.4 x 106.8 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

Accession: 1965.18.36 || A self-described cowboy and avid outdoorsman, Dunton saw the rugged West fading away before his eyes and he determined to hand down to the American people visual records of wildlife. In //Fall in the Foothills//, the artist captures the quiet elegance of a mother bear and her two inquisitive cubs at home in the sun-drenched autumn landscape.
 * Exhibition Label: **

This scene of a mother bear and two cubs is similar to other paintings by Dunton. The animals appear to be black bears with characteristic black bodies and brown muzzles. Autumn foliage of orange-yellow is common to Dunton’s depictions of the season. In 1981, //Fall in the Foothills// was exhibited at the University of Arizona and Norther Arizona University. Franklin D. Roosevelt selected the painting to hang in the White House (Schimmel, 231).
 * About the Work: **

Dunton spent time in New Mexico and the American Southwest, where he observed and painted the local wildlife, landscapes, as well as American Indians. Since his childhood, bears were particularly of interest to Dunton. Early in his career, the artist wrote a short story featuring a bear, “Sam Nelson’s First Grizzly.” Dunton wrote two more books on grizzly bears in the 1930s. He argued that the grizzlies were not as ferocious as many believed, and that the bears wished to avoid conflict. An active hunter as a young man, Dunton later focused on depicting animals in solitude. However, his earlier experience with hunting (and as a result animal anatomy) spurred the artist’s naturalistic style. He continued to observe wildlife and visit zoos throughout his life. Mother bears with cubs became one of Dunton’s preferred subjects to paint (Schimmel, 101-126).
 * About the Artist: **

Eldredge, Charles C., Julie Schimmel, William H. Truettner. //Art in New Mexico, 1900 – 1945: Paths to Taos and Santa Fe// (New York: Abbeville Publishers, 1986).

Schimmel, Julie. //The Art and Life of W. Herbert Dunton, 1878-1936// (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984).

Artist Biography SAAM Collections Page
 * Links: **