About the work

This one-of-a-kind watercolor showcases artist Clyde Forsythe’s meticulous illustration skills, as well as displaying the romantic, fun-loving spirit shared by many artists of the day.

The scene shows artist John Hilton in the foreground firing his six-shooter over a card table as Forsythe enters the room with gun drawn. Meanwhile, young Norman Rockwell watches with startled expression through the open window on left. According to Hilton family lore, the three artists collaborated on the painting just for fun.

The workmanship is solely by the hand of Forsythe, whose initials modestly occupy the lower right corner. The idea for the Old West setting and western garb likely belonged to Hilton. A more subtle contribution would have come from the not-yet-famous Rockwell, whose internal art of storytelling had not yet been realized in his own artwork. The drama is quite simply classic Rockwell, what we’ve come to know today as an incredible ability to judge the perfect moment to stop the action and “snap the picture.”

Housed in a solid walnut frame under museum glass.

About the artist…

Victor Clyde Forsythe (1885-1962) was born in Orange, California, to parents who had moved from Tombstone, Arizona. He would become one of the first American artists known as the “Desert Painters.” His works are readily recognizable for their “Forsythe” prospectors, clouds, burros, and sky.

Forsythe’s connection to the desert solidified in 1920 when he and Frank Tenney Johnson moved to Alhambra, California, where they shared a studio and, with their works in high demand, established the Biltmore Art Gallery in Los Angeles. Forsythe immersed himself in the lore of the West and often lived in ghost towns while on painting forays.

Forsythe helped start many a young artist, such as close friend Norman Rockwell, on their path to distinction and fame. Other painters he lent advice to included Bill Bender, Olaf Wieghorst, and Joe Beeler.

Forsythe’s close friend Ed Ainsworth once referred to the artist as “the kindest and most helpful of men,” who had a warm and sympathetic nature, and whose humor would “flash forth with devastating suddenness after periods of stoical silence.”

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