William Herbert “Buck” Dunton: A Mainer Goes West

About the Exhibition

Organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico, William Herbert “Buck” Dunton: A Mainer Goes West explores the work of Taos Society of Artists’ (TSA) member William Herbert “Buck” Dunton. Founded in 1915, the TSA became arguably the most important group to create and popularize images of the western United States. Born and raised in Maine, Dunton drew influence from his childhood summers spent in the rural Maine countryside to paint subjects and scenes of the region, contributing to the constructed mythology of the American West.

Throughout his career, Dunton enjoyed commercial and critical success, exhibiting works at the National Academy of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the 1924 Venice Biennale, among other achievements. Today, however, his work has received very little individual attention and analysis in a larger art-historical context. William Herbert “Buck” Dunton: A Mainer Goes West provides an intimate look at some of the artist’s most significant paintings. A selection of works by other Taos Society artists drawn from the Museum’s collection and presented in an adjacent gallery creates dialogue between Dunton’s practice and those of his peers and collaborators.

Image credits: (Header) W. Herbert Dunton, Sunset in the Foothills, c. 1930. Oil on canvas, 40 1/8 x 50 1/8 in. Bequest of Nelda C. Stark, 1999, Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, 31.21.398. (Top) W. Herbert Dunton, My Children, 1920. Oil on canvas, 50 x 60 in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Gift of a friend, 1927 (351.23P). Photo by Blair Clark. (Above) William Herbert Dunton, Mountain Man (Hombre de la montaña), c. 1909. Oil on canvas. Collection of Phoenix Art Museum. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Read Mullan.