Copper Plate Etching “Night Rider” [SOLD]

Woody Crumbo was an accomplished artist in the medium of copper plate etchings and he produced them in an attempt to make his art affordable and available to a widespread audience.  Through his printmaking, he produced images of animals, Indian dancers, and Indian customs and life styles.  It was his intent to bring Indian lives and manners to a large group of potential art collectors.

Woody Crumbo met oilman Thomas Gilcrease in Tulsa in 1945. Gilcrease eventually persuaded Crumbo to become artist-in-residence at the emerging Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Crumbo was Potawatomi from his mother’s clan but was orphaned young and fostered within various Native tribes. He studied dances and customs of many tribes and supported and promoted Indian art and artists throughout his life, as an educator, director of art at Bacone College, consultant to Gilcrease, and early adopter of printmaking methods that expanded the audience for Native fine art. The Gilcrease Museum has the honor of possessing the largest extant body of Crumbo's art.

Fortunately, Crumbo’s etchings are occasionally available for purchase.  This etching titled “Night Rider” is now available.  It is titled and signed by the artist.

Condition: appears to be in original condition

Provenance: from the estate of John and Dixie Yeaple, owners of a gallery in the La Fonda Hotel in Taos from 1945-1949, and then director and curator of The Millicent Rogers Museum from 1950 to 1977.

Recommended Reading: Uprising! Woody Crumbo’s Indian Art by Robert Perry