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Their Lucky Day

Currency:USD Category:Western Americana Start Price:NA Estimated At:125,000.00 - 175,000.00 USD
Their Lucky Day
Their Lucky Day
Artist: Goodwin, Philip R.Date of Birth: 1882-1935
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 24 x 33 inches
Signed: Signed lower right

After a period of study with Howard Pyle at the Brandywine School, Philip GoodwinÕs career began auspiciously when he began illustrating classic works like Theodore RooseveltÕs African Game Trails and Jack LondonÕs Call of the Wild for ScribnerÕs. A close friend of Charles Russell, GoodwinÑa New York nativeÑspent summers in the West, camping, hunting, fishing, and gathering material for his oils, unmistakeable pictures depicting the romance of sport. GoodwinÕs influence on the American idea of outdoor sports is so great that many sportsmen, dreaming of ideal voyages in the woods, imagine scenes straight out of his canvases. GoodwinÕs paintings made their way into the American unconscious through periodicals and calendarsÑthe 20th century American artistÕs bread and butter. Reproduced as a print and as a jigsaw puzzle by Chapman Co. of Brooklyn, NY, Their Lucky Day is an understandably popular image. With the sportsman, or guide, at left, just arriving with the canoe, the central figure, seeing the dream herd of caribou crossing the river, eases his rifle from the packs on the rocks. Everything hovers on what transpires in next few seconds. Meat for the pot (note the symbolism in the empty pot on the rocks) or spooked caribou. Yes, there are at least two animals in the water who will have to choose between swimming across or trying to retreat, and they may give the hunter a second shot if he misses the firstÑmaybe thatÕs the luck part of Their Lucky DayÑbut the guy I feel for is the guy trying to hold still while that canoe gets heavier and heavier.