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Western Artist Charles Schreyvogel 1911 Letter, 

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Historical Memorabilia Start Price:225.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 400.00 USD
Western Artist Charles Schreyvogel 1911 Letter, 

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Auction Date:2009 Jun 24 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Location:6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
2pp, 4.75" x 8.25", on letterhead of Salmagundi Club, NY, 19 Aug. 1911. Addressed to his wife, Louise, by his nickname for her, "Schnuck." He notes that he is at the club with Harry Stone (possibly Stoner? - an NY artist and sculptor). I leave tonight 604 for Denver get there Tuesday morning....I wish you and Shatzi (his daughter, Ruth Elizabeth?) could go along. I will drop postals when I get out there.

Charles (Carl) Schreyvogel (1861-1912) was born in New York and grew up in Hoboken, NJ, hardly what one would expect a man who would become one of the most popular artists of the West at a time when the frontier was disappearing quickly. In early adulthood, Schreyvogel began suffering asthma attacks, and his doctors recommended he seek the drier climes of the West. A poor artist, he made his living painting portraits, ivory miniatures and calendar art. In the last decade of the 19th century, he met "Buffalo Bill" and became fascinated with "cowboys and Indians." He finally saved enough to make his first trip west in 1893, where he not only sketched Indians, cowboys, and military subjects, but also learned to ride and became "fluent" in sign language to communicate with natives of many tribes.

His first Western canvases were ignored (as were many non-Western paintings). It was not until he won the Thomas B. Clarke Award in 1899 at the annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design that anyone took notice. The winning painting, "My Bunkie," had previously even been rejected by a local bar. It went on to win other medals in Paris and at the Pan-American Exposition. With his new-found fame and popularity, Schreyvogel made several more trips West, and communicated with Libbie Custer (for whom his daughter was named) and many military figures, as well as old friends, such as William Cody. When Schreyvogel died prematurely of blood poisoning from a sliver of chicken bone that had lodged in his gum, he left fewer than 100 canvases and a few dozen sculptures. Several clay models were posthumously cast in bronze. 

The Thomas Minckler Collection of Western Americana

Condition: Moderately toned. Expected folds, with a small tear in upper right corner, not affecting any text. Still very good condition.