Howard Terpning
Encyclopedia
Howard Terpning is an American painter
and illustrator
best known for his paintings of Native Americans
.
. His mother was an interior decorator, and his father worked for the railroad. He grew up in the Midwest living in Iowa, Missouri and Texas as well as Illinois. As a boy he liked to draw and knew by the age of seven that he wanted to be an artist. At age 15, he became fascinated with the West and Native Americans when he spent the summer camping and fishing with a cousin near Durango, Colorado. When he turned 17, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served from 1945 through 1946. He was stationed in China for nine months.
After leaving the Marines he enrolled at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in their two-year commercial art program using the G.I. Bill to pay his tuition. To further his study he attended the American Academy of Art
in Chicago for six months where he honed his life drawing and painting skills.
After art school a family friend introduced Terpning to Haddon Sundblom
, a successful and highly regarded illustrator of that time. Based on the recommendation and the strength of Terpning's drawings Sundblom hired Terpning to work at his Chicago studio as an apprentice for $35 per week. Initially, Terpning ran errands, cut mats, built crates and cleaned brushes. After about a year and a half he began to work on his own commissions. In 1955, he moved to a Milwaukee studio where he stayed for three years before relocating to New York where he was hired by a major Chicago studio. By 1962, he was working as a freelance artist using an agent to facilitate the business side of his craft. As a result Terpning was able to work from his home studio eliminating the long commute into NYC. During his 25 years as an illustrator he created magazine covers, story illustrations and advertising art for publications such as Reader's Digest
, Time
, Newsweek
, Good Housekeeping
, Field & Stream
, McCall's
, Redbook
, and Ladies' Home Journal
.
In addition to illustrating for magazines Terpning completed over 80 movie posters starting with The Guns of Navarone
in 1961. Other examples include Cleopatra
, Doctor Zhivago, The Sound of Music
, The Sand Pebbles
, and the 1967 re-release of Gone with the Wind
.
In 1967 in the midst of his commercial art career Terpning left his home in Connecticut and headed to Vietnam as a civilian combat artist. Invited by the Marine Corps to document the war by living with the Marines for one month. After two weeks of training he wound up in Da Nang
, South Vietnam with camera and sketch pad going out on patrols with combat troops. Of the experience Terpning stated he was "profoundly changed" by the experience. Upon his return home he created six paintings which are now at the National Museum of the Marine Corps
.
. Consequently, he began to transition into fine art by creating paintings and selling them in Western galleries. The first paintings sold for $2,000 to $2,500. After three years, he left Connecticut and the commercial art world and moved to Arizona to devote himself entirely to painting the American West. Within two years he was elected to both the National Academy of Western Art and the Cowboy Artists of America
(CA). In the 22 years he was an active member of the CAA, Terpning earned 42 awards for his work.
In 1985, Terpning was honored with a retrospective at the Gilcrease Museum
with 38 original works on display. His work has also been displayed in Peking, China, and the Grand Palais in Paris.
Some of what has been written of Terpning and his work:
"That Terpning is a realist is plain enough, since his work is primarily representational, not formal. But it is not a realism of minute detail for its own sake, without regard to the context of light and of the subject's character. Nor is it the sort of pop realism that places subjects in happenstance circumstances like tourists with a snapshot camera. Terpning's realism takes for granted the representational nature of art and takes it from there."
"Although his paintings actually read as bold declarations, Terpning's choice of palette is typically restrained in order to ensure that narrative is the first impression imparted upon a viewer."
The late Fred A. Myers, director of Gilcrease Museum said of Terpning, "[he] is simply the best and best-known artist doing Western subjects at this point... He is among a very small group of painters of the West in the late 20th century whose art will still be hanging in museums and appreciated a hundred years from now."
In 2006 at the Coeur d'Alene Art Auction Terpning's Search for the Renegades sold for over 1.4 million, The Stragglers sold for just over 1 million.
Terpning was profiled November 30, 2008 on CBS Sunday Morning.
Some of the museums Terpning's work can be found at include the Phoenix Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Autry National Center of the American West, Gilcrease Museum, Eiteljorg Museum and the Booth Western Art Museum.
National Academy of Western Art - 7 awards.
Autry Museum of the American West - 11 awards from 2000 to present.
Prix De West Show - 2007 Oklahoma Centennial Award
Eiteljorg Museum - 2001 Eiteljorg Award for excellence in American Western art
Briscoe Western Art Museum - 2007 1st Governor Brisco Legacy Award
Marine Corps Combat Artist Hall of Fame
- 2008 Inducted
Nighthorse Campbell Indian Medical Center in Denver, Colorado - 2008 Honored by Native Americans
Booth Western Art Museum - 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award
American Academy of Art
- 2010 Distinguished Alumnus Award
Note
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
best known for his paintings of Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
.
Life and career
Terpning was born in Oak Park, IllinoisOak Park, Illinois
Oak Park, Illinois is a suburb bordering the west side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L' Blue and Green lines,...
. His mother was an interior decorator, and his father worked for the railroad. He grew up in the Midwest living in Iowa, Missouri and Texas as well as Illinois. As a boy he liked to draw and knew by the age of seven that he wanted to be an artist. At age 15, he became fascinated with the West and Native Americans when he spent the summer camping and fishing with a cousin near Durango, Colorado. When he turned 17, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served from 1945 through 1946. He was stationed in China for nine months.
After leaving the Marines he enrolled at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in their two-year commercial art program using the G.I. Bill to pay his tuition. To further his study he attended the American Academy of Art
American Academy of Art
The American Academy of Art is a professional, accredited fine arts school located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1923 for the education of both fine and commercial arts students. The school has a tradition of top art education with exceptional students being awarded the academy's...
in Chicago for six months where he honed his life drawing and painting skills.
After art school a family friend introduced Terpning to Haddon Sundblom
Haddon Sundblom
Haddon Hubbard "Sunny" Sundblom was an artist best known for the images of Santa Claus he created for The Coca-Cola Company.-Background:Sundblom was born in Muskegon, Michigan to a Swedish-speaking family...
, a successful and highly regarded illustrator of that time. Based on the recommendation and the strength of Terpning's drawings Sundblom hired Terpning to work at his Chicago studio as an apprentice for $35 per week. Initially, Terpning ran errands, cut mats, built crates and cleaned brushes. After about a year and a half he began to work on his own commissions. In 1955, he moved to a Milwaukee studio where he stayed for three years before relocating to New York where he was hired by a major Chicago studio. By 1962, he was working as a freelance artist using an agent to facilitate the business side of his craft. As a result Terpning was able to work from his home studio eliminating the long commute into NYC. During his 25 years as an illustrator he created magazine covers, story illustrations and advertising art for publications such as Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...
, Field & Stream
Field & Stream
Field & Stream is a magazine featuring hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities in the United States. Together with Sports Afield and Outdoor Life, it is considered one of the Big Three of American outdoor publishing....
, McCall's
McCall's
McCall's was a monthly American women's magazine that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-format magazine called The Queen in 1873...
, Redbook
Redbook
Redbook is an American women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.-History:...
, and Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal is an American magazine which first appeared on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States...
.
In addition to illustrating for magazines Terpning completed over 80 movie posters starting with The Guns of Navarone
The Guns of Navarone (film)
The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 British-American Action/Adventure war film based on the 1957 novel of the same name about the Dodecanese Campaign of World War II by Scottish thriller writer Alistair MacLean. It stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Anthony Quayle and Stanley...
in 1961. Other examples include Cleopatra
Cleopatra (1963 film)
Cleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...
, Doctor Zhivago, The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music (film)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
, The Sand Pebbles
The Sand Pebbles (film)
The Sand Pebbles is a 1966 American period war film directed by Robert Wise. It tells the story of an independent, rebellious U.S. Navy Machinist's Mate aboard the fictional gunboat USS San Pablo in 1920s China....
, and the 1967 re-release of Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
.
In 1967 in the midst of his commercial art career Terpning left his home in Connecticut and headed to Vietnam as a civilian combat artist. Invited by the Marine Corps to document the war by living with the Marines for one month. After two weeks of training he wound up in Da Nang
Da Nang
Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...
, South Vietnam with camera and sketch pad going out on patrols with combat troops. Of the experience Terpning stated he was "profoundly changed" by the experience. Upon his return home he created six paintings which are now at the National Museum of the Marine Corps
National Museum of the Marine Corps
The National Museum of the Marine Corps is the historical museum of the United States Marine Corps. It is located in Quantico, Virginia and is open to the public with free admission. The museum had its grand opening on November 10, 2006 and is now the number one tourist attraction in Virginia,...
.
Fine art
Around 1974, Terpning began to tire of commercial work and decided to follow his interest in the American West and Plains IndiansPlains Indians
The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
. Consequently, he began to transition into fine art by creating paintings and selling them in Western galleries. The first paintings sold for $2,000 to $2,500. After three years, he left Connecticut and the commercial art world and moved to Arizona to devote himself entirely to painting the American West. Within two years he was elected to both the National Academy of Western Art and the Cowboy Artists of America
Cowboy Artists of America
The Cowboy Artists of America was founded in 1965 by four prominent western artists, Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye, John Hampton and George Phippen, who have all since died...
(CA). In the 22 years he was an active member of the CAA, Terpning earned 42 awards for his work.
In 1985, Terpning was honored with a retrospective at the Gilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum is a museum located northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum now houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West as well as a growing collection of art and artifacts from Central and South America...
with 38 original works on display. His work has also been displayed in Peking, China, and the Grand Palais in Paris.
Some of what has been written of Terpning and his work:
"That Terpning is a realist is plain enough, since his work is primarily representational, not formal. But it is not a realism of minute detail for its own sake, without regard to the context of light and of the subject's character. Nor is it the sort of pop realism that places subjects in happenstance circumstances like tourists with a snapshot camera. Terpning's realism takes for granted the representational nature of art and takes it from there."
"Although his paintings actually read as bold declarations, Terpning's choice of palette is typically restrained in order to ensure that narrative is the first impression imparted upon a viewer."
The late Fred A. Myers, director of Gilcrease Museum said of Terpning, "[he] is simply the best and best-known artist doing Western subjects at this point... He is among a very small group of painters of the West in the late 20th century whose art will still be hanging in museums and appreciated a hundred years from now."
In 2006 at the Coeur d'Alene Art Auction Terpning's Search for the Renegades sold for over 1.4 million, The Stragglers sold for just over 1 million.
Terpning was profiled November 30, 2008 on CBS Sunday Morning.
Some of the museums Terpning's work can be found at include the Phoenix Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Autry National Center of the American West, Gilcrease Museum, Eiteljorg Museum and the Booth Western Art Museum.
Awards
Cowboy Artists of America - 42 awards from 1980 to 2002, including 19 gold and 11 artist's choice awards.National Academy of Western Art - 7 awards.
Autry Museum of the American West - 11 awards from 2000 to present.
Prix De West Show - 2007 Oklahoma Centennial Award
Eiteljorg Museum - 2001 Eiteljorg Award for excellence in American Western art
Briscoe Western Art Museum - 2007 1st Governor Brisco Legacy Award
Marine Corps Combat Artist Hall of Fame
National Museum of the Marine Corps
The National Museum of the Marine Corps is the historical museum of the United States Marine Corps. It is located in Quantico, Virginia and is open to the public with free admission. The museum had its grand opening on November 10, 2006 and is now the number one tourist attraction in Virginia,...
- 2008 Inducted
Nighthorse Campbell Indian Medical Center in Denver, Colorado - 2008 Honored by Native Americans
Booth Western Art Museum - 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award
American Academy of Art
American Academy of Art
The American Academy of Art is a professional, accredited fine arts school located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1923 for the education of both fine and commercial arts students. The school has a tradition of top art education with exceptional students being awarded the academy's...
- 2010 Distinguished Alumnus Award
Note
External links
- Terpning in the US Marine Corps art collection http://www.usmcmuseum.org/exhibits_combatart.asp and http://www.heritagestudio.com/usmcart11.htm
- Website of Terpning's movie poster work http://www.thesandpebbles.com/terpning/terpning.htm
- Terpning Western painting art gallery http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Pictures/HowardTerpning_pg1.html