작품 상세

Signed "Don Luis Perceval" and dated 1931 lower right, depicting two cowboys, mounted on bucking horses, brandishing pistols in an old western town setting. 9.25 in. x 13 in. Don Perceval was a British-born American painter and illustrator of Old West and Native American subjects. A note on the signature: In 1931, Perceval was about 23 years old and just beginning his career, earning money as an illustrator. The signature in the submission displays a deliberate graphic element, which suggests it may have been drawn with mass reproduction (magazine or pulp fiction) in mind. The stylistic differences between the signature on this work and his typical style may be due to youth and experimentation, and that he had not yet developed the characteristic signature of his more mature work. The difference in spelling between "Louis" and "Luis" may be due to several factors. While on record, in published books he illustrated and official biographies, he is consistently listed as Don Louis Perceval, his name appears in various newspaper accounts as Don Luis Perceval. He was also an active member of an organization called the Los Angeles Westerners where his name appears in articles written for that organization as Don Luis Perceval (see pages 1 and 7 of <a href="http://www.lawesterners.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/009-MARCH-1950.pdf"> LA Westerners</a>. Perceval may have used "Luis" to distinguish personal or work-for-hire products from more serious artistic work. He also moved back and forth between the American southwest and England during his early life and training. The two spellings may reflect a consideration of how to "brand" himself and his work given a particular environment.