Cowboy Erwin

At Erwin havde en iboende dr?m at blive cowboy er der vist ikke mange, som er i tvivl om, n?r de ser hans selvportr?t…

Erwin E. Smith (1886?1947) always wanted to be a cowboy and an artist. When he was a boy growing up in Bonham, a town in Fannin County in North Texas, the era of the great trail drives was over, and he feared that the old ways of the cowboy were disappearing. However, the legend and myth of the cowboy was just beginning. Popular literature, art by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, and the fledgling film industry promoted a romantic, yet often inaccurate, image of the cowboy. For his part, Smith resolved to honor the life of the cowboy by presenting as true a portrayal as possible.

Han har lavet en imponerende samling billeder, som giver et bredt og nuanceret billede af livet som cowboy i hans samtid. Faget udd?de aldrig. De findes endnu, de arbejdsomme cowboys, som ?ret rundt s?rger for at hjulene drejer rundt i det hj?rne af Amerikas ?konomi.

Af alle billederne er jeg mest vild med hans selvportr?t. Det er s?dan han ?nsker at se og fremstille sig selv… og ingen er vist i tvivl om, at det er som cowboyen, der skuer ud over de vidtrakte pr?rier efter bortl?ben kv?g. Han er da sk?n :-)