The 52nd Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale achieves nearly $3.1 million in sales during opening weekend.
For more than 50 years, the Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum has been considered by many to be the pinnacle of events focused on art of the American West. Each edition sees master artists of the genre invited to participate allowing for an exhibition of some of the best art created to hit the market.
The 2024 show, which had its opening weekend June 7 and 8, continued the trend with a slate that included new works by Tony Abeyta, Gerald Balciar, Greg Beecham, Eric Bowman, G. Russell Case, Glenn Dean, Josh Elliott, Martin Grelle, Quang Ho, Brett Allen Johnson, Susan Lyon, D. LaRue Mahlke, Gladys Roldan-de-Moras, Sandy Scott, Curt Walters and Kim Wiggins. The event is the museum’s largest fundraiser that includes a live auction, the fixed-price art sale and other festivities. This year, the show saw nearly $3.1 million in art sales with proceeds going toward funding museum exhibitions and family programming.
George Carlson, one of the great American sculptors and painters, was the recipient of the Prix de West Lifetime Achievement Award. It is a rare achievement, as Carlson is only the fifth artist to be bestowed the honor in the show’s 52-year history. Carlson has exhibited in the Prix for 40 years and has received the Purchase Award twice for his sculpture COURTSHIP FLIGHT in 1975 and for the oil painting UMATILLA ROCK in 2011.
This year, Carlson also received the Robert Lougheed Memorial Award for his collection of four paintings in the show. The winner of the award, a $3,000 prize, is chosen by Prix de West exhibiting artists who are selecting the best display of three or more works.
The top honor of the Prix de West each year is the Purchase Award, which is a painting the Prix de West committee decides is of exceptional merit. The work is purchased for the museum’s permanent collection, which gives the artist a place in one of the most important groupings of American Western art at a public institution.
This year Thomas Blackshear II was awarded the prize for his striking 36-by-31-inch oil painting A MUCH NEEDED BREAK from his series of Western paintings that celebrate the strength of Black and Native American cultures. He received $45,000 purchase price, a $5,000 award and the Prix de West medallion sponsored by Roberta M. Eldridge Miller. Blackshear, who has exhibited with the Prix for the past four years, said in his acceptance speech, “I’ve had some low lows in my career, but I’ve also had some incredible high highs and this is one of them.”
On special occasions the Prix de West committee will select a Directors’ Choice Award. This year the group was captivated by Dean Mitchell’s WHY, a poignant work that focused on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Mitchell received $3,000 and a gold version of the 2024 commemorative Prix de West bolo.
Other award winners included Kyle Sims’ SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST for the Major General and Mrs. Don D. Pittman Wildlife Award; MESA REFLECTIONS, by Joel R. Johnson, for the Donald Teague Memorial Award for an exceptional work on paper; T. Allen Lawson’s SEEKING SHELTER with the Frederic Remington Painting Award; and Grant Redden’s NOVEMBER SNOW as the top landscape of the show with the Wilson Hurley Memorial Award.
Two first-time exhibitors made an impression at this year’s event. Dan Friday earned the James Earle Fraser Sculpture Award for his handblown glass sculpture LUMMI BLANKET BASKET. The work sold as did his second piece in the show, STELLAR TOTEM. Abigail Gutting’s RUNNING ON EMPTY was given the Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award, for the finest portray of cowboy subject matter. Like Friday, Gutting saw both of her works in the show find buyers.
The Jackie L. Coles Buyers’ Choice Award was given to Daniel Smith for WINTER’S SHROUD. The prize is recognition to the most popular work of art as chosen by patrons attending the opening weekend.
Unsold work remains on exhibit and available for purchase through August 4. For more details on the 2024 show, visit pdw.nationalcowboymuseum.org.
Looking for the latest show previews, industry updates and artist profiles? Subscribe to Southwest Art today.
The post The Roundup | Prix de West appeared first on Southwest Art Magazine.