November 5 – Happy Birthday, Howard Terpning

nPostednNovember 5, 2013

nInfell in love with Howard Terpning’s paintings of Native Americans thenmoment I saw this one:

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n Whatnyou have to know is that the painting is really large. It was almostnthe size of the wall it was displayed on at the Autry Museum. Thenwater seems to be a powerful force, but even more powerful were thenattentive eyes of the Native Americans in the painting. Even thoseneyes I couldn’t see seemed to be checking out the gorgeous landscapenin a way I never had: reveling in the beauty, sure, but alsoncalculating how to proceed, on alert for danger, more intimately tiednto everything they saw.
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Sincenthen I have seen many of Terpning’s paintings. One time the Autry hadnan entire show devoted to his works, with 92 paintings on display. Ofncourse I went! My uncle showed me a DVD about the artist, and it wasnfascinating to hear how he thinks up and researches, composes andnpaints his works. For example, Terpning always starts by covering thenwhite of his canvas with browns or sometimes greens—earth tonesnthat sometimes shine through the layers of paint he later dabs ontonthe toned canvases.

nInwas struck by how fascinated by the Plains Indians Terpning is. Hownhighly he respects—maybe even loves—their history and culture,ntheir arts and artifacts. I think it is that interest and respect andnlove that commands my own interest in the subjects he paints.

nThenbiggest thing of interest to me was Terpning’s own biography. He knewnhe wanted to be an artist at an early age, and he also fell in lovenwith the West and Native American cultures early on, at age 15. Butnit took him a while to be able to focus on his passion. At age 17, henenlisted in the Marines, and he went on to study at art schools usingnthe G.I. Bill to fund his schooling. He did low-level artwork—bynwhich I mean running errands, cutting mats, building crates for othernpeople’s paintings—as an apprentice for a successful illustrator;neventually he worked his way up to creating illustrations himself.

nSomenof the works he did at this point in his life are really familiar tonme—he painted some of the movie posters I have seen a bajillionntimes! Here are two of his movie posters:

nAlthoughnhe was very successful as a commercial artist, Terpning left hisncomfy home and well-paid practice to become a combat artist innVietnam. This was in response to an invitation from the Marine Corps;nTerpning did some training and then lived with a group of Marinesnstationed in South Vietnam, going out on patrols armed with hisncamera and sketch pad.
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nTerpningnsaid that the experience “profoundly changed” him.

Inn1974, Terpning gave up his commercial art career to focus on creatingnfine art paintings on the subjects HE wanted to paint. And of coursenthat meant the old West. Plains Indians: the Crow, the Lakota, the Comanche, the Kiowa, and many other groups.