Robert Pummill, CA
(b. 1936)
Robert Pummill hails from the Texas Hill Country. His hometown, Kerrville, was once a jumping-off point for trail herds bound north for Dodge City, Kansas. Pummill literally lives a stone’s throw from the clear-running Guadalupe River, where thousands of steers long ago crossed in the company of wild, young cowboys who were headed into history.
The colorful cavalcade of longhorns, horses and heroes that once proudly passed by has become a recurrent theme in Pummill’s art. He also paints the wanderers who came West in wagons, Conestoga and Concord coaches, rolling upon an endless expanse of prairie grass that moved in the wind like ocean waves. Pummill’s art also includes Native American subjects in a talented tribute to the People who were at home and in harmony while the West was still theirs and the buffalo yet ran.
Pummill’s paintings are tales told of the soft, muted magic of open skies and spaciousness; of the lure of lonesome places; and of men meant to move on. Pummill paints it all with the accomplished technique of a seasoned fine artist, and with a wistful feeling for a West that once was.
“The artists I admire,” he says, “are Sargent, Remington, N.C. Wyeth, many of the Flemish masters, and some of the French Impressionists. I feel many of the world’s greatest artists are alive today, however, and many are painting Western subject matter. It would be difficult for me to pick a favorite.”
“I took my first art course at eleven,” he stresses, “and have been serious about it ever since. As with most artists, the interest has always been there.” Raised in Ohio, Pummill joined the Air Force at eighteen and served nine years, specializing in electronics. His art education was correspondence courses with Famous Artists School and Art Instruction. After employment in Mississippi and Florida, he went to night school at the Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles, California while working as an industrial artist, and then moved to Texas in 1968 as an illustrator for Vought Aeronautics.
In 1977 he became a full time painter at 41. “From these experiences,” he points out, “I acquired discipline and the ability to meet a specific goal, both time-wise and subject-wise. In Western art, just as in commercial art, you have to know what you want to end up with before you begin. The most important aspect of doing a painting is the ability to analyze what is necessary to re-create a mood or feeling.” Featured in magazines such as “Art of the West,” “Southwest Art” and “Western Art Collector,” Pummill’s work can also be found in a book on his art, entitled “Under Western Skies.”
Recently Pummill began a transition to more pure landscapes. Portraying the essence of the Texas Hill Country, the works struck a cord with viewers and soon the demand for his landscapes matched the demand for the beloved Heritage scenes for which he is known. This new found freedom has reignited a passion in the artist that is visibly evident in the sensitive quality of his work. Pummill’s landscapes can now be found in many of the most prestigious collections in the state of Texas and beyond.
Source: Robert Pummill
The Corporal
Artist: Robert Pummill, CA (b. 1936)
Description: Watercolor | Image Size: 16”h x 14”w; Framed Size: 24”h x 21”w
Because Bob Pummill has explored almost every facet of the post-Civil War West material, it provides him with much of his subject matter. In this small watercolor, he depicts a cavalry soldier on horseback riding across a rocky terrain. The soldier is positioned on a small rise against a backdrop of swirling rain clouds as the landscape falls away in the background to reveal a distant canyon. The corporal and his horse are shown in full sunlight and ride toward the viewer. A large rock anchors the right foreground of the painting. It is a quiet painting that serves somewhat as a snap shot of a long ago time and place.
Plains Drama
Artist: Robert Pummill, CA (b. 1936)
Description: Watercolor | Image Size: 14”h x 18”w; Framed Size: 22 ½”h x 27 ½”w
The innate drama of Indians hunting bison on the open prairie has long been a staple in Western American art from the nineteenth century to the present. The subject presents many possibilities to an artist who has the skill to realistically portray a scene that will include intense action and movement set against a realistic landscape. “Plains Drama” shows that Robert Pummill has the talent to depict a story of the Old West with a flair for the dramatic.
This scene depicts an age prior to the widespread use of rifles by American Indian tribes. Here a single warrior has cut a large bison away from the herd; man and beast are now locked in a deadly struggle. In this contest, the warrior must use his horsemanship, skill with a lance, and courage to bring down the animal.
2:30am
Artist: Robert Pummill, CA (b. 1936)
Description: Oil (2002) | Image Size: 24”h x 30”w; Framed Size: 33 ¾”h x 39 ¾”w
In “Under the Western Skies: The Art of Bob Pummill,” its author, Michael Duty, wrote “Like the trail drive era, the age of western stagecoaches was actually a very brief one. In that relatively short span of time, however, the stagecoach created a lasting and vivid impression on the popular imagination….Bob Pummill has explored the many facets of this particular time in western history through very diverse interpretations that show a wide range of geography and subjects….From almost any perspective that Pummill has chosen to work from, we can get a feeling that comfort was not a common ingredient of any of these travels. The roads the stages used were rough, sometimes barely more than ruts; the route sometimes crossed through dangerous territory and pursuit by either Indians or outlaws was certainly not out of the question.”
And that sense of danger is palpable here. The driver holds the reins tightly while his second, the shotgun, is ready at the helm to fend off any foe. Even the team appears vigilant, perhaps intuitively sensing the trepidations of its guide and guard. Dust erupts beneath the pounding hooves stirring the earth. And the intensity of the lantern’s glow elucidates the perilous journey ahead.
In 2002 at the 37th Annual Cowboy Artists of America Exhibition & Sale in Phoenix, “2:30 a.m.” made its debut. It was subsequently loaned and exhibited at the Phippen Museum’s “By the Light of the Moon” exhibition in 2017.
Plenty of Time
Artist: Robert Pummill, CA (b. 1936)
Description: Watercolor | Image Size: 12”h x 9”w; Framed Size: 21 ½”h x 18”w
Picturing a lone cowboy astride his horse surveying the surrounding landscape from the perspective of a small rise, Robert Pummill managed to include a lot in a small space including an authentic portrayal of the character with great attention paid to the clothing and gear details. As its name “Plenty of Time” implies, it appears that neither the rider nor his horse are in any kind of a hurry as they casually take in the scenery and the smell of the earth.
Although he had an early affinity for art and took his first instructional course at the age of eleven, Robert Pummill spent many years in other pursuits before becoming a full-time artist.
Born and raised in Ohio, he joined the United States Air Force after graduating from high school and spent nine years in the service. He took correspondence courses from the Famous Artists School in Connecticut, and attended night school at the ArtCenter College of Design in California while working as a commercial and technical illustrator. Early in his career, he would put in a full day as an illustrator of technical manuals and then paint scenes of the Old West at night in a makeshift studio he fashioned from a closet in his home.
Hard work, determination, and discipline eventually paid off and he established himself as one of the top western artists in the country. He was a member of the Cowboy Artists of America from 1984 to 2005, serving as an officer of the organization on numerous occasions and winning several awards at the group’s annual exhibits. He has been represented by several major galleries for many years. He has specialized in paintings that depict the historic West, particularly the cattle trade era from the end of the Civil War through the closing decades of the nineteenth century. His large and majestic paintings of cattle drives, stagecoaches racing across the prairie, and Native Americans have long been favored by collectors. In recent years, he has focused on painting impressionistic landscapes of the Texas Hill Country and has found wide acceptance for this work among collectors.
Crow Winter
Artist: Robert Pummill, CA (b. 1936)
Description: Watercolor | Image Size: 11”h x 17”w; Framed Size: 21”h x 27”w
In this watercolor of two Crow warriors emerging from a forest and riding across a snow covered terrain, Bob Pummill uses a cool color palette featuring whites, grays, and silvers to convey a wintry feel. The riders move toward the viewer at a steady pace. At their back is the forest and the grey winter sky. They are traveling over pristine ground and appear to be the only riders who have crossed this ground in recent days. Pummill’s intent is to give the viewer a sense of what the day would have felt like and what the life of these warriors entailed. He has done so by depicting a silent and white landscape that captures the frigid temperature and isolation of winter.
