The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944 Page: 52

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TEXAS COLLECTION
H. BAILEY CARROLL
By the hundreds, visitors to the office of Leslie Waggener,
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Republic National
Bank, Dallas, have felt an inward glow in gazing at the superb
picture of Buck Dunton's "The Texan" which hangs on the
east wall.
Some two years back when Professor Webb and I were
visitors in the office and were warm in our appreciation of the
painting, Mr. Waggener told us further of a letter of the
artist's which accompanied the delivery of the picture. The
description of the letter convinced us that it was a Texas
document in itself, and we immediately requested a copy for
publication. After the copies were received, the conviction
grew that a reproduction of the painting should accompany
the publication of the letter-the two belonged together. At
the same time, it was recognized that no reproduction could
do absolute justice to the original. It is hoped, however, that
the reproduction in this number of The Quarterly will carry to
many people some idea of the craftsmanship of the original.
Harold Bugbee of Clarendon, Texas, was intimately asso-
ciated with Buck Dunton over a period of several years, and
as an authoritative portrayer of the Texas cowboy it seemed
fitting and proper that he should be asked to comment on Dun-
ton, the picture, and the letter. Bugbee's interesting letter
in reply follows:
I was very glad to get your letter, with the enclosed copy of Buck
Dunton's typical letter. Like his painting, it too has lived far longer
than he did.
In these days of flowery, meaningless tributes to mediocre and inferior
"art," it is impossible for me to do justice to the work of W. Herbert
Dunton. He was one of the world's foremost painters at a time when
the quality of a painting was determined by draftsmanship, composition,
color, and design; and his work was invited to exhibitions in this country
and abroad, where that of perhaps better known contemporaries was
not included. His description of the early day cowhand is on the whole
correct, although I believe he was better acquainted with the northern
cowboy than with the Texan. The only exceptions I would take to his
statements are these-in my opinion, Van Price was the typical bronc
[52 ]

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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944, periodical, 1944; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146054/m1/56/ocr/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.

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