Video directed and written by Chris Wooley. Director of photography: Dick Williams. Produced by the Historical League. Narrated by Pat McMahon. Made possible by a financial grant from Dr. Edward B. Diethrich.
Joe Beeler is considered by many to be the prototype of the modern cowboy artist. His life reads like a classic Western novel, each chapter taking form on canvas or in bronze sculptures.
Mr. Beeler, who is part Cherokee, was born December 25, 1931, in Joplin, Missouri. As a young man working as a ranch hand, he began to consider where his artistic talents could lead. He graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, then continued his studies at the Art Center School in Los Angeles. Soon, Joe Beeler’s illustrations in history books about the West, published by the University of Oklahoma Press, attracted attention. His paintings and sculptures captured the spirit of the Old West, and his career flourished.
Joe Beeler has received numerous honors and awards, and he is currently regarded as one of the most influential and respected Western artists of our day. In his early thirties, Mr. Beeler had major one-man shows at the Gilcrease Museum, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City. In 1965, he was one of four founders of the Cowboy Artists of America. This organization helped launch the contemporary Western art movement.
His work has received recognition and critical acclaim from the Gilcrease Museum, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, the C.M. Russell Gallery, the Montana Historical Society, and the Heard Museum. At the 25th annual Cowboy Artists of America Show in Phoenix in 1990, Mr. Beeler won “Best of Show” and a gold medal for the bronze sculpture, “A Chief Goes to Washington,” and a silver medal for his bronze sculpture, “Practice Makes Perfect.” In October 1993, Mr. Beeler won “Best of Show” and a gold medal for his bronze sculpture, “Speaker of the House.”
Joe Beeler, the quintessential cowboy artist of our time, holds firm to the traditional values of family and community involvement. Residing in Sedona, he is a member of Arizona Cowpunchers and Sedona’s Young Life organizations. Joe and his wife, Sharon, have two children, a daughter, Tracy, and a son, Jody.
Historymaker Joe Beeler biography published in 1995
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