Sold for $11,970

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Lot Description

Wilson Hurley

(American, 1924-2008)

Fog Strangler, 1971

oil on canvas

signed Wilson Hurley and dated (lower left)

30 x 32 inches

Property from an Estate, Sold to Benefit the Wichita Art Museum

Provenance:
The Baker Company, Lubbock, Texas, March, 1971
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Perhaps the foremost painter of the skies of the American West, Wilson Hurley painted Fog Strangler in 1971, two years after winning the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in the Air Force in Vietnam, and a year after his marriage to his lifelong partner in art, Roz. It was while he was flying that Hurley fell in love with sky, clouds, light and shadow, and he made their interpretation on canvas into his signature theme. The “fog strangler” in Fog Strangler is the sun, breaking through the towering, billowing clouds that resemble fists withdrawing from a losing battle. Hurley loved, adhered to, and frequently bent the Renaissance rules of perspective and the impressionist discoveries regarding color. In Fog Strangler, the shadowed rocks in the foreground draw the eye to the brightest, distant light. The eye then moves to the light at upper left and down to the lighter patch below that. The effect makes the viewer feel the movement of the rainy front across the painting.

-James D. Balestrieri

Condition Report

Overall good and stable condition. Three pinhead points of surface soiling - possible splatter - visible in lower left quadrant. Framed dimensions: 37 x 39 inches. Please request additional images.

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