Prairie Schooner
Artist
Oscar E. Berninghaus
(American, 1874 - 1952)
Dateca. 1925
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 14 × 23 inches (35.56 × 58.42 cm)
Framed: 21 3/16 × 30 5/16 inches (53.82 × 76.99 cm)
Framed: 21 3/16 × 30 5/16 inches (53.82 × 76.99 cm)
Credit LineGift of Kenneth and Jean Butler
Object number2015.53
SignedSigned in oil on recto, lower right, “O E Berninghaus”
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionThis horizontally-oriented painting represents three horses pulling a covered wagon (or “prairie schooner”) through a desert landscape. The horses, two brown and one white, strain against the weight of the wagon. A fourth horse is implied but not pictured. They are driven by a figure wearing brown who is standing at the front of the wagon. He is assisted by a man on horseback to the right of the wagon who is wearing blue and holding a riding whip. Two additional, sketchily-painted wagons are being pulled through the landscape behind the primary wagon. In the foreground of the picture, sagebrush is painted with a heavy buildup of paint and varied color in clumps. These desert grasses fade into hills, which are either tan or shadowed in purple against a sky painted with shades of turquoise.
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