Neon Cowboy Sign. US 66, Duarte, California

Former TitleBucking Horse Sign, US 66, Duarte, CA

Artist Jim Dow (American, born 1942)

Date1973

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage and sheet: 8 × 9 15/16 inches (20.32 × 25.22 cm)
Mount and mat: 11 × 14 inches (27.94 × 35.56 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation

Object number2018.51.8

SignedSigned on mount recto, lower right, in pencil.

InscribedTitled, dated, and editioned on mount recto, bottom, in pencil: "COWBOY & BUCKING HORSE SIGN. US 66, DUARTE, CA. 1973 #1/25"

MarkingsYellow paper note taped to mount verso, lower right, in pencil: "Q 58% / 5 1/2" "

Edition/State/Proofed. 1/25

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of a sign depicting a man in profile wearing a cowboy hat and riding a bucking horse. The figures are outlined in neon glass tubes.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

In the West and Southwest, along routes such as US 101, US 66, US 93, and US 180, Dow often photographed images of “cowboys and Indians.” This romanticized imagery of the American West regularly appeared on billboards, neon signs, and painted murals in those regions. Such signs equated 1900s automobile tourism with the colonization of the West by early white settlers. These depictions, far removed from historical accuracy, contributed to clichés and stereotypes still associated with this region.

Provenance

The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2018;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2018.

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