Erwin E. Smith (1886–1947) always wanted to be a cowboy and an artist. When he was a boy growing up in Bonham, a town in Fannin County in North Texas, the era of the great trail drives was over, and he feared that the old ways of the cowboy were disappearing. However, the legend and myth of the cowboy was just beginning. Popular literature, art by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, and the fledgling film industry promoted a romantic, yet often inaccurate, image of the cowboy. For his part, Smith resolved to honor the life of the cowboy by presenting as true a portrayal as possible.
Aware that an artist must know his subject intimately to capture details accurately, Smith took every opportunity to gain experience as a working cowboy. As a boy he spent summers on his uncle's ranch near Quanah, Texas. The land bordered the Great Western Cattle Trail, which thousands of longhorns followed north in the 1880s. During the summers, he began to acquire the skills to be a cowhand.
Smith attended two of the best art schools in the country to study sculpture and painting. But eventually he chose photography as his way to preserve a record of the open-range cowboy life. Between 1905 and 1912, he photographed roundups and other scenes on ranches in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Smith's photographs, showing both the romance and harshness of cowboy life, are some of the best-known images of the southwestern range early in the last century.
[Erwin E. Smith on "sunfisher", Dexter, on a plain. Bonham, Texas], 1908
Gelatin dry plate negative
Edwin Sanders, cousin to the photographer Erwin E. Smith, on the Three Circles Ranch in Texas. Three Circles Ranch, Texas.
Erwin E. Smith Eating a Mid-Morning Snack, OR Ranch, 1909-1910
Gelatin dry plate negative.
Fred "Kid" Bomar waiting with poised gun, and "Rabbit" the cutting horse waiting. Turkey Track Ranch, Texas, 1906
Nitrate negative.
Erwin E. Smith Collection Guide | Collection Guide
Aware that an artist must know his subject intimately to capture details accurately, Smith took every opportunity to gain experience as a working cowboy. As a boy he spent summers on his uncle's ranch near Quanah, Texas. The land bordered the Great Western Cattle Trail, which thousands of longhorns followed north in the 1880s. During the summers, he began to acquire the skills to be a cowhand.
Smith attended two of the best art schools in the country to study sculpture and painting. But eventually he chose photography as his way to preserve a record of the open-range cowboy life. Between 1905 and 1912, he photographed roundups and other scenes on ranches in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Smith's photographs, showing both the romance and harshness of cowboy life, are some of the best-known images of the southwestern range early in the last century.
[Erwin E. Smith on "sunfisher", Dexter, on a plain. Bonham, Texas], 1908
Gelatin dry plate negative
Edwin Sanders, cousin to the photographer Erwin E. Smith, on the Three Circles Ranch in Texas. Three Circles Ranch, Texas.
Erwin E. Smith Eating a Mid-Morning Snack, OR Ranch, 1909-1910
Gelatin dry plate negative.
Fred "Kid" Bomar waiting with poised gun, and "Rabbit" the cutting horse waiting. Turkey Track Ranch, Texas, 1906
Nitrate negative.
Erwin E. Smith Collection Guide | Collection Guide
