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Lot 17
Fred Fellows(born 1934)Out to Pasture 30 x 40in
25 November 2019, 12:00 PST
Los AngelesUS$4,000 - US$6,000
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Fred Fellows (born 1934)
Out to Pasture
signed 'Fellows CA' (lower right)
oil on canvas
30 x 40in
Painted in 2006.
signed 'Fellows CA' (lower right)
oil on canvas
30 x 40in
Painted in 2006.
Footnotes
Exhibited
Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, Cowboy Artists of America 41st Annual Sale & Exhibition, October 21 - November 19, 2006.
Literature
Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, Cowboy Artists of America 41st Annual Sale & Exhibition [exh. cat.], Flagstaff, Northland Press, p. 11, full page color illustration.
The title of Fred Fellow's painting Out to Pasture has literal and figurative significance. A poignant depiction of getting older, the painting features a senior grey mare standing before a derelict 1920s Dodge pickup truck. The horse's shrunken frame, thinning mane and stiff posture suggest its age, while the truck, with brush growing in the now-empty wheel wells, sits rusting on blocks in the middle of a pasture. Bullet holes pepper the driver side door, and the extra wheel is flat, but the truck bed still holds timber planks, a reminder of the vehicle's once important function on the ranch.
Fellows is best known for Western-themed paintings and sculptures executed in a realist style, such as the present work. He was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and was exposed to the cultures of the Otoe and Osage Indians, whose reservations were nearby, from an early age. A family move to Southern California when Fellows was nine did not diminish his interest in the West, and he returned regularly to his grandparents' home in Oklahoma. In his 20s in California, Fellows worked as a saddle maker for Butler Saddlery in Paramount, competed in rodeos, and worked as a cowboy for the Jamison Ranch in Monolith, while also studying commercial illustration at ArtCenter College of Design.
After graduating, Fellows worked in the aviation industry for more than a decade, eventually becoming Art Director for Northrup Aircraft. Despite success as a commercial illustrator, Fellows yearned to be a painter full-time. In the 1950s, he moved briefly to Taos before returning to commercial work in Los Angeles when money ran out. A few years later Fellows tried again, this time heading to Bigfork, Montana where he would live and paint for 40 years. Achieving success as an artist in Montana was slow initially, but by the late 1960s Fellows was showing and winning awards regionally, and in Scottsdale, Arizona. Fellows became a member of the Cowboy Artists of America in 1969, and served as president in 1997.
An active and multi award winning Cowboy Artist, Fellows steeps his entire life in Western history. "His love for the history of the West is not only evident in his work, but also in his other pursuits. In addition to being a champion roper, he also collects historical Western artifacts and memorabilia."1 In 2000, Fellows moved with his artist-wife, Deborah Fellows, to Sonoita, Arizona, near Scottsdale, where he continues to work today.
1 M. Duty, Cowboy Artists of America, Shelton, Connecticut, Greenwich Workshop Press, 2002, p. 50.
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