This auction has ended. View lot details
You may also be interested in
Lot 2
Charlie Dye(1906-1972)Oil sketch of Changing Night Guard 10 x 16in
25 November 2019, 12:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$7,575 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our California Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Charlie Dye (1906-1972)
Oil sketch of Changing Night Guard
signed with the artist's device 'Charlie Dye' (lower right)
oil on illustration board
10 x 16in
Painted in 1969.
signed with the artist's device 'Charlie Dye' (lower right)
oil on illustration board
10 x 16in
Painted in 1969.
Footnotes
Provenance
Trailside Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona, and Jackson, Wyoming.
Altermann & Morris, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Dallas, Texas.
Literature
C. Dye, P.E. Weaver, Charlie Dye: One Helluva Western Painter, Los Angeles, California, 1981, pp. 135, no. 206, final version referenced.
In the sketch for Changing Night Guard, silence emanates from the nighttime scene, as one cowboy prepares for bed and another pours coffee and readies himself to begin his watch, while his grey horse waits behind him. The fire's glowing central light source focuses the viewer's attention on the two central figural groups and their unspoken interaction, while further details of camp, including a third slumbering cowboy, two additional horses and a wagon, are painted in a subdued, shadowed palette.
This sketch and the final painting share all major compositional details, as well as the same general color palette, which speaks to the artist's meticulous process for developing his paintings. First Dye quickly sketched a thumbnail composition in pencil, and then he painted in color an oil sketch on board. The oil sketch was often shown to perspective buyers, but also enabled the artist to work out composition and palette considerations. Next Dye executed a very detailed and finished pencil drawing in the same dimension as the final oil painting. The superior draftsmanship of these cartoons harkens back to Dye's start as an illustrator. The cartoon drawing's outlines were then transferred to the prepared final canvas using soft graphite rubbed on the back. Those outlines were the start to compositional blocking for the final oil painting.1
Through his disciplined work ethic, historical knowledge, and succinct storytelling ability, Dye was adept at depicting the full scope of western life at each phase of his rigorous painting process.2
1 C. Dye, P.E. Weaver, Charlie Dye: One Helluva Western Painter, Los Angeles, California, 1981, pp. 102, 104.
2 Ibid, p. 102.
Additional information
Bid now on these items
