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The decision to become an artist is not always easy. It took Wilson Hurley
decades and two careers before he followed his muse. But his experiences added
to his vision, making him one of the most respected landscape artists in the
world and perhaps best known for his primordial portraits of the American
West.
One of Hurley’s most monumental accomplishments is the creation of five unique
American vistas, Windows to the West–a series of forty by sixteen foot
triptychs–which hang in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. These classic
American works are worthy of the Hudson Valley School of Artists’ maxim:
"If you wish to see God’s work, look about you."
Hurley was born in Tulsa, the son of a lawyer who was to become Secretary of
War in President Herbert Hoover’s administration. Following a military career
and a World War II assignment he practiced law in New Mexico, where spectacular
views of the West fueled his hobby of painting. Then came the fateful
appointment with a dying client, a terminally ill doctor who consulted Hurley
about a will.
With the knowledge of mortality forefront in his mind, Hurley decided to devote
the rest of his life to art. This devotion led him to become one of the
leading landscapists of our time, compared to such revered painters as Albert
Bierstadt, Thomas Cole and Thomas Moran. Hurley is a founding member of the
National Academy of Western Art and the recipient of their highest honor, the
Prix de West.
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