Howard Terpning |
Born in Illinois and educated at the Chicago Academy of Fine
Arts and the American Academy of Art, Howard Terpning has painted
since he was in his early 20s. He first gained attention from
some powerful Time and Newsweek covers. He created advertising
art and illustrated stories and articles in such publications
as Ladies' Home Journal and Reader's Digest. He documented Vietnam
War scenes as a civilian combat artist, which he described as
a "harrowing experience." Film fans praised his movie
posters for such classics as The Sound of Music, Dr. Zhivago,
The Guns of Navarone, and the re-issue of Gone with the Wind.
The focus of his imagery changed when Terpning moved from the
East Coast to Arizona in 1977 and the years since have been devoted
to his award-winning Western painting. Living in what used to
be Apache country, he began studying historic photographs of
American Indians, fascinated by the differences among tribes.
As his respect for them increased, so did his sense of duty to
portray them as they really were. A contemporary realist working
in the narrative painting traditions of Frederic Remington and
Charles Russell,
Howard Terpning chronicles the history and stories of the American
Plains Indians with unusual insight and exceptional detail. |