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| TOMMY THOMPSON, OUTFITTER | © Bama, 1973 |
James Bama (b. 1926) grew up in New York, studied at the Art Students League there, and after a stint in the Army Air Corps, began working there. For more than twenty years, he had a successful career as a commercial artist, producing illustrations for publications like
Reader's Digest and
The Saturday Evening Post. Norman Rockwell was a great inspiration, though Bama wanted to carve his own, distinctive niche.
A 1966 vacation in Wyoming stirred within him a love for the history and people of the West, and for the great outdoors. He produced 18 paintings, all with a Western theme, which he placed in a New York gallery in 1971. They sold with such success that Bama soon moved to Wyoming and began specializing in the sort of paintings that follow.
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| TOM LAIRD, PROSPECTOR | © Bama, 1972 |
His paintings are photo-realistic and have the advantage of Bama's understanding of professional lighting techniques. As I study his work, I recognize that Bama tends to have neutral backgrounds, dark and grayed middle tones with high-contrast details, and usually one color that predominates.
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| BILL SMITH - NUMBER ONE | © Bama, 1974 |
Bill Smith was the World's Champion Saddle Bronc Rider in 1969, 1971 and 1973. Bama described him as "shy, modest and a gentleman."
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| GEORGE WASHINGTON BROWN, STAGECOACH DRIVER | © Bama |
Mr. Brown was 92 when Bama painted him, the oldest living 24-horse team stagecoach driver in Wyoming.
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| CHESTER MEDICINE CROW WITH HIS FATHER'S PEACE PIPE | © Bama, 1973 |
One of James Bama's favorite sitters was Chester Medicine Crow, son of a famous 19th century Crow chief. Here, along with his father's peace pipe, he's posing with the medal that President Woodrow Wilson gave his father in 1913.
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| CHESTER MEDICINE CROW IN HIS RESERVATION HAT | © Bama, 1973 |
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| CHESTER MEDICINE CROW WITH HIS FATHER'S FLAG | © Bama, 1972 |
Above is Bama's painting of Chester Medicine Crow with his father's 46-star flag, which dates back to 1900. By chance, I was able to find an image of Chief Medicine Crow from that period, with a similar, but different American flag.
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| CHIEF MEDICINE CROW | amertribes.proboards.com |
Save the last photograph of Chester Medicine Crow's father,
all the above images come from The Western Art of James Bama,
A Peacock Press/Bantam Book, 1975.
James Bama was inducted into the Illustrator's Hall of Fame in 2000.
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Hello Mark- amazing painting skills - if you had not said, I would have guessed that they were photographs. The faces of the subjects ooze character, they have seen a lot of life!
ReplyDeleteHello, Rosemary - As much as anything else, Bama was drawn to Wyoming because of the character of people he met there. Each one of these paintings is accompanied by a short description of the person, and one concludes that they are all very grounded people.
DeleteAs soon as I saw the first picture, I thought that it looked like a Saturday Evening Post cover. Bama has remarkable mastery over light and detail, and is able to use it to show emotion and character.
ReplyDeleteI find the Bill Smith portrait very interesting design-wise. The red "1" in the white diamond is the main focus, while Smith's body, especially the orange shirt, is the analog of the "1". The serif at the top of the "1" has the value of Smith's head; not only do they they point to each other, but the curve of the face seems to fit the curve of the figure "1". Thus we are led to the main psychological area by stages, and have absorbed Bama's symbolism along the way.
--Road to Parnassus
Hello, Parnassus,
DeleteI like your analysis of the Bill Smith painting. The space formed by the curve of the one and the curve of the face is indeed a nice touch.
I like to look at how a painting's composition leads the eye. For example, I see the first two paintings as having diagonals that form "X"s, and while I also see diagonals in the Bill Smith painting, I think there is a stronger circle or bulls-eye formed by the curve of the body and the red border of the sign. I could go a step further and say that while the legs draw the eyes out of the painting, the highlights of the boots put a stop to that.
I learned through trial and error, and a coworker who is an excellent designer, that one can design pages of a magazine to lead the eye from page to page, in much the same manner.
Sorry Mark, I've missed your posts for some time, but you've been in my thoughts. The work of James Bama is just incredible, and I am awestruck. It does remind me a little of Rockwell, just not so idealized and sweet. He also reminds me of our Canadian national treasure, painter Alex Colville. Google him if you're not familiar.
ReplyDeleteTake care, and I'll try to check back.
Square
I did check out the work of Alex Colville, and enjoyed the images. If I were going to make comparisons of his work to that of other artists, I'd saw that Colville's subject matter has the austerity of Andrew Wyeth, and the brush technique of George Tooker. I especially like "To Prince Edward Island."
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