Western Art

Paintings

The Harrison Collection includes oil paintings, watercolors, etchings, lithographs, prints, and other fine art. Many of the artists were known personally to the Harrisons.

Grand Canyon from the South Rim, Watercolor by Gunnar Widforss, undated

Watercolor painting and inscription by Holling Clancy Holling, 1951

Baskets and Pottery

The Harrison Collection also includes Native American handicrafts from the Southwest, Northwest Coast, California, and Alaska. There are approximately 30 pieces of pottery and 80 baskets including delicate Pomo feathered baskets.

L-R: Acoma pottery jar, ca. 1950; Acoma pottery olla; Woodlands birchbark box

L-R: Santo Domingo food bowl, black-on-cream pottery ware; Santo Domingo water jar, black-on-cream pottery ware; Kayenta dipper, black-on-white ware

Top L-R: Hupa/Yurok storage basket; Wukchumni Yokuts cooking basket by Mary Pohut, ca. 1945. Shelf L-R: Maidu basket; Washo covered basket, ca. 1930; 1-rod; Papago basket bowl, ca. 1940; Pima winnowing basket, ca. 1925

L-R, Top-Bottom: Pomo Feathered miniature basket; Papago horsehair cat basket bowl; Papago horsehair jug with handle; Papago horsehair covered bowl basket

Sculpture

Harrison admired the bronze sculptures of Michael Westergard because of their historical accuracy and minute detail. The Harrison Western Research Center contains one of the most complete collections of Westergard’s work with more than fifty bronzes. Michael Westergard is a self-taught sculptor whose studio, the Westergard-Ragucci Bronze Studio is located in the northeast part of Montana. Westergard’s work portrays the people and wildlife of the American West. A number of his bronzes are based on the watercolor paintings by Karl Bodmer (1809-1893). Bodmer traveled with Prince Maximillian zu Wied in 1832 through 1834 across nearly three-quarters of the North American continent. Bodmer’s work documented the indigenous populations of the Missouri River Basin and the northern Great Plains. Westergard’s bronzes bring these works “alive” as three dimensional forms.