Title: Jenness Cortez (1944- ), Four American Visionaries
Medium: acrylic on mahogany panel
Dimensions: 33 x 39 3/4
Frame dimensions: 41 5/8 x 58 5/8 x 1.5

I chose to pay homage to Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, Frederic Remington and Charles Russell because these four American masters were responsible for shaping our visual idea of what the wild West was before civilization began to tame it's grandeur. More than a century later we still hold in our collective imagination the dramatic landscapes Bierstadt and Moran once saw and pictured, and the rugged cowboys and indians Remington and Russell immortalized. Today everyone who admires Western art, and every artist who has made contributions to its legacy, owes a great debt of gratitude to these four far-sighted visionaries.

signed lower right: CORTEZ © 2015 verso: titled