Painting by Cowboy Artists of America's James Boren now at J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art

James Boren
 

J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art has recently acquired a beautiful painting by Cowboy Artist James Boren. Boren was born in Waxahachie in 1921 and grew up in various places in Texa including San Antonio. He studied art at Kansas City University and the Kansas City Art Institute. He joined the Marines during WW2 and went on to earn his MFA. After school he taught and eventually took a job as an illustrator for the Martin-Marietta Company in Denver. In 1959, he began selling cowboy paintings.

In 1965 both the Cowboy Artists of America formed in Sedona, and the Cowboy Hall of Fame (now known as the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum) opened in Oklahoma City. Boren became the Cowboy Hall of Fame’s first Art Director.  Joe Beeler, one of the Cowboy Artists of America founders, presented the new museum’s first one-man exhibition of contemporary Western art. The Beeler show was a success and led to collaboration among the two organizations that created a Western art renaissance. Boren led in the assembling of the Hall of Fame’s fine-art collections and exhibits.  He exhibited there himself in 1969 and sold thirty-eight of the forty paintings. This success gave him the confidence to become a full time painter.

He became a member of the Cowboy Artists of America in 1968, and later served two terms as its president and secretary. (The Cowboy Artists annual show was October 5-7th. See their website for details.) He also served on the original board of trustees of the museum formerly known as the Cowboy Artists of America Museum in Kerrville, Texas. That museum remains open today as the Kerrville Museum of Western Art. His hand and footprint are memorialized there in cement.

 Boren was awarded twelve gold medals and nine silver medals in annual competitions in Cowboy Artists of America shows. In 1976, he was named Texas Artist of the Year. In 1980, he participated in a show at the Grand Palais in Paris, and in 1981, the Chinese government invited him to participate in the first Western art show held in Peking, China. James Boren is in the collections of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Desert Caballeros Western Museum, National Center for American Western Art, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center.

Waiting in the Moonlight detail

The painting Waiting in the Moonlight was painted in 1966 and exhibited in the National Invitational Western Art Show in San Antonio in 1967. This humble art show began as a small exhibition in a barn during the Livestock Exposition and grew into the annual Alamo Kiwanis Western and Heritage Art Show and Sale currently held in the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center. The painting is a 22”x28” oil on canvas and it is a masterfully rendered night scene. Boren preferred watercolor, and this oil painting contains qualities of painting seen in watercolor. His glossy night volleys in color from blue to black without choosing either a side. The luminescence of the moonlight reflected on the horse and saddle is genuine. The small fleck of light in the ranch in the background of the scene suggests the warmth of hearth and home while the shadows and dark corners confront the isolation ranch life. Waiting in the Moonlight is a stunning piece and an opportunity to collect a valuable artifact of western art and culture. Call or stop by the gallery for more information or to purchase.



Gina Martinez
J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art