Description:

Gayle Porter Hoskins
Delaware/ Indiana/ Colorado/ Chicago, (1887-1962)
Slim's Girl in Snake's Power (featured on cover of Western Story, May 23, 1931)
oil on canvas
signed lower right, notated verso, in a custom antler frame.

This painting served as 1 of a series of 27 original works by Hoskins that were featured on the covers of _Street & Smith's Western Story Magazine_ that ran from January through July 1931. (Hoskins also made individual paintings as illustrations for other covers of _Western Story_ in other years too.) These 27 paintings tell the chronological and highly adventurous story of a man named Slim and his encounters with a villain called Snake over the course of one day (the series was aptly called "A Cowboy's Day"), and this painting served as #20 (of the 27 'frames') and was called "Slim's Girl in Snake's Power." In this work we see Snake has kidnapped a young woman and is leading her away on horseback down a steep ravine. In other works from that series, Slim's 'Girl' is revealed to be named Rita, and she appears in 11 of those 1931 covers with both Slim and/or Snake. This is a classic and original painting of life in the American West, and perhaps due to its idealistic nature allowing escapism for most of the rest of the nation, Western Story Magazine become incredibly popular across the country during those years of the Great Depression. (Street & Smith also selected 20 of the 27 cover paintings to be released as a series of prints--but the series did not include this rare piece.)

  • Dimensions: 36 x 25 inches
  • Medium: oil on canvas
  • Condition: This painting has not been lined. It has been viewed under u.v. light and there is some very minor inpaint visible. These spots are located in the lower right edge where there is a thin line of inpaint filling in a stretcher line. Another similar, but shorter thin line is lower center. There are two small clusters of small spots of inpaint near both of these areas. Also some very small specks in the sky (pinhead size). There is craquelure, and the varnish has yellowed slightly (most noticeable in the clouds). Otherwise, very good and stable condition.

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February 10, 2024 10:00 AM CST
St. Louis, MO, US

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