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Duane BryersAmerican artist
Country:
 USA |
Content:
Biography of Dwayne Bryers
Dwayne Bryers was one of the most talented American artists. He earned a living working as an advertising illustrator until he turned 50, and only then, gradually, did Bryers manage to attract attention as a true artist, with westerns being his favorite theme. In addition, Dwayne Bryers is the author of an extremely popular series of joyful drawings about the chubby Hilda, executed in the pin-up genre.
Early Life and Education
He was born in 1911 in the northern part of Michigan, specifically on its Upper Peninsula, in harsh and sparsely populated areas. Bryers grew up on a family farm with three brothers and two sisters. When Dwayne was twelve, his family moved to a small town in Northern Minnesota called Virginia, where he lived until 1939. He started drawing at a very young age, around five years old, and remained a talented self-taught artist throughout his life. With limited entertainment on the family farm, the young boy eagerly armed himself with a pencil and notebook, redrawing postcards and comics, and then creating his own stories.
Artistic Career
On his canvases and drawings, one can see the flow of everyday life as it was on ranches throughout the West. Outbuildings, cattle-filled corrals, crooked stubborn cowboys - not as tough and handsome as in Zane Grey's novels - muted colors of endless plains, and above all, the infinite sky. Bryers himself lived on a ranch near Tucson, Arizona, and had plenty of opportunities to observe what he later transferred to canvas and paper. His works prove how attentively Dwayne approached his subjects. He noticed everything - from the worn sweat-stained brim of an old cowboy hat to the well-worn heels of boots - all the tiniest details that cowboys and ranch people appreciate in good art. For Dwayne Bryers, a well-painted picture was, above all, a depiction that accurately conveys the spirit and atmosphere of authenticity. Those who spend most of their lives alongside horses or raising large-horned livestock will find many familiar childhood details in Bryers' paintings. By the way, Bryers is considered the best American artist who worked on Western-style calendars - his calendars were published by the "Brown & Bigelow" publishing house, also a "number one" in the calendar world.
Later Life and Legacy
In the last five years of his life, he was the "house artist" of the vast Empirita Ranch in southern Arizona. The incredible beauty of these places was an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the artist, and Bryers' paintings from this period immediately found their way into the collections of connoisseurs of his art - and some pieces even ended up in museums. He held his annual exhibition at the famous National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, and, of course, his works are included in the permanent exhibition of the Hall. Bryers also participated in the annual Western Heritage Show in Houston, where only true "singers" of the American West were invited.
Throughout his long and successful career, Dwayne Bryers worked in art studios in Chicago and New York. Interestingly, his works were usually sold so quickly that he never had enough paintings to hold a large solo exhibition. He passed away at a venerable age, crossing the centenarian milestone, on May 30, 2012, in Tucson, Arizona.
