Michael B. Coleman (American, Born 1946) - African Elephant

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Michael B. Coleman (American, Born 1946), gauche on board painting of an African Bull Elephant at Sunset, depicting a solitary … Read more Michael B. Coleman (American, Born 1946), gauche on board painting of an African Bull Elephant at Sunset, depicting a solitary bull elephant advancing toward a reflective watering hole within a broad savanna landscape at dusk with the low horizon emphasizing an expansive sky modulated in bands of pale blue, lavender, and warm coral tones and a setting sun casting reflected highlights across the water and surrounding terrain, the animal rendered with textured, layered brushwork emphasizing mass and presence against loosely articulated grasses and scrub, signed lower left Michael Coleman, housed in a molded gilt wood frame with reeded cove molding, applied corner ornaments, beaded inner slip, and aged gilt surface, provenance being part of a large Western art collection from Massachusetts, sight size 12" x 24"; with frame 19.5" x 31.5"

Born and continuing to live in Provo, Utah, Michael Coleman is a prominent Southwestern landscape painter in a traditional style and is much influenced by 19th-century painters Henry Farny, Thomas Moran and George Inness and by 19th and 20th century animal painter, Carl Rungius. Coleman is known for his landscapes of rich colors in a combination of realism and atmospheric styles, often with animals depicted and the suggestion of natural harmony between the artist, the animal, and the wide world of nature.

He grew up fishing and hunting and seemed always to want to be an artist. He majored in fine arts at Brigham Young University, and then traveled widely for subject matter.

Coleman paints primarily with gouache on masonite primed with gesso and then marks out key areas including the horizon line. He works from the top to the bottom of the canvas and adds highlights towards the end.

He has exhibited at the National Academy of Western Art and at Kennedy Galleries in New York. In 1978, he was given his first retrospective at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center at the age of 32, and in 1999, he won the Prix de West Award at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for his bronze of a moose titled "September 39." The work will join the permanent collection of the Hall of Fame. He has also exhibited with the National Park Academy in their exhibitions called "Arts for the Parks", intended to direct artists back to landscape painting of western national parks. In 1987, he was in the "Arts for the Parks" inaugural exhibition with his entry "Yellowstone Park".

Source:
Peggy and Harold Samuels, "Contemporary Western Artists"
Peter Hassrick, "Drawn to Yellowstone"
"Southwest Art" magazine

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