Page 92 - 2019 Russell Catalogue
P. 92
122
WILL RODERICK JAMES (1892–1942) Hazing a Steer
charcoal on paper
15 x 20 inches
$15,000–25,000
Lot 122 is a work in charcoal on paper created by Will Roderick James to serve as illustration for his book, Smoky. The author’s respect for horses emanates from each page of the beloved work of fiction, through his encapsulating narrative and forty-three action-packed illustrations.
This illustration helps the reader visualize Smoky’s almost unbelievable abilities as a working cow horse. James reflects on the horse’s talents after a particularly wild scene in which Smoky laid out a steer “as tho that rope had been fastened to a four foot stump.”
Many a cowboy had remarked that it was worth the price of a good show to watch Smoky work, whether it was around, in or out of a herd, and many a rider had let a cow sneak past him just so he could see how neat that pony could outdodge a critter, and when after the last meal of the day and the cowboys stretched out to rest some, talk, or sing, none ever had any argument to put up and no betting was ever done against whatever Clint said Smoky could do or had done.1
PROVENANCE
• William R. Mackay, Sr. (son of Malcolm S. Mackay, Sr.)
• The family of William R. Mackay, Sr., by descent
A copy of Smoky by Will James containing this image (page 197) will accompany this lot. 1 Will James, Smoky the Cowhorse (New York, London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930), 197.