Howard Terpning

At age 15, he became fascinated with the West and Native Americans when he spent the summer camping and fishing with a cousin near Durango, Colorado.

To further his study he attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago for six months where he honed his life drawing and painting skills.

After art school a family friend introduced Terpning to Haddon Sundblom, a successful and highly regarded illustrator of that time.

[1][5] In 1967, in the midst of his commercial art career Terpning left his home in Connecticut and headed to Vietnam as a civilian combat artist.

After two weeks of training he wound up in Da Nang, South Vietnam, with camera and sketch pad going out on patrols with combat troops.

[2][6][7][8] Around 1974 Terpning began to tire of commercial work and decided to follow his interest in the American West and Plains Indians.

After three years he left Connecticut and the commercial art world and moved to Arizona to devote himself entirely to painting the American West.

"[11]"Although his paintings actually read as bold declarations, Terpning's choice of palette is typically restrained in order to ensure that narrative is the first impression imparted upon a viewer.

"[12]The late Fred A. Myers, director of Gilcrease Museum said of Terpning, "[he] is simply the best and best-known artist doing Western subjects at this point...