Ken Payne (New Mexico, 1938-2012), "The Trail of Change", Native American on horseback catching sight of broken wagon wheel and wagon ruts, artist-cast bronze sculpture on wooden base, with incised signature, edition number 37/50, and date, 1996

height 32.5 in. x width 31 in. x depth 19 in. (including base)

Provenance: Property from a home in San Antonio, Texas

Ken Payne began his artistic career as a painter of the landscapes, cowboys, and Native peoples of the Southwest before turning his attention to bronze sculpture in the late 1970s. A lifelong student of Western history, he extensively researched his subjects, which included cowboys, mountain men, pioneers, and Native Americans, while drawing inspiration from the grace and anatomical accuracy of Classical sculpture. Over the span of more than four decades, he produced nearly 150 sculptures that were collected nationally and internationally by private and corporate collectors. Payne pioneered the concept of sculpting in public and even ran his own nationally televised program "Sculpting with Ken Payne", through which thousands of viewers followed his work. This sculpture, "The Trail of Change", exists in a smaller maquette version, but this larger format is widely considered to be Payne's masterpiece.