Michael B. Coleman (Utah, b. 1946), mother bear with two cubs in the
forest, oil on artist’s board, signed lower right

sight: 24 x 30 in., frame: 35.5 x 41.5 in.

Previously sold: National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Prix De West Invitational label verso

Provenance: Property from the Estate of Robert A. "Bob" Funk Sr. - trailblazing American businessman, philanthropist, and rancher, from his impressive ranch headquarters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Michael Coleman is a prominent Southwestern landscape painter known for a traditional style that combines rich color, realism, and atmospheric effects, often incorporating animals to suggest a natural harmony between wildlife and the landscape. He studied fine arts at Brigham Young University and developed his work through extensive travel, drawing particular inspiration from 19th-century painters Henry Farny, Thomas Moran, and George Inness, as well as wildlife artist Carl Rungius. Coleman primarily paints in gouache on gesso-primed Masonite, carefully establishing key areas before working from top to bottom and adding highlights near completion. His work has been exhibited at the National Academy of Western Art, Kennedy Galleries in New York, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and in the National Park Academy’s Arts for the Parks exhibitions, including the inaugural 1987 show with Yellowstone Park. In 1978, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center presented him with his first retrospective, and in 1999 he received the Prix de West Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for his bronze September 39, which entered the institution’s permanent collection.