Peter Hurd (New Mexico, 1904-1984), cowboy and two horses, charcoal study with notes, not signed; inscribed on the verso "Peter Hurd / Charcoal study / Collection John Meigs (circa 1938)

sight: 14 x 21 in., frame: 19 x 26 in.

Provenance: Property from the estate of a prominent San Antonio, Texas businessman

Peter Hurd attended West Point Military Academy and then studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. In 1929, Hurd married Andrew Wyeth's sister Henrietta, and the new couple moved to a ranch in New Mexico. Hurd painted with egg tempera on gesso board from 1935 until switching to watercolors in 1960. During World War II Hurd worked as a correspondent for Life magazine (1942-45). Hurd became an accomplished portrait painter and book illustrator and was widely recognized by the late 1930s. He was commissioned to do several public murals as well as the official portrait of Lyndon B. Johnson.