The 2009 Prix de West Show and Sale
National Cowboy Museum - Updated on 5/22/09 !
Master Painter Curt Walters of Sedona, Arizona will return to the Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition and Sale on June 12th, 2009. Regarded as Western Art’s biggest show, this event takes place at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
This will be Walters’ 12th year with the show. The artist was honored with the most coveted medal in the genre, the Prix de West Award in 2007 for “Spring’s Caprice,” one of his signature Grand Canyon pieces. In 2004 and 2005, Walters’ made Prix de West history with an unprecedented back-to-back win of the Frederic Remington Award, and he has received three Nona Jean Hulsey Buyers’ Choice Awards since 1998.
The 30” x 60” oil on canvas “Winter Winds of February,” a breathtaking, panoramic view of Walters’ favorite subject, will be the centerpiece of his four contributions. “Monsoon Drama,” 48” x 48”, captures a brief thunderstorm over the Sedona red rocks. Two smaller works from the Canadian Rockies complete his presentation, “Opabin Plateu” (10” x 12”) and “Victoria Falls” (12” x 10”).
On August 19, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana, will host a special 90 day, one man show to honor Walters as the Artist of Distinction at the 2008 Quest for the West. More than 50 paintings spanning two decades will be gathered into the Paul wing from museums and personal and private collections from the Indianapolis area and across the country for “Monuments & Moments: The Plein Air and Studio Paintings of Curt Walters.” This once in a lifetime opportunity will be guest curated by James Nottage, Chief Curator of the Eiteljorg.
Walters is a regular at the top three Western Art shows, Prix de West, Masters of the American West at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, and Quest for the West, and he also shows at the exclusive Salmagundi Club in New York. He has been the recipient of more than a dozen major awards since 1998, including the 2008 Trustees’ Purchase Award from Masters, and a half-dozen Buyers/Patrons’ Choice Awards.
2008 Prix de West Show
Walters begins to prepare for upcoming shows months in advance, and the 2008 Prix de West Art Exhibition and Sale is no exception. Scheduled to begin on June 13th of this year, Walters had begun the show’s centerpiece even before he attended, and won at, the Masters of the American West show on February 2.
His past record at Prix de West is nothing short of astounding, with six awards received over a ten year period. Last year, Walters took home his third Nona Jean Hulsey Buyers’ Choice Award in addition to the Prix de West Purchase Award. “Spring’s Caprice,” the Purchase Award winner, has since been inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s permanent collection.
His other Buyers’ Choice Awards were delivered in 1998 during his first appearance at the show, and again in 2002. At the 2004 and 2005 shows, Walters became the first artist in show history to win the Frederic Remington Painting Award twice; the wins occurring back-to-back was just icing on the cake.
Walters has won a total of six more awards from other major shows. Honored with the Trustees’ Purchase Award this year, he has also won a Patrons’ Choice Award from Masters of the American West. Walters was given the Best Overall Presentation from the Eiteljorg Museum’s first annual Quest for the West show, and a Patrons’ Choice Award and the Victor Higgins Award of Distinction during their second year, in 2007. He has also accepted a Patrons’ Choice Award from the Artists of America show in Denver.
In 2007, the American Bus Association announced in Destinations magazine that the Prix de West show will be one of the Top 100 events in North America for 2008. The elite tourism industry selection committee sorts through hundreds of nominated events throughout the United States and Canada. Read the press release here.
If you are a member of the media and would like to run information on Curt and the 2008 Prix de West show, please go here for a press release and photos.
For more information on this year's show and sale, please visit the event website.