B I O G R A P H Y
Bill Anton was born in Chicago in 1957, and later moved to Prescott, Arizona after graduating from Northern Arizona University. When he committed to painting full-time, he studied under Michael Lynch and Ned Jacob, who encouraged him to paint from life. Anton's work has been published in Southwest Art, Architectural Digest, Art of the West, Equine Images, Western Horseman and Art-Talk. He was featured on the cover of the April 2006 American Artist magazine. Corporate collections that include his work are Sears, Dupont, State Farm Insurance, Bank of America, Hewlett Packard, and Trust Company of the West. His award winning work has been displayed at the Prix de West at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Master of the American West at The Autry Museum, The National Center for American Western Art, The Old West Museum and The National Museum of Wildlife Art. In addition, his work is in the permanent collection of the prestigious Gilcrease Museum.
"I do not see myself as a biographer of the "cowboy." I know some artists feel they are recording a historical portayal of ranch life today in the American West. But the focus of my work has always been mood and passion. If I'm recording anything, I'm recording how I feel about the West. I want the viewer to feel the drama of atmosphere and the mystery of a western night. I want the volume and portent of a cloud to be evident in the calligraphy of a brush stroke. The pack of the muscle below a horse's shoulder should be energized by the gestural application of paint.
You see, I love to paint. And I love the American West. I was born in Chicago, but the Sierra Nevada, Sangre de Cristo, Sawatch and a hundred other ranges of our Rocky Mountains were the only "Big Shoulders" that ever interested me. Walking thunderstorms, sunstruck cedars, rimrock and artfully abstract water patterns charge the landscape here with an impossible beauty.
Amidst this nobility is its caretaker: the rancher. With the natural ease of generations bred to the saddle, he is a powerful image, further ennobled by a fine horse. An artist under the spell of the west has the privilege of marshaling the virtues of landscape, figure and equine painting into one supremely paintable subject: the American cowboy. TO GOD BE THE GLORY"
Awards
2020:
The Prix de West Museum Purchase Award "Makeshift Ambulance"
NATIONAL COWBOY AND WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM: Prix de West Show, Oklahoma City, OK
2018:
Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award "Who’s Got The Cards?"
NATIONAL COWBOY AND WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM: Prix de West Show, Oklahoma City, OK
2017:
Sprit of the West Award
"A Fresh Grizzly Track"
AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER: Masters of the American West Show, Los Angeles, CA
2016:
Frederic Remington Painting Award
"Deep in the Wind Rivers"
NATIONAL COWBOY AND WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM: Prix de West Show, Oklahoma City, OK
2015:
Sprit of the West Award
"Campers or Cow Thieves?"
AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER: Masters of the American West Show, Los Angeles, CA
2012:
Museum Purchase Award
"Arizona Awakening"
AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER: Masters of the American West Show, Los Angeles, CA
2011:
Sprit of the West Award
"Under a Cowboy Moon"
Gene Autry Memorial Award
for best exhibit of 3 or more paintings.
AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER: Masters of the American West Show, Los Angeles, CA
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Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award "Winding Down"
NATIONAL COWBOY AND WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM: Prix de West Show, Oklahoma City, OK
2010:
Sprit of the West Award
"Racing the Weather"
AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER: Masters of the American West Show, Los Angeles, CA
2009:
Sprit of the West Award
"New Mexico Morning"
AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER: Masters of the American West Show, Los Angeles, CA
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Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award "Easy Does it"
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Robert Lougheed Memorial Award
Voted by the artists for best overall
NATIONAL COWBOY AND WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM: Prix de West Show, Oklahoma City, OK
2002:
Mary Bell Grant Buckle Award
COORS WESTERN ART EXHIBIT AND SALE:
National Western Stock Show, Denver, CO
1993:
Old West Museum Purchase Award
"Rain Swollen"
CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS SHOW:
Cheyenne, WY
Books
Featured in
2011:
Polski, Richard. The Art Prophets. New York: Other Press. Mention on 244 - 247.
2009:
Polski, Richard. I Sold Andy Warhol (Too Soon). New York: Other Press. Mention on 195, 205, 213, 236, 237, 248, 249.
1994:
Watkins, T.H. & Joan Watkins, eds. The West, a Treasury of Art and Literature. Rizzoli International Publications.
On Cover
2018:
Rooney, Ashley E. Western Art of the 21st Century: Cowboys. Schiffer Publishing.
2011:
Hackman, Gene. Payback at Morning Peak. Pocket Books.
2001:
Metegrano, Margo, ed. The Big Roundup, Classic and Contemporary Poetry from cowboypoetry.com. Fernstrom Inc.
Press
2019:
Cowboys and Indians, "Bill Anton" by Chuck Thompson, Feb./March.
Western Horseman, "Views of the West" by Jennifer Denison, March.
Southwest Art, "Bill Anton Show Preview" by Kim Agricola, March/April.
Western Art Collector, "Casting A Spell" by Michael Clawson, May.
2018:
Art of the West, COVER, "Moonrise on the Back Trail" and ARTICLE, "In Praise of the West" by Vicki Stavig, May/June.
2017:
Western Art and Architecture, "Bill Anton and the Woolaroc Museum’s Best of the Best Show" by Todd Wilkinson, Oct./Nov.
Western Horseman, COVER & ARTICLE, "Golden Lakes Trail" by Christine Hamilton, Sept.
2015:
Western Art Collector, "Epic Pairings" by Michael Clawson, Nov.
2013:
Cowboys and Indians,"Rocky Mountain Majesty" by Dana Joseph, May/June.
Western Art Collector, COVER, “A New Day Dawns”June.
Rocky Mountain Rider, COVER, “Horse Pasture-Colorado" and Article by Editor, November
2012:
Art of the West, COVER, “Love Letters” and ARTICLE, “Keeping Risk Alive” by Vicki Stavig,
Sept./Oct.
Western Horseman, COVER & ARTICLE, "Wild and Rugged" by Jennifer Denison, March.
2011:
Western Art And Architecture, "Sustaining Vision" by Richard Polsky, Spring/Summer.
Plein Air Magazine, "Bill Anton: Working Through
Moments of Panic Outdoors" by M. Stephen Doherty, fall.
Western Art Collector, COVER, “Under a Cowboy Moon” Feb.
Western Horseman, COVER & ARTICLE, “Between Two Worlds” by Jennifer Denison, April.
2010:
Southwest Art, "Success Stories: Bill Anton,
Master of Mood and Moonlight" by Bonnie Gangelhoff, Jan.
Art of the West, "Bill Anton: The Studio" by Barbara Coyner, Jan./Feb.
True West Magazine, Best of the West Source Book edition, "Bill Anton: Best Artist to Watch"
2009:
Western Art Collector, "Western Classics” by the Editor, March.
Persimmon Hill, "Bill Anton: Award Winners" by the Editor, Summer.
Western Art Collector, "High Heat In Oklahoma" by the Editor, Aug.
True West Magazine, "Big Country, Big Art" by the Editors, Oct.
2008:
Western Art Collector, COVER, "Wild Cow Hunters"June.
Western Art Collector, "Knights of the Open Range: Bill Anton Preserves the Values of the Cowboy Way” by John Geraghty, July.
2006:
American Artist, COVER, "Lofty Goals" and ARTICLE,"Bill Anton: Cowboys and the Land" by John A. Parks, April.
2004:
Persimmon Hill, "Bill Anton: A Painting Adventure" by the Editor, Summer.
2003:
Western Horseman, COVER, "Jewel of the Rockies"
2002:
Western Horseman, COVER, “Back in the Bradshaws” June.
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Southwest Art, "Arizona Regionalists" by Lynn Pyne Davis, Sept.
Persimmon Hill, BACK COVER, “Cottonwood Dreams” Autumn.
Western Horseman, COVER, “Tallied Up” Nov.
2001:
Southwest Art, "Preserving the Cowboy’s Legacy. Arizona Painter Bill Anton Reveals His Passion for a Way of Life” by Myrna I Zanetell, Jan.
1997:
Art of the West, “Bill Anton, In Awe of the West” by Vicki Stavig, Nov./Dec.
1996:
Phoenix Home and Garden, Mention in article, "Still in the Family” by Candice St. Jacques Miles, July.
1995:
Architectural Digest, Mention in article, "In the Shadows of the Grand Tetons" by Verlyn Klinkenborg, Aug.
1990:
Southwest Art, "Bill Anton" by Budge Ruffner, Oct.