Mar 31, 2011 - Sale 2241

Sale 2241 - Lot 34

Price Realized: $ 2,040
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
"CALAMITY JANE WAS A SHE DEVIL, AND HOMELY AS A RAIL FENCE" (AMERICAN INDIANS / WESTERN ART.) Hart, William S. Archive of 22 letters to Joseph Scheuerle. Autograph Letters Signed, except one lacking signature and 2 later letters in a secretarial hand. 38 sheets, most 11 x 8 1/2 inches, all on Hart's letterhead; condition generally sound. Newhall, CA, 1935-44
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William Surrey Hart (1864-1946) was a successful stage actor who became one of Hollywood's first great cowboy stars in numerous silent films before retiring in 1925. He was also a major collector of Western art at his ranch just north of Los Angeles. This important group of letters sheds new light on Hart's efforts to turn his ranch into a museum, his admiration for Scheuerle's art, and his acquaintance with a host of important Western figures.
Hart's concern for the collection of the great Western artist Charles Marion Russell is the central recurring theme of these letters. After Russell's death in 1926, Hart became a friend and advisor to Russell's widow Nancy, helping to ensure that the artist's collected sketches, paintings, and memorabilia could be kept together. Shortly before Nancy's 1940 death, Hart was edged out by a competing group of advisors led by Russell's biographer Homer Britzman: "He belonged to the ring that handled Nancy's affairs & I had no use for the bunch at all. They acted for themselves, not for Nancy and it burned me up" (29 April 1943). "Gee, imagine Britzman falling into all that stuff. I never did know how the collection was divided or split up. I withdrew from handling the collection, also my offer of 50,000 for it, after spending quite a lot on investigations & nearly worrying myself ill on it besides. . . . At times my blood starts to boil & I have to stop thinking about it all. . . . God help or save Charlie & Nancy's dreams" (21 June 1943). Despite Hart's concerns, Britzman's massive Russell collection did stay together, and now resides at the Gilcrease Museum in Oklahoma. Hart also frequently discusses his own plans for what he one called "my little after death museum" (29 April 1943). He seemed worried that the Russells would have disapproved: "Gee, Nancy's ghost would haunt me for life if she knew of such a proposition, much less a reality" (19 February 1943).
Russell was not Hart's only noteworthy friend. Photographer David F. Barry "had known me as a 'little feller' in 1881 in Dakota." On the Mount Rushmore sculpture, then in progress: "I had promised Borglum to go up there, and just couldn't refuse. He's a fine chap. He & his wife came here to see me about 3 months ago. Gosh! How stupendous those heads must be. He told me if carried to man's size he'd be 365 feet tall." (23 May 1939). On Calamity Jane Cannary: "Calamity Jane was a she devil, and homely as a rail fence, although she did hang around Abilene for a time & tried to steal her way with Custer on the first Black Hills gold trip. She wore male attire but got caught at it & made to vamoose." (4 January 1941).
An abstract of all 22 letters is available upon request. This archive is a treasure trove of inside information on western art and history.