HAMPTON JOHN WADE Illustrated Autograph Letter Signed John a

Sale 2699 - Lot 128

Price Realized: $ 875

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

BORN IN NYC, LIVED HIS LIFE IN THE WILD WEST HAMPTON, JOHN WADE. Illustrated Autograph Letter Signed, "John and Jane," to "Dear Wade an' Chris," with ink drawing Signed, "JWH," mentioning the trip to a rodeo that inspired the drawing, encouraging Wade and Chris to finish painting and visit, discussing encounter with an old friend of Charlie Russell [painter Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926)], describing Hampton's involvement in a bar fight, mentioning plans to found a gallery and, in a postscript written vertically in left margin of second page, mentioning the possibility of acquiring land. The drawing, sketch showing two men at a cattle roping competition with a bucking and riderless horse in foreground, at head of first page, 5x7½ inches. 2 pages, 4to, written on separate sheets; horizontal folds. Sedona, 16 February 1958

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"Th' above is a sketch of a 'jack-pot' the' boys didn't figger on gettin' into at th' Jack-Pot Ropin' today. Went down to soak up on some hoss action an' sometimes things got a little bit 'western'. It's a cinch th' boys in th' picture are cussin'--it's 50 bucks [per] shot--an' nobodys enjoyin' it but th' spectators!
". . . George and I went down to a range management convention an' took some paintings. I sold that little one I was painting when you left for $250--less comm[ission]! an' got th' cover for 'Ariz. Days & Ways' okayed. We stayed four days, were wined & dined an' took on a few night clubs. . . . Met an authority on Charlie Russell--an ol' timer who knew him--an' has a big collection of his stuff. I showed him one in Scottsdale he didn't know of--he's chief of range management in Wash. D.C. and invited us up to his place . . . .
"Jane's been mighty busy with Herb puttin' out th' 'Sedona Spectator' [weekly newspaper founded in January, dissolved in June, 1958] which I think you've received. She's been workin' hard but seems very happy and we are in love--an' man, I like it that way.
"Spent a week working in Zoe Mozart's [illustrator Zoë Mozert (1907-1993)] studio while she gave me a little help on color--you might try some--some--God, I can't spell it--cerulean blue an' some Naples yellow--both good western colors.
"Here's a scoop--Th' other night I went . . . to th' Oak Creek Bar. Next to me sat th' banker John Webb an' his girl--she was pretty friendly all eve. An just as we all were about to leave, Webb, who was pretty drunk, . . . cracks me on th' jaw--which surprises me somewhat since I'm feeling nothin' but friendly--but when he hits me in th' same place again, I lose my grin an' reach up with one of my own, which ends it. Everyone's surprised and apologizing sayin' John never drinks and never never fights and it must've been th' combination of John Barleycorn an' th' green-eyed monster--anyhow I've got no hard feelin's . . . .
"Last night we went to Nassan's and met Paul Dyke th' artist and George Babbit . . . . We're all getting together on a Sedona branch of Verde Valley artists and have a gallery lined up. . . . Zoe complemented one of your pictures we had in a small show. I finished another big painting. Th' sketchin' trip to Pine Ridge you're gonna make sounds good! . . ."
John Wade Hampton (1918-2000) was raised in Brooklyn, NY, but the western movies he enjoyed as a boy inspired him to explore the west as a young man, living in NM and AZ the rest of his life, creating sculptures and paintings that depicted the world he loved.