John Edward Borein

(b San Leandro, CA, 1872; d Santa Barbara, CA, 1945) American Painter. Edward Borein was born in the small cow town of San Leandro, California. He quickly earned a reputation as a skilled artist as he traveled throughout the west documenting daily [scenes] he witnessed on odd jobs as a cowboy. In particular, Borein found a wealth of inspiration on trips through Mexico in the late 1890s, a period in which the artist first began experimenting with watercolor. The washes and layering of brushwork allowed by the medium demonstrate the artist's virtuosity as both a draftsman and colorist... Borein continued to travel frequently and settled in New York for several years where he became a proficient printmaker having studied at the Art Students League. It was during this time that he became a close friend of Charles Marion Russell and made lasting acquaintances with Thomas Moran, Carl Oscar Borg, and Frank Tenney Johnson. This exposure brought Borein's work to a broader collecting audience who found in his unique work an intimate and authentic view of life on the Plains that further demonstrated a reverence for the Native American subject. "...For a self-taught artist in this most demanding of mediums, Borein achieved wonders. He can claim his rightful place among the pioneer watercolorists of the West." (H.G. Davidson, Edward Borein: Cowboy Artist, exhibition catalogue, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2000, p. 15) (Credit: Christie’s, Beverly Hills, California, Western and American Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures, October 29, 2008, Lot 58)