Bill Anton

Anton paints and draws today's working cowboy. Drawn to the work of Edgar Payne and Frank Tenney Johnson, Bill works from field studies, to achieve the vitality photos cannot match, primarily in oil. Born and raised in Chicago, Anton drew constantly from the time he was old enough to hold a pencil, turning to western art full time in 1982. He settled permanently in Arizona with his wife, Peggy where he became inspired with Western painting depicting cowboy lifestyle. His inspiration was fueled by a Cowboy Artist of America Exhibition in the late 1970s at the Phoenix Art Museum. In an interview he said, “The cowboy is connected with the land, like a ponderosa pine. He is unassuming, but he can do anything... A painting all starts with my own reverence and excitement with that person on horseback. I never get tired of the nobility of a man on horseback.”

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The moment in the early 1960s when Bill Anton first saw the Rocky Mountains of northwestern Montana, he gave his heart and mind over to the expansive Western landscape. Exposed to art and museums early in life, Anton developed a talent for drawing and painting, which was nurtured by contemporary masters Ned Jacob, Jim Reynolds, and Michael Lynch. Anton greatly admires the work of the master of Western painting, Frank Tenney Johnson, and the California Impressionists of the last century, primarily Edgar Payne.

Anton’s work has remained in high demand. He exhibits yearly in several invitational shows, including the Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition and Sale at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

At the 2011 Masters of the American West Fine Art Exhibition and Sale Anton won the Spirit of the West Award and the Gene Autry Memorial Award, Sponsored by Jay H. Grodin, for the best display of three or more works. He also won the Spirit of the West Award at the 2010 Masters and received the Pat and Bill Burford / Texas Art Gallery Spirit of the West Award at the 2009 Masters. He won the Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award at the 2011 Prix de West in Oklahoma City, and in 2009 won both the Express Ranches Great American Cowboy Award and the Robert Lougheed Memorial Award for the best display of three or more works. He lives with his family just outside Prescott, Arizona.

Bill Anton is represented by Settlers West Galleries Inc., Tucson, Arizona; and Trailside Galleries, Jackson, Wyoming, and Scottsdale, Arizona.

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Although Bill was born in Chicago, by the time he got to the West in 1960's, he had fallen in love with the Western landscape. He subsequently moved to Prescott and began his illustrious career in painting. This working cowboy chooses to work from field studies, which gives him the opportunity to merge his two loves of art and the West. Bill has been recognized by major western museums such as the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and the Autry National Center, and he exhibits yearly in several invitational shows. He, like his subjects, are deeply connected to the land, continuously reflecting his reverence and excitement for men on horseback.

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