Theodore Waddell (American, born 1941)
Both Montana rancher and artist, Theodore Waddell depicts the land and animals that he sees and works with on a daily basis. His work is striking evidence that the Art of the American West has evolved to include a very wide range of subjects, styles, and techniques. Waddell is a third generation Montanan who trained in the art academies far from his family roots only to return to first teach other art students and then to manage and eventually own a ranch of his own.
His day is typically split between the rigors of managing a ranch in all seasons and weather conditions and then depicting many of the scenes he has noted during that work in his studio. Both pursuits are most often solitary ones involving long hours of hard work and dedication. Waddell finds his subjects in his everyday pursuits. The animals that he paints, horses, cows, dogs, and in the case of this painting, sheep, are the animals that he works with each day. He knows each one and even though his technique of representation is more abstract than realistic, his intent is to reproduce the individual personality of each. Those animals are placed in seasonal references. Waddell is intimately familiar with changes in color, light, even texture that come with the change in seasons. He may return repeatedly to the same subjects, but each painting reflects a different aspect of a year on the ranch.
Like his Montana artist predecessors, Charles M. Russell and Olaf Seltzer, Waddell paints what he sees. Ironically given the great differences in style and technique, all three of these artists share a common ground. Each drew their artistic inspiration in large measure from ranching. Russell and Seltzer produced paintings that were reflective of earlier times and were successful in creating a body of work that offers a glimpse into the origins of ranching in Montana. Their work has come to be synonymous with the term western art. Waddell has pushed beyond those artistic boundaries to create singular vision of the Modern West.
Information courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries, July 2009.