Jim Stuckenberg

There will always be parts of the Old West that intrigue us: the expanses of the Great Plains, the rugged indefatigable Cowboys, and the noble heritage of the Native Americans. It is because of these images that the Western and Southwest heritage lives on so vividly in the United States. Truly one of the greatest modern day stories of our Western heritage is personified in the art and person of Jim Stuckenberg, “The Western Enigma.”

Jim Stuckenberg is one of the most widely recognized and sought after Western artists since Frederic Remington, and C.M Russell; yet, this fact alone does not make him a mystery. It is the amazing fact that Jim Stuckenberg is one of the last true “Cowboy” Artists.

Jim Stuckenberg was born in 1943 in St. Louis, Missouri. Like many children, he grew up on a farm with horses, but Jim was also born deaf. However, this has never stood in his way. When he was just four years old, Jim learned to read lips and after high school, he graduated from Fresno State University with a B.S. in animal science. He loves to be around horses and livestock, so as a young man he decided to start riding bulls & broncos on the college rodeo team. To be competitive, Jim arranged to have the clowns throw him signals so he would know when eight seconds had passed. Jim was gifted with horses and was soon hired by racehorse trainer D. Wayne Lukas, well known for his multiple Kentucky Derby Winners While working for Lukas, Jim began to doodle and dabble a bit with watercolors. When people saw Jim’s work, the response was always as it has been among his collectors, a universal, “I’d like to have that.”

Even as Jim’s work became more and more sought after, he never neglected to spend time around the things that gave him the greatest inspiration his sons, Will, David, and Daniel; and his horses. Many art critics realizing the rarity in Jim’s work suggested he set aside his love for horses and focus exclusively on his art career. However, Jim soon proved his merit in the horse world too as the owner and trainer of many champion horses. Jim’s horses have set multiple racetrack records, become AQHA Champions, NCHA futurity winners, and one horse, “Peanuts,” was even inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame.

Jim’s love of the West does not end at the paddock; he loves the lifestyle, too. As a frequent guest of the Rancheros Vistadores trail- riding club and the Western White House (Rancho De Cello), he often spent time with oneof his earliest collectors, Ronald Reagan. As word of Jim’s talent andartistry spread, his art became almost unattainable, and remains so today. So, why doesn’t Jim produce large quantities of his works like many of today’s well-known artists? Jim said it best himself, “No one else can finish my work for me because each piece has to be as good as the original, I do all of the work myself so nothing is out of place.”

Today, the quality found in a Stuckenberg is unheard of and it shows. Jim has won or displayed at some of the most prestigious Western Art shows and museums in the country including the George Phippen Memorial, Gilcrease Museum, Woolaroc Museum, and many others. Since the mid-eighties, the phrase “quality investment” has become a familiar phrase when discussing Stuckenberg’s Art. As companies and private collectors receive word of Jim’s work, his pieces continue to grow in fashion and rarity with most clients ordering pieces before they are even created. Jim’s art has long been coveted by various Fortune 500 Companies like Wells Fargo and Leggett & Platt, who enjoy it not only for its one of a kind quality, but for its investment appeal as well. Jim’s works have also adorned the homes and ranches of many notable families like the Hurst’s, Cleberg’s, Russell’s, and Rogers’; and the homes of Hollywood stars like Ben Johnson, Fess Parker, Duncan Renaldo and many others.

Emphasizing accuracy, Jim’s works are known for their true realism and factual content. He does do his homework; one of Jim’s recent trips took him through the Southwest to study an Indian tribe he was painting, and then to some favorite spots in Texas and Arizona to take pictures of mesas for use in the background of a painting. Jim loves what he does so much it is not uncommon for him to personally drive across the United States with a piece of art just to see the delight on someone’s face when it is finally delivered.

So, to what do we attribute Jim’s genius talent, undeniable attention to detail, down to earth ways, and absence of commercial production? Does he see life more clearly without the distractions of sound? Is it true that “the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man” as some have said? His work is the answer we have, for that is the “Western Enigma” Jim has become, and it will forever be his lasting legacy. In the words of the great art critic George Batten, “One day Jim Stuckenberg’s works will be compared to the great artists of yesterday and today. But the fact is that it is already happening.”

JIM STUCKENBERG

ART SHOWS MUSEUMS EXHIBITED