Stanley M. Long (American 1892 – 1972)

Ranch Hand Home (Untitled), c. 1940 -50s, watercolor, 14 ½ x 11 inches, signed upper left; framed

$500

About the Painting

Ranch Hand Home (Untitled) is a refreshingly atypical example of Long’s work, which often features cowboys and horses in frenetic and often heroic action. Here, however, Long depicts a still, quiet moment outside a ranch hand’s modest home. His decision to make the protagonist of painting a person of color adds to the interest and authenticity of the work. It is estimated that over one third of cowboys in the late 19th Century American West were either black or Mexican. In Ranch Hand’s Home (Untitled), Long honors this legacy. Additionally, just prior to his death, Long contributed illustrations to John M. Carroll’s The Black Military Experience in the American West, an important historical work which documented the contributions of Black soldiers on the American frontier. His cool coloration and loose brush strokes convincingly capture this casual California ranch scene.

About the Artist

Stanley Long’s upbringing up on a horse ranch in Napa Valley had a profound impact on his artistic career. After studying at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, the California College of Arts and Crafts and, as a scholarship student, the Academie Julian in Paris, he returned to Northern California and dedicated himself to painting watercolors of the American West with a particular focus on California ranches. His works were featured in Sunset Magazine and The Los Angeles Times and he exhibited at the De Young Museum (San Francisco) and the Oakland Museum, among other institutions. He is extensively in Who was Who in American Art and other standard references.