Document Type
Book
Publication Date
2003
Abstract
Caught by his own whimsical pen often used to illustrate his books, the writer sits on a log with sketch pad in hand. He’s in the midst of a vast, wild country. Behind him are mountains and, closer, an apparently abandoned adobe. Beneath a sans-souci floppy hat, he gazes over spectacles comically slid down his nose with that look of the artist in the intense act of considering a scene or of a schoolmarm about to scold. Yet there’s also a different kind of tension to his body. One eyebrow is raised, almost as if he’s listening for something behind him, ready to leap to his feet and defend himself against what might be creeping up—a threat confirmed by the rifle at the ready across his knees. That is, the sketch captures the airiness of art combined with danger, resulting in a self-mocking, ironic humor. Here, a sensitive aesthete is commenting on trying to make art in a land where the ruling, everyday concern is for Apaches lurking in the bushes, ready to come screaming out and riddle travelers with arrows. The wry caption: “The Fine Arts in Arizona” (Adventures in the Apache Country 126).
Recommended Citation
Wild, Peter. J. Ross Browne. Boise, ID: Boise State University, 2003. Digital. Western Writers Series, 157.