"Paul Gregg: Caught in Cartoons!" at CFD Old West Museum

The Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum presents the "Paul Gregg: Caught in Cartoons" exhibit. We are delighted to pay tribute to a notable artist who captured the humor and energy of Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Paul Gregg was born in Baxter Springs, Kansas in 1876. At the age of seventeen he left his home to go to St. Louis, Missouri where he attended the St. Louis Art Museum’s School of Fine Arts, an affiliate of Washington University. After he graduated he was hired by the St. Louis Republic newspaper and later with the St. Louis Post–Dispatch. During this time, newspaper photography was in its infancy and he, like other artists, was hired to illustrate news stories, draw political cartoons and to create decorative scenes for the press. Gregg had to rely on his memory, details from reports or even visiting the scene of an event to capture the moment. When he wasn’t working for the newspaper, he was constantly striking out for the West where he made several pack-trips through his favorite countryside.

In 1902, Paul Gregg visited Denver and met with Harry H. Tammen and Frederick G. Bonifils of the Denver Post. He was hired to work for their paper and continued to do so until 1949. His talent in capturing the scenery and people of the West proved to be a great asset for the paper which asked him to paint a new cover for the Sunday Denver Post’s magazine The Rocky Mountain Empire every week. Throughout his long 40 year career with the Post, Gregg painted over 2,000 paintings. One of his favorite subjects was the Indians. He related that he was adopted into the Quapaw Indian tribe along with his parents and sister making him “an Osage Indian once removed.”

For many years, Gregg painted scenes celebrating Cheyenne Frontier Days for the Denver Post, which had a special relationship with the rodeo from its beginning. The Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum is proud to offer this unique look at the humor, attention to detail and care Paul Gregg used in bringing the excitement of the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo to the people of the Rocky Mountain Front Range.

The Paul Gregg Exhibit can be seen through July 8, 2012. Select pieces will be on display through Frontier Days in the Museum rotunda.

For more information call (307) 778-7290 or visit us online at http://www.oldwestmuseum.org/.

The "Paul Gregg: Caught in Cartoons" Exhibit is sponsored by the Denver Post.