ABOUT THE ARTIST
No other artist captured the "disappearing West" with the authenticity and spirit of John Edward Borein (1872-1945). A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Borein rode south in 1893 at the age of twenty-one, and over the next few years, worked his way through California and the vast stretch of Mexico. While on the range, the young cowboy sketched from the saddle during the day and refined his lines with pen and ink in the evening.

By 1900, Borein had returned to Oakland to set up his first art studio, and in 1907, he moved to New York to further his career. It was back East that his popularity mounted, and in New York, Borein sold his etchings and watercolors, and found constant work as a magazine and advertisement illustrator.

In 1921, Borein settled in Santa Barbara and opened a studio in the historic El Paseo complex. According to biographer Harold Davidson, "By this time Borein was aware of what he was doing, and told his friends many times he was documenting the Old West as he had lived and seen it. Every detail of horse, rider, saddle and gear, longhorn, and Indian had to be right. There are many stories of some detail of an etching being challenged, but the artist remained adamant, and usually was proven correct."

Edward Borein also proved prolific, producing over three hundred etchings, many watercolors and ink drawings, and a handful of oil paintings. Today, this outstanding body of work gives us a glimpse into the authentic American West, from the perspective of a true cowboy and Santa Barbara's beloved "cowpuncher artist."

—edited from the Santa Barbara Historical Museum