Edward Borein

As a youth John Edward Borein worked with California ranchers, Longhorn cattle, riders, ranchers and lasso-throwers. Therefore, these issues were the main subjects of his sketches and he was a so-called “cowboy artist.” At the beginning of the 20th century the big ranches began to disappear and Borein gave up the life of a wandering cowboy and turned to illustrating newspapers and magazines. After initially running a studio in Oakland, he moved to New York in 1907 and worked on etchings. In 1921 he returned to California and ran a successful studio until his death in 1945.

The Long Throw, produced around 1915, may be one of Borein’s earliest drypoint etchings (print 14 x 26, sheet 25 x 36 cm). This title appeared also as a subtitle of End of the Race, an etching (18 x 28 cm) like all submitted works. In After the Buffalo Hunt (20.3 x 30.5 cm, Navajos (22.9 x 30.5 cm) and Charging Hawk (11.1 x 13.7 cm) the Native Americans were in the focus. For all these etchings, the attribution seems to be confirmed. This is not the case with A Broncho, which could be Borein’s iconic Bucking Broncho (sheet 53.3 x 43.2 cm).