Artist Kim Wiggins Biography

CATTLE KINGS OF THE PECOS

BLAZING THE TRAIL OF 1866-67 OIL, 72 X 96, 2012

when Chisum, Goodnight and some twenty Jinglebob and Goodnight cowboys carried his coffin back down the hazardstricken cattle trail for burial at his home in Weatherford, Texas. The Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry is loosely based on this historical account.

Cattle Kings of the Pecos was commissioned by the Roswell Museum and Art Center Foundation to draw attention to the incredible wealth of history surrounding the Roswell area. The original 72 x 96 inch painting is in the Roswell Museum and Art Center’s permanent collection and displayed for public viewing. The setting for the painting is a hilltop just south of Comanche Hill near Roswell, New Mexico. It overlooks the vast grassland of the fertile Pecos Valley. Just behind the purple hills in the distance, John Chisum later established his headquarters at South Spring Ranch in 1874.

Resources:

John Simpson Chisum The Cattle King Of The Pecos Revisited, by Clifford R. Caldwell.

Charles Goodnight Cowman And Plainsman, by J. Evetts Haley.

Wiggins 2021 Bio

the Autry’s Masters of the American West. Other awards include the Briscoe Museum’s William B. Travis Award in 2018; The New Mexico Historical Society’s Heritage Award in 2014; In 2005 his nine foot tour de force, Lewis & Clark Among the Mandan, was purchased by Jackie Autry for the Autry’s permanent collection; In 2000 at the prestigious Painters and the American West he was honored with People’s Choice for his monumental work of the Santa Fe Plaza. This major exhibition documenting the history of the West traveled from the Denver Art Museum to the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Art Institute of Chicago. His work is featured in the recent National Geographic book, The Old West and has appeared in or dawned on the cover of such publications as American Psychologist, Architectural Digest, Art of the West, Cowboy & Indians, Elle Decor, International Artist, Southwest Art, Wildlife Art, Western Art & Architecture, Western Art Collector and Wildlife Art. Wiggins is listed in Who’s Who in American Art and Who’s Who im Wiggins’ distinct style and modern vision of the West has made him one of the most recognizable artists in America today. He is acknowledged as one of the creative forerunners behind the current New West Movement. Growing up {K in the World. Other collections include the American Museum of Western Art, Briscoe Western Art Museum, Booth Western Art Museum, Museum of New Mexico, Phippen Museum, The Anschutz Collection, Tulane University, and Roswell Museum & Art Center. The Staples Center in Los Angeles houses a collection of ten major historical works by Wiggins depicting the history of California, often used for backstage interviews such as the Grammys. on a ranch in southern New Mexico, by the mid 1970’s he was painting in oil and working as a graphic artist for a national equine magazine. Although primarily selftaught, he was mentored by masters such Kim Wiggins is represented by Manitou Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico and Maxwell Alexander Gallery, Los Angeles, California. as Henriette Wyeth, Alexandre Hogue, and William Lumpkins. During the 1980’s he experimented with various forms of Impressionism, Expressionism, Magical Realism, Symbolism, and Modernism, eventually leading to his unique approach. As a modern innovator, Wiggins’ finest work merges symbolism with the American West. In 2020 Wiggins won the Gold Medal for Best Narrative at Cattle Kings of the Pecos was commissioned by the Roswell Museum and Art Center Foundation to draw attention to the incredible wealth of history surrounding the Roswell area.