Gordon Snidow: Treasure of the West

Ruidoso is called home by many talented artists, but probably the most recognizable name is Gordon Snidow, chronicler of the American cowboy, storyteller of the contemporary West and a major reason for the popularity of Western art. Over the years, he’s been featured in a multiple of magazines, including Art of the West, Gilcrest Magazine of American History and Art, Paul Green’s Texas, American Cowboy and most recently, the January edition of Western Art Collector. “I believe that the best reason western art has become popular is that it communicates,” Snidow said in a 1981 article. “You don’t have to interpret it or have some critic interpret it for you, and it is uniquely American.” Born in Paris, Mo. in 1936, Snidow grew up in Tulsa, Okla., but often spent his summers in rural Missouri with his relatives. His first blue ribbon came from the Texas State Fair while he was attending school in Sherman. His junior high teacher submitted a painting he completed of a young boy selling popcorn at a football game. Snidow said he found his calling at age 12, when he visited the Gilcrest Museum in Tulsa. Until then, he only had seen illustrations in magazines, but there, he was surrounded by the artwork of Charles M. Russell, Frederic Remington and George Catlin. He began doing bronze sculpture in the early 1970s, but his preference is painting with gouache, a water-based median, a type of opaque painting that consists of pigment and a binding agent. gouache can be diluted with water and applied in semi-transparent layers. In contrast to watercolors, Gouache paintings have a quick coverage period, which is why the style lends itself to more direct painting methods and techniques than its watercolor counterpart. “I use Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache,’ Snidow said. “I paint on PH negative illustration board.” He begins a painting with a concept, the artist said. “Early in my career I learned the value of working out artistic principals doing miniatures,” he said. “This approach saved me much time and effort in case I became dissatisfied with the larger painting.” But after painting for more than 60 years and having completed nearly 800 paintings, he no longer uses that approach. “I paint until I am satisfied that the painting makes the statement, as I had conceived it,” Snidow said. “The last thing an artist wants is to be embarrassed when viewing their own work. An artist must be critical. You have to be your own quality controller. I have destroyed a few. Knowing when to quit is a hard thing to learn.”...more