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William Herbert Dunton

American, 1878-1936

BiographyWilliam Herbert "Buck" Dunton,1878 – 1936, was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is noted for paintings of cowboys, New Mexico, and the American Southwest.

Dunton was an accomplished artist at an early age. Dunton worked as a ranch hand as a youth and studied at the Cowles Art School in Boston, Massachusetts. He moved to New York City around 1903, where he worked as an illustrator for publishing companies. He illustrated for Harper's, Schribners, and many other magazines. He also created artwork for many books.

He first visited Taos in 1912 and became part of the Taos art colony. Dunton became one of the founding members of the Taos Society of Artists in 1915. Beginning in 1914, his paintings were accepted to the annual exhibitions at the National Academy of Design at New York, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at Philadelphia, and the Art Institute of Chicago, a practice he continued until 1935.

In 1921, American oil executive W. H. McFadden commissioned Dunton to paint a full-length portrait of big-game hunter Ben Lilly. The portrait was exhibited by the National Academy of Design before being located in McFadden’s home in New Orleans.

With the effects of the Depression affecting sales, Dunton turned to portrait drawings and lithography to make art that was affordable during lean times. He also painted under the Public Works of Art Project in New Mexico.

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