^Lot 3506 JOE GRANDEE ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING OF CAVALRYMAN

PURSUED BY BRAVES. 24" x 18" oil on artist board, signed and dated 1959. This is among the earliest of his works out there. Joe Ruiz Grandee (1929-2021) a third generation Texan was born in Dallas, Texas. He studied at the Aunspaugh Art School and developed his own individual technique. A painting of Billy the Kid attracted the attention of the publisher of True West Magazine, and his paintings soon appeared in many publications, including covers of True West and Frontier Times. Grandee was concerned that every detail of his paintings of buffalo soldiers, stagecoaches and Indians conform to historical accuracy. Over the years, the Grandee family collected more than 1,000 costumes that were used as a reference point. In 1967, Lynda Bird Johnson asked Grandee to produce an official painting of the Johnson-Robb wedding party in 1880 dress and setting. The painting was dedicated to the family in the White House Library. He was designated the first official Texas State Artist in 1971 and was later honored in 1974 as the first western artist to be invited to show his work at the capitol. Grandee and his wife gifted this famous watercolor titled "Captain L. H. McNelly, Texas Ranger" to the Texas Ranger Museum in 1968. The museum commissioned a more dramatic oil rendition of that painting that would be presented to President Richard Nixon, and exhibited at the U.S. Capitol in Washington for the 150th anniversary of the rangers. CONDITION: very good overall, wormwood frame appears original to the painting. PROVENANCE: Estate collection of Compton LaBauve Jr. (02-26482/JS). NON-GUN. $800-1,500.