by Lon Magargee (1883-1960, American).
At age 13, Magargee ran away from his upper-class Pennsylvania home and went West in 1896, led by his zest for the wild and adventuresome life. Here he established a reputation as a cowboy painter and illustrator with work most associated with Arizona Brewing Company ads featuring humorous aspects of cowboy life. In his youth, he worked as a free-lance cowboy, exhibition roper, poker dealer, and bronco buster in Arizona. Lon Magargee, considered “the dean of Arizona cowboy artists,” recognized for his interpretive abilities, he was commissioned by Arizona’s first governor, George W.P. Hunt, to create 15 murals for the new Arizona State Capitol building to celebrate Arizona’s entry as the nation’s 48th state (1912). Maragee’s long career also included a stint as a painter for the WPA during the Great Depression.