Welcome to the American West!, in the John K. Goodman Pavilion of Western Art and the Count Ferdinand von Galen Gallery, showcases the Museum’s growing and varied collection of American West artwork spanning 200 years to the present. This collection was established in the 1980s with a generous donation of paintings, drawings, and sculpture by Ileen B. and Samuel J. Campbell.

The American West embodies diverse cultures, traditions, and histories that can be traced through many art forms. Artists’ representations help define this unique, awe- inspiring, and sometimes mysterious place. From the early nineteenth century and its age of exploration through the twentieth century with cinema and television, visual arts have provided audiences with glimpses of certain qualities deemed authentically “Western.” From traditional Native American arts such as pottery and woven textiles, to painting and sculpture, artists continue to discover and interpret the rich themes of the American West.

This selection features artworks from Native American artists including Maria Poveka Martinez, Emmi Whitehorse, and Fritz Scholder; late 19th and early 20th century American West painters Charles Marion Russell, Rudolf Cronau, and Maynard Dixon; and contemporary Western artists Howard Post, Ed Mell, and Bill Schenck.

The Tucson Museum of Art continues to build the Art of the American West collection. The Museum strives to provide quality works of art that show diverse perspectives and tell exciting stories about the West. The current exhibition includes works of art recently added to the collection. Enjoy viewing these new acquisitions—many are on public view for the first time.

The Duane Bryers Studio re-creation is an installation in one room of the historic adobe Stevens House that celebrates the beloved Tucson and Southern Arizona painter and illustrator who settled in Arizona in 1958 and became known for his style that depicted everywhere “local” characters with a sense of nostalgia similar to that of Norman Rockwell.

The John K. Goodman Pavilion of Western Art occupies a nine-room historic adobe home built in 1868, that is the Edward Nye Fish House, a permanent landmark of historic Tucson architecture and part of the Tucson Museum of Art’s four-acre historic block.