The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1915-07-13
COVEY A WORLD
.FAMOUSPA|NTER
Oklahoma Artist Exhibits Some
Of His Work Here Notable
Achievements
He MARRIED A BELGIAN GIRL


Arthur Coyey, once a Noble county,
Oklahoma school teacher and now one
VI the world famous mural decorators,
Is exhibiting for the first time some
VI Ills creations In his home stute. In
the lobby Of the Lee Ilucklns hotel ure
two large frescOeS, part Of II set Of
three which Mr.. Convey has painted 10
udOrn the walls Of the new city library
" Wichita, Kan,
The life OF Mr.. Convey Is picturesque.
, Born near Bloomington, Ill, In 1871,
Mr.. Convey spent his early years On II
farm, uncouscluusly lmbiblng the
spirit VI the pioneer. AT fifteen he
started with his family on u hike
aud drove a prairie schooner across tho
! plnlus to Oklahoma, where his folks IN.
tended demonstrating lie wa In the
frantic rush nj the start, and, by his
sklllrul handling Of his horses, rushed
10 miles IN u night aud his father,
~ AVN SV1N1 hhN hblN ~ nav Wy
Il well located quarter section.
Until be was II years old Mr..
COyey never saw a real hand painted
picture, but with charcoal and pencil
he reproduced highly edifying copies
" the types " people about hIm-the
real pioneers, the near" pioneers, ad
ventures, soldiers Of peaceful fortunes
and the Ahasuerus Of the West--the
nestOr.
$500 Lasted l8 Months
Finally, while teaching school IN a
little country building the call be-
came too strong aud with $500 sUyed
by suffering many hardships the boy
went to Chicago 10 study art. His
$500 was made TO suffice for eighteen
months.
Il couldn't do It now, 10 be said today,
hut the expense " living was much
less them
Later he spent two years doing
newspaper art work illustrating, on
the Chicago American, the Cleveland
P%laindealer and the Indianapolis Press
and News as art editor. But news.
paper work did not satisfy him. lie
wanted 10 do something better and his
longing drew him back to the chi.
cagO institute. Then he went 10 En-.
rope. where he studied n year In Ger.
many aud three years In England
Il met my wife In Belgium and
courted her I'm the towns laid waste
by the German armies said Mr.. Co
vey. II suppose TINT Is why In a
great measure that | am pro-Allies.
/ hope to see the BplglHnS revenged
for the destruction Of their homes
Lure Of Big Figures
While In Europe Mr.. Coyey worked
with sir Alfred East, H. A, and
Frank Brnngwyn. II. A., on the bien.
nial exhibition. Always It was the
great canvas the big figures that
drew him. Months In Europe only
accumulated his genius along the line
VI mural decorating. Convey ther
spent four years under BrRngwyn
with whom he worked on the wonder,
ful work In SINNERS Hall, London
Then he came back to America. Eight
giant frescoes u his decorate the Fine
Arts Palace of the Panama Pacific
Fair. With Robert Reed he worked
under the direction OF Jules Guerln
that painter u atmosphere.
The music In the magnificent
home OF Mrs. Rogers Evans Dick,
prominent society woman Of New
York, has several symbolic panels don,
In Mr.. Coyey's best vein.
The appeal Of realness Is IN every
inch OF Mr., COyey's canyases. II,
sketched his Indians for the Wlchit,
painting while on the lOl Ranch. Eacl
detail Il painstAkingly Rccurate-th,
pictures are MS valuable sources OF I'm
formation and instruction to the stu
dent at the library NJ are the book
themselves that line the shelves.
Mr.. Convey, like many other well
known artists. has gone In for ptch
Ing a. a pastime, aud II the president
Of the New York Society OF Etchers
He did the Great Wheel at Sontl
Troy, Gloucester Bay, a set Of fouI
plates illustrating Josephine Preston
Peabody's %rsluging Man." One Of
these plates The Call" was sold FOL
the benefit Of Lawrence strikers.
Native Themes
The two panels on exhibition In m,
Lee Huckins nre Promise" and "Ar
terglow" Promise Is n vision al.
prairie schooners" dragging slowl,
over the Kansas plains. In the fore
ground stands a young man, shadin,
his eyes and looking far beyond 10
ward "FruitlOn"-the middle pane
which hints at what the middle wesl
has done toward the upbullding Of IN,
country.
"Afterglow" depicts the price thai
primitive man must pay to civilization
The Indian going ahead backwards
slowly retreats before the Inevitable
with his spuaws, his horses and dogs
ne IA seeking the setting sun. A Ger
tain reverence here, too. shows nj,
stol'dity, 10 the American spirit Of
progress he II the epitome Of the mn
lions That have melted. Wonder. nc
ceptat'on and resignation chow In IN,
drop NJ the phnNehe the backward
glance OF even his dogs
blue enters largely Into the colo,
scheme or these two panels. but ther,
II the same yividness OF personality
the same sureness NJ interpretatio,
that marks the center panel. The thre,
cnnvases are wholly American AMI
painted by an artist who knows nj,
subjects and feels them No more IN
spired or inspiring set OF painting,
has ever been done In this land. and
the middle west and an Oklahoma maj
has given II.
CONNERs' AssAILANT ASKS