more on Wright's Fur Trade Era...
He had used our brother Don as a model for the drawing and he wanted
me to reproduce a print from it. I said "David, one of the first things we
learned about the print business was that people don't sell. His reply, "I
don't want to sell it, I want it to trade at rendezvous". We almost had
another very serious discussion.
I need something to put out in print and he wants me to spend money so
he will have something to trade at rendezvous. Since he's my brother
this wasn't the first nor would it be the last time we didn't see things
exactly in the same light. However since it was inexpensive to produce a
one color print back in those days, we printed five hundred unlimited,
unsigned prints. We had paper left over so we printed six inch cards of
the image which I then mailed to my dealers. About the middle of the
week, David took fifty prints with him to the National Muzzleloading Rifle
Shoot in Friendship Ind., and the dealers started receiving the cards.
When David returned to Nashville he had traded all fifty of the prints and
had orders for more. I had sold the other four hundred and fifty. We
then reprinted two thousand more. Today his first fur trade era print
entitled "The Mountain Man" (pictured below) has sold almost eighteen
thousand and is still selling.
The success of "The Mountain Man" prompted us to have David paint "A
Way of Life" which we released as a signed and numbered print. The
edition was 1500 and it sold out before the shipping date. This was the
start of a two decade era in which every print David released was sold
out before the release date.
I mentioned that Don was used as a model for several of David's
paintings. Most of David's models have been close friends of his. Just to
name a few, Robert Bibb, a professor at Vanderbilt University, modeled
for "The Wind River Man" which is one of David's most successful
secondary market prints. "Golden Mountain Man" is a portrait of Bill
Golden of the Oak Ridge Boys. Bobby Thompson was a great session
musician in Nashville and probably the best banjo player that ever lived.
He was also a good friend and hunting buddy of Don, David and I. When
Bobby was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 80's David came
to me and said. "I want to do a painting of Bobby the way he looks now".
That painting became "Lure of the Mountains" Bobby died in 2005.
Even though the majority of David's paintings for the past few years have
been of the Eastern Frontier or Civil War, he still reverts back once in a
while to his first love, the Fur Trade Era
me to reproduce a print from it. I said "David, one of the first things we
learned about the print business was that people don't sell. His reply, "I
don't want to sell it, I want it to trade at rendezvous". We almost had
another very serious discussion.
I need something to put out in print and he wants me to spend money so
he will have something to trade at rendezvous. Since he's my brother
this wasn't the first nor would it be the last time we didn't see things
exactly in the same light. However since it was inexpensive to produce a
one color print back in those days, we printed five hundred unlimited,
unsigned prints. We had paper left over so we printed six inch cards of
the image which I then mailed to my dealers. About the middle of the
week, David took fifty prints with him to the National Muzzleloading Rifle
Shoot in Friendship Ind., and the dealers started receiving the cards.
When David returned to Nashville he had traded all fifty of the prints and
had orders for more. I had sold the other four hundred and fifty. We
then reprinted two thousand more. Today his first fur trade era print
entitled "The Mountain Man" (pictured below) has sold almost eighteen
thousand and is still selling.
The success of "The Mountain Man" prompted us to have David paint "A
Way of Life" which we released as a signed and numbered print. The
edition was 1500 and it sold out before the shipping date. This was the
start of a two decade era in which every print David released was sold
out before the release date.
I mentioned that Don was used as a model for several of David's
paintings. Most of David's models have been close friends of his. Just to
name a few, Robert Bibb, a professor at Vanderbilt University, modeled
for "The Wind River Man" which is one of David's most successful
secondary market prints. "Golden Mountain Man" is a portrait of Bill
Golden of the Oak Ridge Boys. Bobby Thompson was a great session
musician in Nashville and probably the best banjo player that ever lived.
He was also a good friend and hunting buddy of Don, David and I. When
Bobby was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 80's David came
to me and said. "I want to do a painting of Bobby the way he looks now".
That painting became "Lure of the Mountains" Bobby died in 2005.
Even though the majority of David's paintings for the past few years have
been of the Eastern Frontier or Civil War, he still reverts back once in a
while to his first love, the Fur Trade Era
Gray Stone Press
| LIMITED EDITION COLLECTOR PRINTS |
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| Rocky Mountain Trappers - 1832 (giclee on canvas) by David Wright |
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| email inquiries to gspnash@mindspring.com |
The Mountain Man
| on to Fur Trade Era Prints by David Wright |
Lure of the Mountains
