Wilson Hurley
Wilson Hurley
“A painting shows a view of the world that’s been passed through another’s mind. Love is not cadmium orange. There’s no color you can mix, there’s no line you can draw, that will put feeling into a painting. But if you go to the canvas with love and joy in your heart, somehow it comes off on the canvas.”
Biography
Oklahoma native and internationally renowned artist Wilson Hurley graduated from West Point and holds a law degree from George Washington University. He served as a pilot in World War II and as a forward air controller in Vietnam. After leaving his law practice he began his career as a landscape artist and regarded as a master of the western landscape and a founding member of the National Academy of Western Art. He received numerous awards and honors, including the Prix de West Award in 1984, and his “Windows to the West” was completed for the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Fun fact
Wilson Hurley’s father, Patrick, served as Secretary of War under U.S. President Herbert Hoover. Wilson Hurley was a practicing attorney and banker for 13 years before he sat preparing a will for a dying friend and decided to become an artist full time in 1964, at the age of 40.
Oklahoma connections
Hurley born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Relevant Exhibits
