Read this Wildlife Art Journal article

By Todd Wilkinson

John Ford Clymer is categorized as a Western artist. Whenever his work surfaces at auction, the tendency among younger collectors is to draw conclusions based solely on subject matter. Indeed several pieces set in the American West recently fared  well at the 2011 Coeur d'Alene Art Auction in Reno, Nevada.

It’s true that Clymer — a diminutive, unpretentious man with high-beam charm — hailed from Ellensburg, Washington, and always had a soft spot for his hometown along the eastern front of the Cascade Mountains.

But anyone visualizing Clymer only through a regional lens and not rightfully as an artisan of national significance is missing important facets of his six-decade career.

Consider these alternative reference points: Except for Norman Rockwell (whom he knew collegially), Clymer had more works than any other American painter appear on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post — more than 80 in all.

As a young man, he received hands-on tutelage from Harvey Dunn and N.C. Wyeth, protégées of the great Howard Pyle [1853 - 1911], who helped usher forth a renaissance of appreciation for historical narrative painting. In some ways, arguably, Clymer set the stage for the magic of Howard Terpning and others to be more fully appreciated today.

Although Clymer, as an octogenarian, delivered one of his most ambitious epics — a richly detailed mountain man scene effusing kaleidoscope color — he was, at heart, more impressionistic when it came to reinterpreting Realism.