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SIGNED TOM KNAPP MODERN WESTERN ANIMALIER BRONZE ART SCULPTURE COUGARS - $75 (Cave Creek)
East Stevens Road near N. Galloway Road off E Cave Creek Road near East Stevens Road near N. Galloway Road off E Cave Creek Road
condition:
excellent
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Sitting atop a walnut wood base, the dimensions of the bronze sculpture itself are approximately two inches (2”) in height, three and three quarters inches (3 3/4”) in length, by two and one half inches (2 ½”) in width. The circular walnut wood base is four and three quarters inches (4 ¾”) in diameter by three quarters of an inch (3/4”) in height.
Signed within the bronze on the backside outer edge “TOM KNAPP” along with a copyright symbol. In addition, there appears to be a number but it is indecipherable.
Condition: The bronze sculpture itself is in excellent and clean condition – absolutely beautiful! The walnut wood base is in very good and clean with a few small surface scratches and markings (not bad). Overall, still a true beauty!
Please scroll down to read the artist’s biography about Tom Knapp.
Price: $75.00 (firm and cash only)
To view the signed original vintage late 1960s/1970s modern western animalier bronze sculpture created by Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico artist Tom Knapp available for purchase here, please send an email to John to arrange a time that is convenient for you. Thank you.
Please Note: This is a cash only, local pick-up transaction in the town of Cave Creek just north of Scottsdale. You will need your own transportation. This signed original vintage late 1960s/1970s modern western animalier bronze sculpture created by Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico artist Tom Knapp is safely stored in a private home and is easily accessible.
Lastly, this item is available as long as this advertisement is up and running. There is no need to send text or email messages asking if it is still available.
TOM KNAPP 1925-2016 BIO (the following is a complete reprinting of the artist’s obituary written by Dianne L. Stallings and published July 12, 2016 in the Ruidoso News newspaper)
Artist Tom Knapp dies at 90
Tom Knapp, well-known bronze artist, died July 8 in Mexico at the age of 90
Dianne L Stallings
Ruidoso News / July 12, 2016
Bronze sculptor and printmaker Tom Knapp, who spent many years in Lincoln County with his wife and fellow artist, Dorothy Bell, passed away in his home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico on July 8. He was 90 years old.
Dedicated to art and to his family, Knapp was prolific and successful in many forms of artistic expression, including bronze and wood sculpting, printmaking in linocuts and wood engravings, stained glass, mosaics and jewelry making.
Well-known figures in the Ruidoso art scene in the 1980s and early 1990s. Knapp and Bell lived and worked in their home and gallery, a local landmark known as The Buckhorn in the valley east of Ruidoso Downs, where customers might drop in to view the art produced by the couple, then stay for a cup of coffee and conversation. The twosome also occasionally taught art classes at the Carrizo Lodge, which at the time was a popular summer hub drawing artists and would-be artists from around the country.
David Long, who with his wife Judy Hathcoat owns Long Coat Fine Art, was the exclusive dealer for Knapp's work in Ruidoso. He met the artist after buying the gallery six years ago.
"We became good friends," Long said. "He was as much a part of the New Mexico art scene as any artist I can think of. Back in the 1980s, he did a big series of sculptures of endangered species. The salt water crocodile is at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas" and others are displayed in galleries and venues all over the world.
"I will miss Tom a lot. He was fun to talk to. I would call him every couple of months," Long said. About twice a year, they would meet in El Paso, where the couple kept a condominium for Knapp to visit the Veterans Administration Hospital and pickup his supply of medications for the next six months. They would exchange pieces of artwork to keep the exhibit in Ruidoso fresh, he said.
“They loved their lives in Mexico," Long said. "They got to live life as they wanted to. He would have been be 91 in September and Dorothy already is 91. He was a wonderful guy, a peaceful fellow. Their wishes were that when they were gone, their ashes should be brought back to Ruidoso. This is where they wanted to spend eternity.”
Perhaps, Knapp's most famous work is the installation piece of a football player he was selected to create when the Rose Bowl Stadium was built in Pasadena.
“For years. he made a pretty good living from that," Long said. "He had a 28-inch tall version of that same sculpture and he held the copyright on it. They kept the mold in California and would contact him every year. Whoever was being inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, they would give them one of those sculptures. When he knew his health was declining, he sold them the copyright last year (to ensure that the statue could be awarded) forever.”
Knapp also was well known for his Native American Dancers, a series of ten different members of North American tribes performing their traditional ceremonial dances. According to family members, the dramatic collection took Knapp on a quest of more than 30 thousand miles and nine years in travels all over the Southwest, the Northwest, south to Mexico and north to Alaska.
Knapp was born in Gillette, Wyoming, September 28, 1925. He is a veteran of World War II, and the Korean War, serving in the United States Navy. He studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland CA, and the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He then went to work as an animator for the Walt Disney Studios. Today, his works of primarily Limited Editions can be found in more than 200 private collections, as well as many museums.
Coming from Ruidoso, Knapp moved to San Miguel de Allende in 1995, with his wife, Dorothy Bell Knapp, a pastel artist.