Creator Details
Growing up in Bonham, Texas, Erwin Smith knew he wanted to be a cowboy and an artist. The era of great trail drives was ending, and he was determined to document the open-range lifestyle before it disappeared completely. Smith gained experience by working on ranches and studying painting and sculpting at art schools in Chicago and Boston before he realized that the photographs he used as preliminary studies were works of art themselves. Between 1905 and the mid-1920s, he photographed ranch work and life in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, producing some of the best-known images of early 20th-century cowboy activities. The Carter holds about 150 prints by Smith, many gifted by Smith’s half-sister, Mary Alice Pettis, as well as 2,000 negatives on permanent deposit from the Library of Congress.
Artworks
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"A West Marathon." n.d., n.d.
Erwin E. Smith
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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"Comanche Indian Camp." n.d., n.d.
Erwin E. Smith
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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"Cow Puncher." 1903., 1903
Erwin E. Smith
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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"How Indians Poison Their Arrows." n.d., n.d.
Erwin E. Smith
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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"Impressions of an Artist - Babcock." n.d., n.d.
Erwin E. Smith
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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"In a Tight Place." n.d., n.d.
Erwin E. Smith
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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"Sitting Bull, Sioux." 1904., n.d.
Erwin E. Smith
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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"The Sole Requirement." n.d., n.d.
Erwin E. Smith
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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"V # Branding Pens." n.d., n.d.
Erwin E. Smith
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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A Bad Sign, Matador Ranch, Texas, 1905
Erwin E. Smith
Gelatin silver print
P1986.42.117 -
A Bad Sign, Matador Ranch, Texas, 1905
Erwin E. Smith
Gelatin silver print
P1986.42.189.11 -
A cowpuncher's mount 'tied to the ground' near the Wichita River, Texas., 1906
Erwin E. Smith
Gelatin silver print
P1986.42.189.24 -
A coyote trapped at the TC Ranch; carcass of a range critter., 1906
Erwin E. Smith
Gelatin silver print
P1986.42.189.6 -
A Dash for Liberty, 1908
Erwin E. Smith
Gelatin silver print
P1990.16.3 -
A nester family named Banby on the Three Block range, New Mexico, 1908
Erwin E. Smith
Gelatin silver print
P1986.42.138 -
A Turkey Track cowboy is hurt when his mount stepped in a prairie dog hole and throws him., 1906
Erwin E. Smith
Gelatin silver print
P1986.42.189.35 -
A. C. Michener, Advertising Dept., John Morrell & Co., Ottumwa, Iowa, to Erwin E. Smith. April 24, 1933., April 24, 1933
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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A. C. Shoemaker, Lynford Wilson Advertising Photography Business Card. n.d., n.d.
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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A. C. Williams, Assistant Secretary, Cattle Raisers Association of Texas, Fort Worth, Texas, to Erwin E. Smith. July 29, 1920., July 29, 1920
Erwin E. Smith Papers
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An Outlaw Steer Meets Its Match, ca. 1905-1915
Erwin E. Smith
Gelatin silver print
P1990.16.2