Edward Borein
Edward Borein was an American artist and illustrator who created some of the most authentic American West scenes of his time. Born in San Leandro, California in 1872, John Edward Borein grew up surrounded by cowboys and ranch life. He began drawing horses as young as five years old and spent part of his eighteenth year as a cowboy. By nineteen, he was back home and enrolled at the Art School of the San Francisco Art Association, though that also only lasted a few months. In 1900, Borein took up an illustrating job at the San Francisco Call and embarked on a sketching trip to the Northwest with Maynard Dixon (1875-1946), a fellow artist that he met while at school. After his trip, Borein moved around the Southwest, sketching and selling ink drawings to various newspapers and for companies like Aunt Jemima and Stetson Hats.
With a new confidence, Edward Borein moved to New York City at the turn of the century and remained there for the next 12 years. He moved away from oils and concentrated on watercolors toward the end of his career though he never lost the authenticity of his work. He was quoted, “"I will leave only an accurate picture of the West, nothing else but that. If anything isn't authentic or just right, I won't put it in any of my work." In 1921, he moved back to California to marry and settled in Santa Barbara until his death in 1945.