Curated by Stacey Durham, NBC manager of collections

Harold T. “H” Holden is a renowned Oklahoma artist who has been portraying the American west for more than 40 years. Holden’s work consists of larger-than-life-sized sculptures and oil paintings featuring horses, the Western landscape and the cowboy way of life. His work also is represented in prints and has even been featured on a U.S. postage stamp. Artists, collectors and scholars around the nation recognize not only his highest level of craftsmanship but his meticulous attention to detail. Sometimes called the “cowboy artist,” Holden attended Oklahoma State University before entering the Texas Academy of Art in 1965 in order to become a commercial artist. Holden made a name for himself by creating more than 22 monuments in 20 years across the Midwest, including Texas, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Holden also has received many awards for his work, including the Oklahoma Governor’s Art Award in 2001 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Sculpture Society. He also is a member of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

Holden’s appreciation for Western heritage began on the ranch where he grew up and has since evolved into a lifelong passion for preserving Oklahoma history in his art. This exhibition highlights Holden’s visual journal to capture the everyday life and activities of Native Americans and cowboys in a selective but respectful and historically accurate manner. His style of painting, Western Realism, is often associated with early 19th century artists like Will James, Charlie Russell and Frederic Remington, and it refers to the style of depicting Western subject matter in an honest manner without stylizing. Western Realists are often considered storytellers, and like them, Holden has a knack for building tales around the rugged landscapes and untamed subjects in his paintings and sculptures.